Midseason report: Division II football

The fifth week of the season in Division II football gets underway Friday night, with teams playing their fourth or fifth game of an eight-game regular season.

With an unbalanced schedule in the division, it's tough to tell where each team stands outside of the four conferences. More will be found out as the season goes deeper and more of the top teams play each other, but here's an idea of where everyone stands after four weeks.

Note: Due to the presence of bye weeks in the division schedule, winning percentages were used to determine strength of schedule and per-game averages were used to determine points scored and allowed.

The rundown

Wait until next year

ConVal (0-3; SOS: .400; PS: 8.3; PA: 37.3)

Manchester West (0-3; SOS: .600; PS: 8.7; PA: 48.0)

Pembroke (0-4; SOS: .733; PS: 7.5; PA: 36.25)

It's already been a long season for all three of these teams, and it's still got a long way for go for all of them. One of them will end up with a win after this week, however, as West travels to Pembroke for a Friday night game. Given that ConVal plays in the weakest of the four conferences (West), it could pull of an upset, maybe even this week at Sanborn, or next week against Kingswood.

Wild West

John Stark (1-3; SOS: .643; PS: 14.0; PA: 35.75)

Hollis Brookline (1-3; SOS: .714; PS: 8.25; PA: 24.5)

Sanborn (1-2; SOS: .750; PS: 8.7; PA: 36.0)

One of these three teams will be playing in the West Conference championship, potentially with a non-winning record, if things hold form. Saturday's games will go a long way toward who will be there, with Hollis Brookline heading to John Stark, and Sanborn hosting ConVal. Sanborn already has a win over HB under its belt, giving it the important head-to-head tiebreaker, but so far this season, anything seems to be possible.

Outside, looking in

Kingswood (1-2; SOS: .400; PS: 9.3; PA: 20.0)

Kearsarge (2-2; SOS: .467; PS: 26.5; PA: 28.5)

Hanover (1-2; SOS: .500; PS: 14.7; PA: 23.0)

All three teams have been competitive, for the most part, this season, but have fallen behind the front-runners in the race for their respective conference games. Kingswood holds its fate in its hands, as it still has yet to play the top teams in the conference. Kearsarge's win over Hanover gives it the current edge in the North Conference, but the Cougars also still have games against the cream of the conference.

Better than record

Plymouth (0-3; SOS: 1.00; PS: 9.7; PA: 27.0)

Pelham (1-2; SOS: .500; PS: 28.7; PA: 23.0)

It seemed inevitable that there would be some kind of drop off in Plymouth this year, but it might not be as bad as the Bobcats' current record appears. Plymouth has played the toughest schedule so far in the division, with its three opponents combining for a perfect 11-0 record. Of course that might not get any better, with Trinity coming to town this week and a trip to Laconia on the horizon. Pelham is already off to a better start than its last expedition into a higher division. The Pythons have had first-quarter leads against Trinity and Milford the last two weeks, only to watch them disappear. Unfortunately for Pelham, its in the South Conference, which has five of the best 11 teams in the division.

Someone has to

Merrimack Valley (2-2; SOS: .625; PS: 27.5; PA: 20.0)

Monadnock (2-1; SOS: .300; PS: 34.7; PA: 13.7)

Is it possible for teams to have clinched a spot in the conference championship already? No, but both these teams would have to go through monumental collapses for that not to happen. Yes, Merrimack Valley lost starting quarterback Ivan Niyomugabo, likely for the season, but the Pride will face teams that are a combined 3-10 in the second half of the season. Meanwhile, Monadnock already has wins over two of its conference opponents and what amounts to a one-and-a-half game lead in the West. Its next four opponents are a combined 5-9 as well.

Three teams, one spot

Milford (3-1; SOS: .357; PS: 22.5; PA: 14.5)

Trinity (2-1; SOS: .500; PS: 27.7; PA: 23.0)

Souhegan (2-1; SOS: .545; PS: 18.3; PA: 13.7)

With Windham having the look of a championship contender, its likely only one of these three teams will be moving on to the conference title game in November. Milford has the edge right now, both in the win column and with a head-to-head win over Souhegan; the Spartans travel to Manchester to face Trinity on Oct. 11. A week later, the Pioneers will play host to the Sabers. A sweep of those games would put Trinity in the drivers seat. How much different would life be for Milford had it not lost to HB in the second week of the season? At 4-0, the Spartans would have a bit of breathing room, given the next three teams on their schedule are 9-1.

Three teams, two spots

Laconia (2-1; SOS: .400; PS: 38.0; PA: 18.3)

Lebanon (3-0; SOS: .333; PS: 25.7; PA: 7.0)

Kennett (4-0; SOS: .267; PS: 32.5; PA: 12.0)

One of these teams will be on the outside when the North Conference championship game is play on Nov. 8. Lebanon travels to Milford and Laconia hosts St. Thomas on Friday, and both should learn a lot about themselves after that. After playing Hanover this week, Kennett goes into its bye week with two big games against the other two teams here on the other side. If the Eagles take care of business, the second spot in the conference game could come down to head-to-head tiebreaker, which belongs to Lebanon, thanks to a 22-21 win in Week 1.

Favorites

St. Thomas (4-0; SOS: .214; PS: 42.25; PA: 7.0)

Windham (4-0; SOS: .357; PS: 48.5; PA: 6.0)

There's still a lot of tough football games for both teams to play, but each already has a win over a tough conference opponent (Windham over Trinity; St. Thomas over Merrimack Valley) and they've both been the most impressive teams during the first part of the season. And since they don't play each other, it's possible a championship game meeting could be between two undefeated teams.

Team rankings

(Teams are ranked in NHIAA Index, strength of schedule, points scored and points against, with total ranking equaling the average.)

1. Windham (Index: 1; SOS: T16; PS: 1; PA: 1) - 4.75
2. St. Thomas (Index: T3; SOS: 21; PS: 2; PA: T2) - 7.0
3. Laconia (Index: T7; SOS: T13; PS: 3; PA: 8) - 7.75
4. Souhegan (Index: 6; SOS: 8; PS: 12; PA: T5) - 7.75
5. Kennett (Index: T3; SOS: 20; PS: 5; PA: 4) - 8.0
6. Lebanon (Index: 2; SOS: 18; PS: 10; PA: T2) - 8.0
7. Merrimack Valley (Index: 10; SOS: 6; PS: 8; PA: T9) - 8.25
8. Trinity (Index: T7; SOS: T9; PS: 7; PA: T11) - 8.5
9. Monadnock (Index: T7; SOS: 19; PS: 4; PA: T5) - 8.75
10. Milford (Index: 5; SOS: T16; PS: 11; PA: 7) - 9.75
11. Pelham (Index: T15; SOS: T9; PS: 6; PA: T11) - 10;25
12. Hanover (Index: T12; SOS: T9; PS: 13; PA: T11) - 11.25
13. Kearsarge (Index: 11; SOS: 12; PS: 9; PA: 16) - 12.0
14. Sanborn (Index: T12; SOS: 2; PS: T17; PA: 18) - 12.25
15. Plymouth (Index: T18; SOS: 1; PS: 15; PA: 15) - 12.25
16. Hollis Brookline (Index: T12; SOS: 4; PS: 20; PA: 14) - 12.5
17. Kingswood (Index: T15; SOS: T13; PS: 16; PA: T9) - 13.25
18. John Stark (Index: 17; SOS: 5; PS: 14; PA: 17) - 13.25
19. Pembroke (Index: T18; SOS: 3; PS: 21; PA: 19) - 15.25
20. Manchester West (Index: T18; SOS: 7; PS: T17; PA: 21) - 15.75
21. ConVal (Index: T18; SOS: T13; PS: 19; PA: 20) - 17.5