Bennett Durando
Webster Groves High School
Webster Groves football players hype themselves up before a Friday night game on Moss Field. Photo by Ashli Wagner
Mathisfun.com defines the Transitive Property of Inequalities as stating that “If a > b and b > c, then a > c.”
Likewise, in sports, if Team A beats Team B, Team B beats Team C, Team C beats Team D, and so on (you get the idea), then according to the transitive property, Team A must beat Team D and all inferior teams to Team D, thus making Team A better than all of the teams below it in the chain. Now put that in the back of your mind for a minute.
Turkey Day is approaching. It’s no secret that Kirkwood is a heavy favorite to win the annual rivalry game over our beloved Statesmen.
It’s no secret the Pioneers have won seven straight games since a season-opening loss. It’s no secret that they’re among the top ranked teams in Missouri Class 6 football. It’s no secret that they’ve been State title contenders ever since they made the move up to the tougher competition of Class 6. It’s no secret that they’ve trampled the Statesmen three consecutive years on Thanksgiving.
However, none of that matters when the transitive property is in play.
Yes, the transitive property is why the Statesmen will be triumphant this year. Bear with me here, as this is a complex series of teams and matchups that involves not only basic win/loss factor, but also point differential, which is especially important given that this is not a direct chain pointing from Kirkwood defeat to Webster victory.
So with that in mind, here is why the Webster Groves Statesmen will beat Kirkwood:
Late in the season, the Statesmen won a seemingly irrelevant game against Rockwood Summit, 22-17.
Earlier in the season, Summit beat Ritenour 42-27.
Ritenour beat Parkway North 35-34.
Parkway North beat Marquette 7-0.
Via transitive property and an accumulation of point differentials, Webster can be determined superior to Marquette by 28 points. Now here’s where it gets a little bit weird.
Marquette was defeated 34-16 by a CBC team that only suffered one loss all season. Sorry, Webster, that’s minus 18, but still … a 10 point advantage over CBC sounds pretty darn good.
CBC beat another local power, Chaminade, 33-20. Plus 13. Webster by 23 over Chaminade.
Now as it turns out, Kirkwood has just one loss this year (so far) as well: to Chaminade. On opening week, the Pioneers fell short in a 22-14 game against Chaminade, completing the epic chain that ensures Statesmen triumph. (Oh yeah, and add eight more and we end with a massive 31-point advantage for Webster over Kirkwood.)
So there ya have it. Math doesn’t lie. Webster is a 31-point favorite over Kirkwood on Turkey Day, so naturally I will place my faith in the Statesmen. Take that, Kirkwood.
My Bennett from the Bleachers Turkey Day prediction: Webster 69, Kirkwood 38.
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