No. 1 Vs. No. 2 - A Perfect Season Against The One-Loss Challenger

The Road In: Columbia Heights never lost. Four games, four wins, a perfect 4-0 regular season and the No. 1 seed. Metro finished 4-1, the next-best record in the division, and locked up No. 2 - putting the division's two best records on opposite sides of the bracket.

Semifinal Saturday: Columbia Heights protected perfection at Roosevelt, beating Barry Farm 17-6, a team that earned the No. 4 seed on a head-to-head tiebreaker. At Eastern, Metro handled No. 3 Woodland 20-6. Two favorites, two double-digit wins, and the top two seeds through to the championship game.

The Matchup: No. 1 against No. 2, unbeaten against one-loss, in the very first game of Championship Saturday. Columbia Heights puts a perfect season on the line. Metro brings the strongest challenge the division can offer. Something has to give at 9:30 a.m.

One Point Apart Then. Everything On The Line Now

The Road In: This matchup was born in a three-team tiebreaker. Riggs LaSalle, Barry Farm and the Blue Bulls all finished 4-2, deadlocked for two playoff spots. The head-to-head pool settled everything: Riggs LaSalle's 13-12 one-point win over Barry Farm earned the No. 3 seed, Barry Farm's win over the Blue Bulls grabbed No. 4, and the Blue Bulls saw a winning 4-2 season end on the narrowest of margins. Barry Farm carried one more piece of history into the playoffs: it was the only team to beat No. 1 Emery Heights in the regular season.

Semifinal Saturday: The 4-2 duo wrecked the bracket. Barry Farm beat No. 1 Emery Heights again, 14-6 at Roosevelt - Emery Heights' second loss of the season, and both belong to Barry Farm. Across town at Eastern, Riggs LaSalle shut out No. 2 Metro 12-0. Two 4-2 teams. Two 5-1 favorites sent home.

The Matchup: Circle this one. One point decided the first meeting, 13-12, and that single point set the seeds and shaped the whole bracket. Now the same two teams meet again, and a championship replaces a tiebreaker on the line.

The Game That Set The Seeds Gets A Championship Rematch

The Road In: Benning Stoddert and Riggs LaSalle were the class of 10U all season, matching 6-1 records at the top of the standings. The tiebreaker was simple and brutal: Benning Stoddert won the head-to-head meeting, took the No. 1 seed, and left Riggs LaSalle at No. 2. Every week since has pointed back to that one result.

Semifinal Saturday: Neither finalist gave an inch. Benning Stoddert blanked Columbia Heights 26-0 at Eastern, and Riggs LaSalle shut out Emery 14-0 at Roosevelt. Both winners went through playoff-tested opponents to get here: Columbia Heights reached the postseason by surviving a three-team tiebreaker without losing a pool game, and Emery earned the No. 3 seed with an 18-6 win over Fort Stanton. Two finalists, two shutouts, zero points allowed.

The Matchup: Benning Stoddert owns the head-to-head. Now Riggs LaSalle gets its shot at the only team that finished ahead of it, with a championship on the line. The 10U title game is a rematch of the meeting that decided the top seed in the regular season - and this time it crowns a champion.

The Unbeaten Standard Meets The Upset Winner

The Road In: New York Ave was perfect: 6-0 in the regular season, the No. 1 seed, and a division-low 12 points allowed. Rosedale earned the No. 3 seed at 4-1, giving the 12U bracket three teams with one loss or fewer.

Semifinal Saturday: New York Ave did what New York Ave does. The defense that allowed a division-low 12 points in the regular season posted another shutout, 18-0 over Emery Heights at Eastern. At Roosevelt, Rosedale announced itself, knocking off No. 2 Columbia Heights 12-6 against a defense that had allowed only 19 points all regular season.

The Matchup: The day's final game pairs the unbeaten No. 1 seed with the team that just eliminated No. 2. New York Ave has not lost and has barely been scored on. Rosedale has lost once all season and just beat the division's second-best team on the road to Woodson. The finale could be the best game of the day.