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Hannah Safren and the Highland girls shoot for a fourth straight conference tournament win this weekend. -- FTD Staff Photo/Randy Litzinger

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Highland, Wakefield could meet in both DAC title games

Local
By Chris Burke
Source: Fauquier Times-Democrat
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21 2008

DAC tournament schedule

Friday's girls semifinals: No. 1 Highland vs. No. 5 Wakefield Country Day, 3:00 p.m.; No. 2 Tandem Friends vs. No. 3 Wakefield, 4:30 p.m.

Friday's boys semifinals: No. 1 Highland vs. No. 4 Randolph-Macon Academy, 6 p.m.; No. 2 Wakefield vs. No. 3 Tandem Friends, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday's games: Girls final, 5 p.m.; Boys final, 7 p.m.

(Note: If bad weather forces the postponement of Friday's games, the semifinals will be played on Saturday and the finals on Monday. Saturday's games would begin with Highland-Wakefield Country Day at 3 p.m. Monday's finals would then run at 4 and 6 p.m.)

Plenty hangs in the balance as teams prepare for this weekend's Delaney Athletic Conference tournament semifinals and finals at Highland School.

The storylines are particularly juicy on the boys side of things.

Both Highland (14-12 overall) and Wakefield (17-9) are on the outside looking in for berths in the Division II and III state tournaments, respectively. And those two rivals are a win each away from meeting in Saturday's DAC title game.

“Our goal every year anyway is to compete for the DAC championship,” Wakefield coach Scott Barron said.

Twelve teams qualify for Virginia Independent Schools (VIS) tournaments in each division. Wakefield is currently ranked No. 13 in D-III. The Hawks were 12th in D-II a few weeks back, but have since slipped.

So the stakes heading into this weekend are exponentially raised. Highland hosts Randolph-Macon (which beat the Hawks last week, and eliminated them from the DAC Tournament in 2006) at 6 p.m. on Friday. Wakefield then takes on Tandem Friends at 7:30.

“It's pretty important for us to be successful this week to give ourselves the best shot,” said Barron, whose Owls are actually in the DAC Final Four for the first time ever.

The state situation looks a little more secure for the girls, despite just 10 spots being available.

Wakefield (20-6) is presently a solid No. 8 in the D-III rankings and meets Tandem Friends (4:30 p.m. Friday) in the semis. The Owls appear likely to make the state tournament regardless of that outcome.

DAC No. 1 seed Highland (20-7) is currently No. 2 in D-II and has state title hopes.

Despite losing Conference Player of the Year Denae Davis to a concussion in a Feb. 11 upset of James Monroe, the Hawks are heavy favorites to win the DAC tourney crown for a fourth consecutive year.

The Hawks expect to then receive a bye in next week's D-II tournament and would open in the state quarterfinals at home. “I think we would be the favorites to get to the state title (game),” Highland coach Donald O'Meara said.

The conference tournament champions do not receive an automatic state bid. The last state polls and subsequent tournament pairings will be released on Sunday night.



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