By Greg Perkins The Lobos six-point sectional semifinal loss to Show Low last Wednesday proved to be a large setback, as it dropped the Snowflake squad into the eighth overall seed for the state tournament. Prior to the sectional tourney, the Lobos had played themselves into the No. 2 overall ranking in power points, meaning they wouldn’t have had to face top ranked Chinle until the finals. Now, as the eighth seed, after receiving a first round bye the Lobos will match up with the top seed in the third round with a second round victory. In the sectional semifinal against the Show Low Cougars, both teams started slow, ending the first period in a 7-7 tie. Show Low found its stride in the second period, outscoring a still sluggish Lobo offense 21-9 to take a 12-point halftime lead. Snowflake trimmed that margin to single digits at the start of the fourth and again cut into the lead in the final eight minutes, but was never able to entirely close the gap, resulting in the 55-49 loss. With this year’s Arizona Interscholastic Association rules giving each of the six sectional tournament winners a top six seed, Snowflake dropped out of the top six and finished in the eighth spot. Rick Shumway led the Lobo offense with 14 points. Luke Lewis added 10; Kegan Kay, 9; Kurt Wood, 8; Jordan Gardner, 4; Ty Reidhead, 2; and Dallin Fusselman and Travis Flake, 1 each. As the eighth seed the Lobos will await Tuesday’s opening round winner in a game between No. 24 Estrella Foothills and No. 9 Cortez. Snowflake will face the winner in round two at 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 21, at Payson High School. If the Lobos win that game, they would see either No. 1 Chinle, No. 16 Page or No. 17 Alchesay in round three at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 26, at Tim’s Toyota Center in Prescott Valley.