Will teams burst their playoff bubble? Teams like Merced, Hilmar, Pacheco must win.

Hilmar High has only missed the playoffs twice in the 14 years Frank Marques has been coaching. In one of those seasons (2007) the Yellowjackets missed the playoffs despite finishing with a 7-3 record.

With two games left in this season, Hilmar finds itself firmly on the playoff bubble with a 4-4 record as it prepares to host Mountain House (4-4, 0-3 Trans-Valley League) tonight.

“This is our playoff week,” Marques said. “It doesn’t matter. We have to win. We have a couple games left and they are both winnable games for us. We have to buckle down and we have to play consistent.”

The Yellowjackets aren’t alone. Many teams around the Sac-Joaquin Section find themselves on the bubble down the stretch.

It’s well known that six wins is almost always the magic number that gets you in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs. This season five wins may do it if you played a strong enough schedule. If teams are tied in wins, opponent’s wins becomes the tie-breaker for the section to decide if a team is in or out of the playoffs.

“Right now we have nine or 10 teams projected to get in at 5-5,” said Sac-Joaquin Section assistant commissioner Will DeBoard. “That number generally shrinks as we get closer, but we anticipate a handful or a couple handfuls of teams to make it.”

That means Merced (3-5, 2-2 Central California Conference) could still convincingly be alive for a playoff spot. The Bears nonconference schedule included teams like Del Campo (8-0) and Gregori (8-0).

Merced faces a huge roadblock to the playoffs in Friday’s opponent Turlock (6-2, 4-0), which brings a five-game winning streak into Veterans Stadium and a defense that has posted back-to-back shutouts.

Area eams will playoff spots locked up include Buhach Colony (6-3), Gustine (7-1), Los Banos (7-1) and Stone Ridge Christian (8-1).

Pacheco (4-4, 2-1 Western Athletic Conference) is another area team that finds itself on the bubble.

“It’s do or die time for us,” said Panthers coach David Snapp, whose team travels to Ceres on Friday and finishes with Los Banos. “Our backs are against the wall. This is the time we need to play our best football. We talked after the Patterson loss (two weeks ago) that the playoffs started that week.”

The Panthers have responded with a 35-14 win over Livingston and a 23-0 win over Central Valley last week.

“Preparation has been the biggest improvement for us,” Snapp said. “Right now we’re going on six straight quarters of not letting anyone score. I’ve seen a difference in the way our guys are studying and preparing at practice. It’s translated onto the field.

“Earlier this year there were period of lapses and it cost us big plays.”

This story was originally published October 26, 2017 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Will teams burst their playoff bubble? Teams like Merced, Hilmar, Pacheco must win.."