Just three weeks remain in the regular football season for the area 3A schools, Holbrook, Snowflake and Winslow, while Joseph City and Mogollon are meeting in the 1A regular season finale on Friday night, Oct. 14.
Beginning with the 1A match up, Joseph City and Mogollon have a long history in their rivalry. Recent history in this match-up, however, belongs to the Mustangs. Mogollon has won the past six meetings, including two games in the 2013 season. In each of those meetings the average margin of victory has been more than 40 points. The last time the Wildcats were victorious was in 2011 when they won 72-26. The year prior they beat Mogollon twice, once in the regular season then again in the state playoffs.
This year both teams have identical 5-2 records against very similar opponents. They are both 4-1 in the region standings, with Joseph City ranked seventh in power points and Mogollon sitting close behind in eighth. Possibly the most telling stat when comparing the two is their outcomes vs. unbeaten Williams, which is leading their region. The Vikings beat Mogollon by 16 points, but took care of Joseph City by 56 points.
Hopefully, this game won’t go like the past five meetings have, but based on the Williams outcome, the Mustangs appear to have the edge once again. Even so, in rivalry games such as this, anything can happen. Either way, both squads appear poised to make it to the state playoffs.
Winslow eked out a one-point win over Blue Ridge last week to move to 5-2 on the season and climbed in power points to No. 6. This week the Bulldogs travel to Payson to face the 19th ranked Longhorns, who most likely need to win all three of their remaining games to make it to the post-season. Payson, now 2-4, gave Snowflake all it could handle last week in a five-point loss. The Longhorns also scored 34 points in a loss to Show Low two weeks ago. Payson may possibly be the best team currently ranked outside the top 16. Winslow will have its hands full playing in Payson for the second year in a row. Last year the Bulldogs went to Payson and came home with a 27-16 win. Expect this game to be closer. Winslow had a very strong defensive effort in last week’s Blue Ridge win and will need to bring that same effort to get past Payson on the road.
Holbrook, like most other teams in the East, is on the second half of the brutal East region schedule of facing Show Low and Snowflake in back-to-back weeks. The Roadrunners fell behind 35-0 last week before putting up late points once the game was out of hand. Friday night they host top ranked Snowflake. Sitting at No. 23 in power points the Roadrunners know their season has just three weeks left, as the post-season is most likely out of reach. Snowflake is playing to retain that number one ranking and the perks, which come with it. The Lobos are very athletic at every position and have proven to be the best team in the area thus far. The Roadrunners’ only hope may be that the Lobos are looking past them to next week’s match-up with Show Low. If the Lobos stay focused on the task at hand, they will have little problem with the Roadrunners, who have shown improvement this year despite just the two wins. In 2009 this game was close, with Snowflake winning 15-6. Don’t look for this game to be that close.
