D’town duel highlights Week 1

Ches- Mont teams to play 4- game slate, can add games if desired after that

The Ches- Mont League will make a mad dash toward the playoffs with just four league games for each team.

A crosstown Battle of the Brandywine between Downingtown East and Downingtown West highlights theWeek 1 slate, which begins Friday, Oct. 9.

The four Ches- Mont National Division teams — Avon Grove, Downingtown East, DowningtownWest and Coatesville — will play each other, as well as one team in a Week 4 crossover with the American Division.

The fifth National Division team, Bishop Shanahan, was not included in the ChesMont schedule. The Eagles began practice aweek after the rest of the league, andwere forced into a 14- day hold due to a positive COVID- 19 test onMonday. Shanahan is unable to play a game until October 31st, so if the Eagles play any games at all, sources say they will have to find their own opponents with open dates.

While District 1 has not unveiled its plan for a playoff bracket, the Ches- Mont schedule helps bring some clarity to that plan.

With the District 1 Class 5A and 6A champions scheduled to play in the PIAA semifinals on Nov. 20 and 21, that leaves two weeks between the last regular season game and the state semifinal. That means District 1 will have to conduct a brief, fourteam bracket in Class 5A and 6A in order to send a team to the state semifinal. Usually, the District 1 brackets include 16 teams in each class.

Teams that do not make the playoffs will be able to add extra games during playoff weeks, if they wish. Teams that make the playoffs but are eliminated will also be permitted to play extra games through the weekend of the state championship.