They handed out placards in Abingdon Friday night that read “Falcon Awesome.”
And while awesome might be a stretch, there’s no doubt this is a pretty decent Abingdon football team. Its 35-14 win over visiting Carroll County gave it a 4-2 record and a pretty good shot at getting to seven or eight wins by season’s end.
In most years, seven or eight wins buys you a playoff ticket. Yet the Falcons’ only entry into the Region IV, Division 4 fray might be if they go and purchase tickets for a game in Salem, Bassett, Blacksburg, Christiansburg or Pulaski.
Simply put, Division 4 is stacked. Even at 4-2, even with one of the area’s top pitch-catch combos in Adam Henderson and Tyler Bailey as well as an improving running game, Abingdon is 7th in the division with only four teams assured of a playoff berth.
First-year coach John Bowles said all the right things after last night’s game about not worrying about other games or the points system and about how his team just needs to worry about its business.
But you know that the Falcons would love to have their two losses back now—both come-from-ahead jobs. Had they held on at Richlands and Honaker, this would be a 6-0 team with a serious chance at winning the Southwest District.
Instead, barring collapses by the likes of Pulaski County, Blacksburg and Hidden Valley, Abingdon could go 8-2 and sit at home.
“We’re not thinking about [the playoff scenarios],” Henderson said after Friday night’s win. “We’re just going out there and playing ball, trying to win games.”
Were Abingdon in Division 3, it would be playing for homefield advantage in the first round. As it is, it needs a Colorado Rockies-type run just to get a sniff at the postseason.