As I said on the front page, this should be a good week of games, at least outside of the top two teams in Division III. Looking forward to what should be classics in the other six games, especially these two East Region games.

As in the past, Keith McMillan and I are making our picks indpendently, without consulting each other. But as you can see, we’re on the same page on which games will be the most competitive, even if we don’t know who will win them.

Predicted scores:

East
Pat: Springfield 42, St. John Fisher 39; Rowan 17, Wilkes 15.
Keith: St. John Fisher 35, Springfield 34; Wilkes 13, Rowan 12

South
Pat: Wesley 24, Carnegie Mellon 20; Mary Hardin-Baylor 40, Washington and Jefferson 17.
Keith: Wesley 17, Carnegie Mellon 7; Mary Hardin-Baylor 42, Washington and Jefferson 14.

North
Pat: Mount Union 49, Wheaton 10; Capital 22, North Central 20.
South: Mount Union 31, Wheaton 9; Capital 24, North Central 17.

West
Pat: St. John’s 17, Whitworth 14; UW-Whitewater 42, UW-La Crosse 28.
Keith: St. John’s 31, Whitworth 21; UW-Whitewater 35, UW-La Crosse 21.

Other storylines
The rematches: Rowan blew out Wilkes in the first round last year. Springfield beat St. John Fisher in a regular season game in October. Mount Union ended Wheaton’s season in 2002, 2003 and 2004, while UMHB did the same to W&J in 2004. Capital beat North Central in the playoffs last season. UW-Whitewater and UW-La Crosse play every year in the WIAC, obviously.

Who’s healthy? Will Justin Beaver play for UW-Whitewater? Is Joel Clark back to 100% for Whitworth? Eric Lowry, Wesley’s top kick returner, may not play.

Who wins in the East? As Keith and I showed, the bracket is up in the air.

Enjoy your travels and cheer responsibly. Let’s play ball!