Regular season drama unfolding

Numerous scenarios will unfold this weekend as the regular season comes to a close.
The Shoe Game between Pacific Grove and Carmel will steal the spotlight for several reasons.
One is The Shoe, a coveted bronze shoe that has remained at Carmel for six years.
The other is the obvious. The winner captures the Mission Trail Athletic League title as both Pacific Grove and the Padres are unbeaten in the MTAL.
 Equally important is seeding for the postseason, which is Sunday in San Jose.
 A Carmel win likely gives them the No. 1 seed in Division IV. A Pacific Grove loss could put them on the road for the postseason.
 While the Padres have won the last six meetings between the two rivals in the regular season, it was Pacific Grove that put 77 points on them in advancing to the Division IV finals last year.
 With Palma falling from the unbeaten ranks last week, it has to defeat Alvarez on Friday to claim a share of the Gabilan Division title.
 A loss would not only give the league title outright to Salinas -- which has a bye this week -- but it would drop the Chieftains from the Open Division to Division IV.
 That in turn would push Salinas into the Open instead of Division I, where it would be a top seed.
 Not having a healthy Emilio Martinez in the second half last week explains some of Palma's second-half struggles against San Benito.
 Hartnell is not only aiming for a share of the American Golden Conference on Saturday at home, but it can earn a bowl berth and knock West Hills from the unbeaten ranks.
 The Panthers (8-1) are first in the state in total offense with 4,303 yards and seventh in the state in scoring at 42.2 points. West Hills is third in the state at 45.8 points.
 West Hills is one of two teams in the state still undefeated at 9-0.