By Anthony Bosco
The Public School Athletic League announced its varsity football playoff seedings Monday, with five teams from Queens, August Martin, Beach Channel, Campus Magnet, Bayside and Far Rockaway advancing to the 14-team post-season tournament.
The top six seeds in the city, however, were reserved for teams outside the borough. Sheepshead Bay took the top spot, followed by Lehman, Canarsie, Susan Wagner, Fort Hamilton and Curtis. The August Martin Falcons were the highest seed from Queens, taking the No. 7 slot.
Martin, coached by Mike Greene, needed to pull out a 15-6 win over Bayside Sunday to make the playoffs. They will host Midwood on Saturday in a first-round game.
“We needed this game to make the playoffs,” said Martin coach Mike Greene. “We have to prepare for this week. It’s a little bit more work, but I enjoy it.”
The Beach Channel Dolphins locked up the No. 8 spot, despite being soundly thrashed by the Campus Magnet Bulldogs Sunday, 25-0. The Dolphins will host Columbus Saturday in a rematch of the two teams’ Oct. 6 meeting, won by Beach Channel, 11-0.
Columbus, Midwood and Port Richmond occupy the next three slots, with Magnet, which had been on the outside looking in heading into the final week of play, taking the No. 12 seed. The Bulldogs will travel to take on Fort Hamilton in the first round.
Far Rockaway, the No. 13-seeded team will face No. 4 Wagner on Staten Island. The SeaHorses were the only team rated a 1 — the weakest of the three ratings given out by the PSAL prior to the season — to make the playoffs, edging out Clinton.
Bayside, despite its loss to Martin last weekend, finished as the No. 14 seed, something that surprised Bayside coach Joe Capuana.
“The call came in last night,” Capuana said Monday. “I think we’re very lucky to be in the playoffs. There are some teams that aren’t in that could be in. We blew an outstanding opportunity. We would have been sixth. The possibilities would have been a lot different.
“We’re a good football team,” he added. “We have a lot to prove to ourselves and see what were made of. It’s going to be tough going over there.”
Bayside will face Brooklyn's Canarsie.
The top two teams, Sheepshead Bay and Lehman, receive byes in the first round.
Reach Sports Editor Anthony Bosco by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 130.
