The Douglas' football team's 28-21 win over Bishop Manogue, coupled with Carson's 45-14 win over Galena Friday night, all but cemented the fact that the season-finale between the Tigers and Senators will have Sierra League title implications.
With Friday's win, Douglas has the inside track to the title, needing only a win over Carson to clinch. Any misstep in the next two weeks, though, and Carson would be right back in the mix. With Friday's loss, Manogue's title hopes became the slimmest of the three schools.
Douglas travels to South Tahoe (1-4 in league play) next week, Carson travels to Fallon (2-3 in league play) and Manogue hosts Damonte Ranch (0-4 prior to Saturday's game with winless Wooster) before finishing out the season at 3-2 Galena.
As stated above, Douglas clinches with a win over Carson. A loss to South Tahoe would open up the universal tiebreaker, which Douglas would have the advantage in due to its win over Manogue (Manogue beat Carson earlier in the year).
Tiger losses in both games, coupled with Carson and Manogue winning out, would give the title to Manogue by virtue of the Miners' win over Carson earlier in the year. This is the only scenario where Manogue can win the title.
If Douglas beats South Tahoe and loses to Carson, and Manogue beats its two remaining opponents, that would bring about the most complicated scenario.
With each team sporting a 1-1 record in the three-way head-to-head, the tiebreaker would revert to the 13-point system, meaning it would come down to the margin of victory against each other to determine the title. The team with the highest margin of victory would win the title.
Under that scenario, Manogue would be out of the title picture and be relegated to the No. 3 seed as it would stand at minus-4 having already played both teams. Douglas, as a result of its win over the Miners stands at plus-7 entering the Carson game while Carson stands at minus-3 as a result of its loss to Manogue.
That means Carson would need to beat Douglas by at least five points to clinch the league title (A five-point win would create a tie in the point differential at plus-2, which would revert the tiebreaker back to head-to-head competition, in which case the advantage would go to Carson with the win).
If Douglas loses by less than five, the Tigers would take the league crown.
If Douglas loses by 12 or more to Carson, Carson would take the title, Manogue would get the league's No. 2 seed and the Tigers would have to venture out on the road for the playoffs as the No. 3 seed.
There are other obvious, but not likely, scenarios, like if Carson and Manogue both lose next week, Douglas would automatically clinch regardless of the finale's outcome.
If Manogue loses once more and Carson wins the finale against Douglas, then Carson clinches the title.
Douglas clinches home field in the first round with one more win, regardless of who it is against, or by not losing to Carson by 12 points or more. Manogue gets home field advantage in the first round with a Carson loss. Carson needs to beat Douglas in order to get home field advantage.
