Holley gets Wild Card berth to state playoffs

It has been a very unusual and surprising Good News – Bad News week for the Holley varsity football team.

The Good News is that Holley as received a Wild Card berth to the state 8 Man Division football playoffs despite having lost 52-16 to Pembroke in the Section V title game last weekend.

The Bad News is that the Hawks opponent will be undefeated (10-0) Section III champion Frankfort-Schuyler which in notching those 10 wins has scored 70 plus points 3 times, 60 plus points twice and 50 plus points 4 times.

Since only six of the state’s 11 sections have teams playing 8 man football two wild card spots need to be filled in order to have a complete 8 team field for the state quarterfinals.

Those wild card spots are rotated among the six sections and this year Section V has one of them which has vaulted Holley into the states despite coming off a playoff loss.

It certainly is a most unusual way of putting together a playoff field. In a normal playoff the team that wins advances and the team that loses is eliminated. There are no second chances except in this case there are for the two wild card teams.

And the Hawks, which bring a 6-4 record into the states, will be playing on Frankfort-Schuyler’s home field at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

The victor will then face the winner of the Pembroke vs. Frewsburg quarterfinal in the state semifinal on November 29. Holley also lost to Pembroke during the regular season by a score of 66-26.

The other Wild Card team is Moravia (8-2) from Section IV which will face Sullivan West from Section IX in the quarterfinals. The other quarterfinal will have Tupper Lake (Section X) vs. Charles O. Dickerson (Section IV).