Unbeaten Peabody, State Champion Marblehead To Host Football Playoffs

PEABODY, MA — The undefeated Peabody Veterans Memorial High football team will put its 8-0 record on the line as the No. 3 seed in Division 2 in the statewide football playoff seedings released on Monday.

The Tanners will host No. 14 Bishop Feehan in the first round of games scheduled for this weekend. Peabody is one of three unbeaten teams in Division 2 with fourth-seeded Catholic Memorial and sixth-seeded Reading as the other two unblemished squads.

The kickoff for that game is Friday night at 7. Tickets must be purchased at this site with adult entry at $11.50 and entry for students and seniors at $6.25. No cash sales will be accepted.

Milford (7-1) and King Philip (6-1) earned the top two seeds, respectively, in the state's power rankings.

Defending Division 3 state champion Marblehead (6-1), whose only loss came to Peabody, earned the No. 8 seed and will also host a playoff opener against No. 9 Whitman-Hanson (4-4).

That game will also be at 7 p.m. on Friday with all tickets available online only here.

Defending Division 5 state champion Swampscott (4-4) was seeded 16th and will hit the road in hopes of defending its title at No. 1 Hudson.

St. John's Prep of Danvers (6-2) was awarded the No. 7 seed in Division 1 and will host a playoff opener against No. 10 Attleboro.

The quarterfinals will be held at the highest remaining seed next weekend with the state semifinals on Nov. 18-20.

State finalists will then take a week to play their traditional Thanksgiving opponents before the state title games on Dec. 2-3.

The top 16 teams in each division qualified for the state playoffs in their second year. Playoff qualifiers must have won at least three games and played at least seven times.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)