In less than 24 hours we find out the following, at least in partial:
1. Is the Northeastern Conference weak this year, based on Danvers’s annihilation of every team it faced in its first 18 games, except for Beverly, a scary two-point win?
2. Or are the Falcons truly a once in a generation team, like the last NEC squad — Salem — to run roughshod over the oposition en route to an 18-0 NEC mark and a 25-0 record overall, th end result the Division 2 state championship, the Witches’ second in five years?
3. Are the Falcons prepared to face a Boston city team like Brighton, one of the Division 2 tourney favorites despite a 12-5 record? That’s the opposition in the Comcast/IAABO Board 27 tournament Sunday night at 6 at Babson College. The other matchup, at 4, pits a pair of Division 1 powers, 14-3 B.C. High against 17-2 Newton North. The winners Sunday play Monday at 6:30, the losers at 4:30.
4. Will the Falcons play like the second quarter Thursday night against lowly Gloucester, when they scored only six points in the final seven minutes of the second quarter and the Fishermen closed from a 19-5 deficit to 25-15?
5. Or will they play like they did coming out to start the third quarter, with a 24-4 surge that featured their choking pressure defense and relentless transition offense?
6. Simply put, do the Falcons measure up against the most imposing opposition they have faced all season after seventeen blowout wins and the close call against a Beverly team that has faded badly since almost pulling off the upset of the season?
We find out in less than 24 hours.