Over the last quarter-century, we’ve had a running conversation about the postseason: which state or commonwealth has the toughest state tournament to win?
When we began, the tournament that was the most difficult to win, because of the number of good and established teams, was the NJSIAA Group 2 state tournament. We’ve seen fluctuations over the years when it comes to who is in which tournament because of enrollment changes, geographical changes, and teams changing groups.
So, which is the toughest tournament to win? We’re not necessarily going by metrics, but we try to keep in mind the quality of the competition throughout the bracket as well as looking at history. A tournament which has been dominated by one side for a long period of time (say, NJSIAA Group 4 in the Voorhees Eastern (N.J.) Era) is difficult for any team not named Eastern, but if there are sufficient contenders in the bracket, then, certainly, it is a difficult tournament to win.
Here’s my current list of five of the toughest state tournaments to win:
5. PIAA Class AAA — This tournament has been amped up in the last couple of years because of the usual excellence of Emmaus (Pa.) as well as the fact that Malvern Villa Maria (Pa.) was moved up from Class AA. And with all of that, it was Tredyffrin Conestoga (Pa.) that won the tournament a year ago. And there are plenty of contenders for this year’s championship, including Downingtown (Pa.) West, Doylestown Central Bucks West (Pa.), and Hummelstown Lower Dauphin (Pa.)
4. MIAA Division 3 — Watertown (Mass.) has won this tournament four years running. However, in the parlance of today’s youth, Uxbridge (Mass.) has entered the chat. The Spartans are the four-time defending champions of MIAA Division 4, for the school with the smallest enrollment. Uxbridge, a team which plays a style of hockey reminiscent of Voorhees Eastern (N.J.) of the 2010s, Lehighton (Pa.) of the 2000s, and Delmar (Del.) of the late 2010s, is the top team in the land. They’ll have to negoatiate a bracket which will include historically good programs like Worcester Notre Dame Academy (Mass.), Gloucester (Mass.), and Sandwich (Mass.). But we all know that a Watertown-Uxbridge match would be must-see hockey.
3. CIAC Class L — You can’t mention large-school field-invasion sports amongst young women in Connecticut without looking at it through the lens of lacrosse, meaning that the likes of New Canaan (Conn.), Greenwich (Conn.), Wilton (Conn.), and Darien (Conn.) are pretty much automatic contenders. But there is an undefeated, skilled, and committed squad out there with the name of Westport Staples (Conn.). Head coach Ian Tapsall has developed this program to six state titles and could very well win a seventh.
2. MPSSAA Class 4A — So, what kind of bracket would put a town derby in its first round? Think of it: Annapolis Broadneck (Md.) and Annapolis (Md.) are in the Round of 32 this season. Also, this is another bracket where two defending champions — Crofton (Md.) and Severna Park (Md.) are staring at each other in the octofinal round. That should be an awesome confrontation, but on the other half of the bracket are former champions Gaithersburg Quince Orchard (Md.) and Bethesda-Chevy Chase (Md.). These two sides have played some of the most memorable field hockey championship finals in the history of the MPSSAA, and this title match is, I think, going to be an amazing contest, no matter who is in it.
1. VHSL Class 6 — I don’t know exactly who is going to be in the eight-team bracket because the Commonwealth of Virginia has barely begun its postseason. But one of the stronger teams from Loudoun County, a new powerhouse area, has moved up to Class 6. Adding Ashburn Independence (Va.) to a mix of teams including Fairfax (Va.), Fredericksburg Stafford (Va.), and two-time defending state champion Arlington Yorktown (Va.) will make an absolutely amazing mix of talent.
Good luck to the teams in these five brackets.
