Five Teams That Need an Answer Friday Night in Week 4

SECTION IX — Not every Friday night carries the same kind of pressure.

Some teams are trying to stay unbeaten. Some are trying to protect a ranking. Some are trying to stop a slide before October starts to get away from them.

Week 4 gives five programs in particular a chance to answer an important question about where their seasons are headed.

1. Monroe-Woodbury: can the Crusaders stop 0-4 from becoming the story?

#12 Monroe-Woodbury has reached the point where reputation cannot do the work anymore.

The Crusaders enter Friday 0-4 and travel to Academy Field to face #2 Newburgh Free Academy.

The schedule has been difficult. That matters.

But the current season matters more.

Monroe has already fallen five places from the previous Power 40 and now gets a Newburgh team coming off a 31-0 shutout of Cornwall.

This is not an easy place to find a reset.

It may be the exact kind of game Monroe needs if it wants to change the conversation quickly.

2. Cornwall: what does the response look like?

#5 Cornwall is 1-3 and coming off a 31-0 loss to Newburgh.

That is unusual territory for a program that has spent years near the center of the Section IX championship conversation.

Cornwall still sits at the top of the current KOT845 Class A board, but Friday at #8 Minisink Valley gives the Dragons very little room to drift.

The matchup is nearly even historically, too. Cornwall holds a 17-16 advantage across the meetings currently indexed in the KOT845 archive.

A win stabilizes the month.

Another loss would make a 1-4 start impossible to treat as a small sample anymore.

3. Highland: was last week a bad night or a warning?

Highland started 3-0.

Then Burke Catholic beat the Huskies 52-6.

Friday brings the fastest possible test of how Highland responds.

#21 Highland hosts unbeaten #18 Dover in a matchup between the top two teams in the current Class C rankings.

Highland does not have to erase last week.

It has to show what comes after it.

A win would put the Huskies right back in control of the Class C conversation. A loss would give Dover meaningful separation at the top.

4. Warwick: when does the breakthrough come?

#16 Warwick enters Friday 0-4.

The Wildcats have played a difficult opening stretch, but October arrives with the same basic issue every winless team eventually faces:

At some point, the response has to become a result.

That opportunity comes against #4 Our Lady of Lourdes, a 3-1 team that has produced explosive offensive performances during the opening month.

Warwick is not getting an easy assignment.

But a first win against a top-five team would change the feel of the season immediately.

5. Pine Bush: can the Bushmen turn competitiveness into a signature result?

#11 Pine Bush is 1-3, but the record does not tell the entire story of its opening month.

Friday gives the Bushmen the biggest possible opportunity to change how the first four weeks are viewed.

#1 Middletown comes to town at 4-0.

The Middies have already beaten Cornwall, Minisink Valley and Port Jervis during their undefeated start.

Pine Bush does not need any explanation for what a win would mean.

Beat the No. 1 team, and the entire Section IX conversation changes before the weekend even begins.

Friday will answer more than one question

Pressure does not mean the same thing for every team.

Monroe needs a breakthrough.

Cornwall needs a response.

Highland needs to show last week did not redefine it.

Warwick needs its first win.

Pine Bush gets a shot at the top-ranked team.

By Friday night, at least some of those questions will have answers.

Follow every Week 4 matchup through the KOT845 Game Center at KOT845.com.