Jack Krautzel (above) and Garnet Valley are back in the state playoffs. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)
By Josh Verlin
District 1 6A will have a new boys champion this year.
Both of last year’s finalists, winner Plymouth Whitemarsh and runner-up Spring-Ford, both suffered second-round defeats on Tuesday night, knocking them into the playback rounds in an attempt to earn a state playoff berth.
All eight of Tuesday’s winners have qualified for the state tournament, the eight losers going into consolation games on Friday night, with the four winners of those games joining the previous eight for the district’s 12 entrants into the state bracket.
Here’s an in-depth look at all four quarterfinal games, with a brief look at the four playbacks down below:
1) Lower Merion vs. 24) Springfield (Delco.)
This isn’t the quarterfinal game anybody expected. Springfield (Delco.) snuck into the district playoffs as the final qualifier after being on the outside looking in the last two years, and then despite that lack of postseason experience, knocked off battle-tested teams in Abington and Bensalem to snap a seven-year state playoff drought and set up a Central League rematch with league champion Lower Merion.