It’s hard to believe but the high school football regular season has come to an end for Gila Valley area teams. Pima, Morenci, Willcox and Thatcher have all qualified for the postseason and will all be playing at home on Friday, November 5th.
#1 Pima vs #16 Chinle
The Pima Roughriders secured the #1 seed in the 2A playoffs with a thrilling one-point victory over Morenci in last week’s season finale. Their only loss this season came to #1 3A Thatcher and are riding an 8-game winning streak. The ‘Riders threw for almost 300 yards in their victory over Morenci and if they can be that balanced in the playoffs, they will be hard to stop.
Chinle finished the regular season 3-6 overall but were 3-0 in the 2A San Juan to earn the automatic bid to the state tournament. The Wildcats scored over 40 points in each of their 3 wins and held their conference opponents to less than 6 points per game.
The two teams have no like opponents in common this season.
Prediction: Pima 61 Chinle 0
#2 Morenci vs #15 Tanque Verde
I’m not sure anyone would want to draw the Morenci Wildcats at this point in the season. They were one possession away from an undefeated season and the top seed before their loss to Pima last week. Any angry ‘Cats team is a scary team to face in the postseason. The health of QB Daylen Johnson will be a major question throughout the playoffs but with the performance that Joey Seballos had against Pima, the Wildcats may not need to rush Johnson back.
Tanque Verde has been a bit of an up and down team this season. They Hawks started the season with 4 straight losses before rolling off 5 wins in a row. They fell last week in their region title game, 55-6 to Willcox.
Morenci shut out Tanque Verde in Week 2 of the season 44-0.
Prediction: Morenci 44 Tanque Verde 6
#4 Willcox vs #13 St. Johns
The Willcox Cowboys come into the playoffs with an 8-2 record. Their two losses have come to #1 Pima and #2 Morenci. They are led on offense by a pair of powerful running backs in Ayden Fuentes and Cristian Pando. The two have combined to rush for 2,500 yards and 41 touchdowns this season.
Traditionally St. Johns has been a staple in the football postseason. Ask anyone who played 2A football from the 90’s through about 2018 and you will find someone who was knocked out of the playoffs by a St. Johns team. Those teams were all coached by Mike Morgan who retired last season. This year’s Redskin team is 6-4 and making the long road trip to Willcox in the opening round.
Prediction: Willcox 41 St. Johns 12
#1 Thatcher vs #16 Benson
The Thatcher Eagles dominated their schedule this year enroute to a perfect regular season record. The Eagles defense only gave up 1 rushing touchdown this season. Eagle football is used to having the target on their backs entering the postseason. Since 1993, the Eagles have only missed the postseason one time, a 7-3 team in 2015 was left out of the playoffs.
Benson beat out Safford for the final playoff spot in the 3A. It is the first year for the Bobcats back in the 3A after finishing being bumped from 2A after last season. The injury bug has found the Bobcats late in the season and they dropped their last two games. Making the playoffs in Dustin Cluff’s first season at Benson will be a feather in their cap but a rematch with Thatcher will be a tough matchup.
Prediction: Thatcher 55 Benson 0
