The football season has come to a close for both Holbrook and Joseph City, but Winslow and Snowflake will be in action in the opening round of the 3A State playoffs, with both seeing a team they faced in the regular season.

The Bulldogs finished the season with a 6-4 mark and seeded 13th. They will travel to face No. 4 Monument Valley in Kayenta on Saturday night, Nov. 5. The Mustangs are one of two unbeaten teams in the state bracket, with the other being top seeded Show Low. Monument Valley started its 10-0 season with a 24-23 home field win over Winslow back on Aug. 26 in the first week of the season. That game came down to the final minutes and despite the disparity in the seeds, this game could also be quite close.

The Mustangs have been really tough at home, and should have a bit of an edge with the home field. Winslow has played a much more difficult regular season, and should be more battle tested. Just based on the difference in their regular season strength of schedule, Winslow has to be favored to win this game and hand the Mustangs their first and only loss of the season.

At 9-1, second seeded Snowflake will host 5-5 Payson. The Longhorns won their final three games of the season to advance to the playoffs and will face a Lobo team they saw on Oct. 7. In that contest the Longhorns held a lead before falling to Snowflake 26-21 in a highly competitive contest.

That first game was played in Payson and with the playoff game in Snowflake, that has to favor the Lobos. Snowflake has more offensive weapons than Payson. In the first meeting Snowflake gained exactly 100 yards more than Payson. If the Lobo defense holds up on Saturday night, Snowflake will advance to the second round.

All first round 3A playoff games will be played at the site of the higher seeds and begin at 6 p.m. Second round games will also be played at the site of the higher seeds on Saturday, Nov. 12. The semifinal games will be played on Nov. 19 at Williams Field. The 3A State Championship game will be held on Nov. 26 at Chaparral High School.