The South Hadley football team qualified for the MIAA Division 7 state tournament for the second time in three years following the unveiling of the statewide brackets this past weekend, despite dropping its regular-season finale to Easthampton, 22-2, last Thursday.
The Tigers (4-4) received the 15th-seed in the Div. 7 bracket and will head east to play No. 2 Amesbury, this Friday, in the Round of 16.
The Redhawks turned in an undefeated regular season at 8-0 and have torched their competition of late, winning their previous two games by a combined score of 87-7.
South Hadley are losers of lost two straight, with its most recent victory coming against rival Holyoke, 48-7, on Oct. 17.
The Tigers were the only Hampshire County football squad to advance to the MIAA tournament. The other area teams will play in non-playoff games the next two weeks, starting this Thursday.
The Purple Knights will host Chicopee, Amherst will host West Springfield and Northampton will visit Franklin Tech, all on Nov. 6.
Then on Friday, Belchertown will visit Palmer and Smith Voc will host Greenfield.
Kickoff for Friday’s playoff opener at Landry Stadium in Amesbury is set for 6:30 p.m.
