FOOTBALL PICKORAMA

The week ended a lot better than it began. It started out with a whimper as Xaverian rallied to force an overtime, giving us a glimmer of hope that we were going to pull a rabbit out of our hats. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be as the Crimson Tide scored, then added the gamewinning two-point conversion to give us our first loss. Then we figured the long road trek to Springfield to face a talented Springfield Central would be too much for Central Catholic. As it turned out, the Raiders were more than up to the challenge, dropping 67 on the stunned hosts and making us 0-2 on the season. Sure enough, we rallied and won the final eight games of the weekend to give us a solid 8-2 record. We are onto Week 2, as Coach Bill would say.

ST. JOHN’S PREP over Central Catholic: This pick is music to the ears of Coach A and the rest of the Raiders.

CATHOLIC MEMORIAL over LaSalle (RI): Knights handle another out-of-state challenge.

Springfield Central over BC HIGH: Not a good spot for the Eagles, facing a Central team which allowed 67 points in its opener.

BELLINGHAM over St. Mary’s: Air Elder allows the Blackhawks to soar in this solid nonleague battle.

Barnstable over READING: Hate going against the Rockets at home, but the Redhawks have something special brewing.

Lincoln-Sudbury over MELROSE: Not the easiest schedule for a relatively inexperienced Melrose squad.

DUXBURY over Scituate: Sailors are definitely bridging the gap, but the Dragons remain the standard bearer of the Patriot League. Xaverian over

BRIDGEWATER-RAYNHAM: Hawks get into the win column for the first time.

KIPP over Tech Boston: Jim Rabbitt has done a phenomenal job in building a program from scratch. Milford over

WELLESLEY: The Olsons have something brewing in Milford.

HOME TEAM IN CAPS

LAST WEEK: 8-2 (.800)

YEAR TO DATE: 8-2 (.800)