Today the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) released their first power rankings for football and volleyball. These rankings are used to seed the teams into the State Tournaments. There are plenty of other media outlets who conduct their own rankings, but these Power Rankings provided by the AIA are the only numbers that count towards the playoffs.
The Gila Valley is very well represented in today’s rankings.
Football
Despite a slow start, the Safford Bulldogs, are just 3 spots out of the playoffs currently at #19. If they continue the roll they are currently on, you can expect them to climb rapidly.
To absolutely nobody’s surprise, the Thatcher Eagles come in at #1. The entire 2A Black Conference is in the Top 10, making it the toughest league in 2A. Morenci is #4, St. Johns #5, Pima #7 and Round Valley is #8.
Despite their 5-0 start the Fort Thomas Apaches are #5 in the first rankings. This has something to do with how weak their regular season schedule is. Don’t worry about the number beside the Apaches name, they will be a force to be reckoned with in the 1A playoffs.
Volleyball
Safford volleyball comes in at #17 in the 3A Power Rankings. They started the season slowly but recently finished 2nd at the Payson Invitational, which could lead to more success in power point games.
Thatcher is 7-0 in power point games but #2 in the first rankings. They sit behind Scottsdale Christian who is 6-0. The Lady Eagles finished 2nd in the Snowflake Invitational 2 weeks ago as they prep for the home stretch.
Pima sits 5-2 on the the season and is ranked #12 in the first poll
Bowie/San Simon leads the area teams in 1A as they are 8-1 and ranked #4 in the State. This team has been climbing over the last few years and could have a legitimate shot at a deep run in the 1A playoffs.
Fort Thomas is #18 and Duncan comes in at #21.
