Can you feelt the heat?

T
he temps may be
dropping outside, but things are heating up in Dogie sports!
We are now a week closer to the postseason, and the possible scenarios for volleyball and football regarding playoff and seeding for the regional tournament are enough to make your head spin.
And I love it!
Through sheer will and grit, the Dogies have given themselves the opportunity for post-season play when it seemed that was out of the realm of possibility early in the season. Things seem to be falling into place after last weekend, and the Dogie philosophy of “Compete, all in, find a way” is showing itself to be effective. 
With the successes the team has seen in the last few weeks, coupled with another 2A team pulling off an upset win over a higher seeded squad, the Dogies are poised to earn a playoff berth if they can get past Wheatland this Friday.
Wheatland has done well this season, however, they recently suffered a loss to Torrington and the way the Dogies have been finding a way to win lately, we just might surprise the Bulldogs and make the first round!
Several things had to happen to make playoffs a possibility, and so far so good which is uber exciting!
Then there’s the 3A East Regional volleyball scenario, and that one definitely is crazy.
Going into last weekend, there was a clear number one in the Northeast and the Southeast, but over the course of three days, that has all changed.
In the southeast, Wheatland was number one with a
3-0 quadrant record. Meanwhile, Burns, Torrington and Rawlins were all in a tie for second place with 1-2 records. 
However, last weekend Torrington picked up two wins against Wheatland and Rawlins while Burns also got the best of Wheatland and Rawlins. With these wins (and losses for Wheatland), there is now a three-way tie for first as all three teams have a 3-2 conference record.
Up north, Douglas defeated Buffalo who was, until that contest, undefeated in the northeast quad. As it stands those two teams now have 3-1 conference records. Meanwhile, Newcastle did what it needed to do by defeating Thermopolis for a second time to improve to 2-2 in the conference. With rematch games scheduled this week against both Douglas and Buffalo, the Lady Dogies have the potential to even up the conference record just as the teams in the south-
east have.
Now, I’m not sure how the tie breaker works in volleyball, but it could be that overall record will be the first step in determining seeding. If that is the case, Newcastle will likely remain the No. 3 seed for the regional tournament, but the whole thing just goes to show you that the tournament is going to be anyone’s to win.
All of this excitement is every sports fan’s dream and I can’t wait to see how the next couple of weeks play out.