James Yodice: With brackets set, it's time for playoff football

James Yodice, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
·5 min read

Oct. 31—We have targets, and we have chase packs.

The New Mexico Activities Association announced the prep football brackets for Classes 2A-6A on Saturday night, and there weren't an abundance of surprises contained within.

Times and days for next week should be known by Sunday afternoon.

CLASS 6A: Cleveland, which rallied to beat Rio Rancho 28-27 on Friday night in a definite contender for Game of the Year, was the easy choice at No. 1 here, and the Rams are right behind them.

That dynamic duo will be heavily favored to meet again at the end of November, at Cleveland.

Is there a challenger that can possibly threaten either, or both, of them? The two most obvious choices are the teams seeded 3 and 4, La Cueva and Centennial. The Bears were shellacked by Rio Rancho in Week 2, and La Cueva, much healthier now than it was in late August, could get a repeat crack at the Rams if both reach the semifinals.

The 6A bracket could (and probably should) feature Las Cruces-Centennial in the quarterfinals; the Bulldawgs had a 41-14 third-quarter lead on the Hawks on Oct. 14 before Centennial roared back to win 42-41 on a crazy trick play in the final 20 seconds.

Las Cruces (meeting No. 12 Clovis in the first round), Volcano Vista (vs. No. 11 Carlsbad), Cibola (vs. No. 10 Sandia) and Hobbs (vs. No. 9 Eldorado) are seeded 5-8. The NMAA seeded Eldorado over Sandia, even with the Matadors having a better point differential in district. The two did not face each other this fall, as Sandia had to opt out due to COVID. As they tied in district, the NMAA said it had the option of seeding the Eagles higher.

And Sandia is getting the worse of this deal, even though it avoids a lengthy first-round trip to Hobbs like Eldorado faces. Cibola's 5-5 is probably the most misleading record of any playoff team in any class, as that mark includes losses to four of the top six playoff seeds in 6A, plus 5A power Los Lunas.

Volcano Vista and Carlsbad (3-7) were supposed to meet in the regular season on the West Side, but the Hawks had to cancel due to COVID issues.

Class 6A bracket

CLASS 5A: Unbeatens Farmington and Los Lunas own the top two seeds here, with two-time defending state champion Roswell — which played excellent football after a rugged 0-4 start and won all its close games in the second half of the season — at No. 3. Artesia, in its first season under new coach Jeremy Maupin, is seeded fourth.

Looking down the road a bit, there could maybe be two repeat games in the quarters that we saw this weekend. If Belen, the 7 seed, defeats No. 10 Deming, the Eagles would face Los Lunas in the quarterfinals. The Tigers beat Belen on Saturday for the district championship.

If Goddard, the 6 seed, gets past No. 11 Valley (definitely a pleasant sight to see the Vikings scratch their way into the field), then the Rockets get another pairing with Roswell. The Coyotes edged Goddard 16-14 on Friday.

Piedra Vista, the 9 seed, faces a humongous road trip to face eighth-seeded Santa Teresa. Mayfield earned the 5 seed.

Class 5A bracket

CLASS 4A: Moriarty jumped over Albuquerque Academy into the No. 4 ranking on the MaxPreps.com poll on Saturday, and the state bracket mirrored this poll as the Pintos, who have won six straight, earned the No. 4 seed.

Lovington, Bloomfield and St. Pius are the top three seeds; Moriarty edged out Academy at 4.

Academy drew district rival Bernalillo in the 12-5 matchup. Ironically, football games are normally played on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons, but the Spartans and Chargers are almost certain to do this in reverse, with games first on Saturday night and now Friday afternoon.

They met in early October in Academy's first-ever home night game. And because Academy officials must set up for the state cross country next Saturday, the rematch with the Spartans — the Chargers won the first game, 14-7 — seems likely to be pushed up to Friday afternoon.

Silver already has traveled to face Kirtland Central, early in the regular season; the Broncos will return the visit in the first round in a fun 9-8 matchup.

Class 4A bracket

CLASS 3A: District 2-3A packed the top four seed lines, with undefeated Raton at No. 1, Robertson at No. 3 and St. Michael's at No. 4. And West Las Vegas looms as an extremely dangerous 6 seed; if the Dons win in the first round, West plays Robertson again after the two just met on Saturday.

Socorro is the 2 seed.

Hope Christian had a three-game losing skid early in the season, but the Huskies, the 2019 state champion, have won five of six headed to the postseason, including a strong 28-21 road win in Dexter on Saturday.

Class 3A bracket

CLASS 2A: Only eight schools are in the 2A field, and will go straight into the quarterfinals. Jal has the No. 1 seed, just ahead of unbeaten Tularosa, although the Wildcats only played six games. And Jal could at some point also face resistance from two teams that nearly beat them in the regular season, No. 3 Eunice and No. 4 Texico.

Class 2A bracket

8-Man bracket

6-Man bracket