PHOENIX — The Arizona Interscholastic Association released the initial football rankings for the small school conferences today. The Gila Valley is well represented in the rankings.
1A Conference
The undefeated Mogollon Mustangs are atop the 8-man poll followed by Mohave Accelerated and San Manuel, both of which are undefeated as well.
The 2-3 Duncan Wildkats come in at #15 and the 1-3 Fort Thomas Apaches sit at #19.
2A Conference
The 4-0 Parker Broncs come in as the first #1 of the season in 2A. Arizona Lutheran is three points behind them in 2nd. The 4-1 Morenci Wildcats are fifth, Willcox at 5-0 is 7th and the 3-2 Pima Roughriders come in #8.
3A Conference
The top 6 teams in the 3A Conference are still undefeated, including the 5-0 Safford Bulldogs who are #5. They play the early #1 Valley Christian at home on Friday. At 4-1, Thatcher sits just inside the top 10 at #9.
Each Conference’s leadership gets to pick how many teams qualify for the playoffs and how they qualify.
In 3A, in order to qualify, a school must have played a minimum of six (6) games. Based on region standings, the top team in each region will earn an automatic bid to the state tournament. Remaining teams will be added to the state tournament bracket based on AIA rankings powered by MaxPreps. The 16 teams will be seeded according to AIA rankings. 3A Conference leadership reserves the right to evaluate state tournament participants and bracket seeding based on analytical data. The state tournament will consist of four rounds and be single elimination.
- 3A: Seven (7) automatic bids and nine (9) at-large qualifiers based on ranking
In the 2A Conference, in order to qualify, a school must have played a minimum of six (6) games. Based on region standings, the top team in each region will earn an automatic bid to the state tournament. The state tournament bracket will be seeded according to the overall AIA rankings powered by MaxPreps of the 16 teams. The state tournament will consist of four rounds and be single elimination.
- 2A: Nine (9) automatic bids and seven (7) at-large qualifiers based on ranking
For the 8-man football teams in 1A,
In order to qualify, a school must have played a minimum of four (4) games. Based on region standings, the top team in each region will earn an automatic bid to the state tournament. Remaining teams will be added to the state tournament bracket based on AIA rankings powered by MaxPreps. The 12 teams will be seeded according to AIA rankings. Teams seeded Nos. 1-4 will receive first-round byes. 1A Conference leadership reserves the right to evaluate state tournament participants and bracket seeding based on cancellations, head-to-head and common opponents, and may adjust seeding accordingly. The state tournament will consist of four rounds and be single elimination.
1A: Four (4) automatic bids and eight (8) at-large qualifers based on ranking
