Football’s final week of the regular season

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Blue Ridge dropped to sixth in the rankings after their win over Holbrook. While Payson leapfrogged Winslow moving from 17th to 13th in the rankings following their win over the Bulldogs.

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Payson has the better record but due to playing an easier strength of schedule they are the lower ranked team. Payson has a top-level quarterback in Trevor Cline, but Blue Ridge has the better signal caller in PJ London. Payson’s strength is their defensive front which will give Blue Ridge problems. The Jackets don’t appear to have a strong run game, meaning London will have to do most of the work in the passing game. With this game being played in Payson and the Longhorns having a chance to win the East Region outright. Don’t be surprised if the Longhorns make it a clean sweep over the East Region opponents.

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Winslow is in a difficult position. They enter Friday’s game ranked 16th in the 3A rankings. Normally that would be fine but it appears the 16th and final playoff position will go to the winner of the North Region who is currently outside the final 16.

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Ganado is ranked 17th and has the edge on winning the North Region. Even with an expected win over Window Rock they still may not move ahead of Winslow in the rankings.

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The Bulldogs are playing in Snowflake on Friday where their match up with the fourth ranked Lobos will only help them in the standings with either a win or a loss. Obviously, an upset win would secure the playoffs for Winslow. However, even a loss could keep them in the 16th position, which unfortunately for Bulldog fans will get them bumped out by the North region winner it appears. For Winslow to assure a playoff next week they will need to upset the Lobos.

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Snowflake has too much talent for that to happen. The running game of Brig Turley and Terren Green along with the passing game led by Ethan Ramage will be too much for the Bulldogs to overcome. Winslow had their seven-game winning streak snapped with last week’s loss to Payson. Unless they can find a way to bounce back, they could possibly end the season with a loss to the Lobos, despite having a solid 7-3 overall season.

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The Holbrook-Show Low game pits two teams who have not had the types of seasons they were hoping for. The Cougars entered the year with high hopes of making a deep playoff run. Their injury to their starting quarterback set them back and they have won just three games this year. Keagan Clark returned last week against in a loss to Snowflake but the Cougars, even with a win over Holbrook, will not make the playoffs this year.

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Holbrook was hoping to win some early season games knowing the East Region contests would be a difficult task for Coach Starkey’s young team. Those wins didn’t come in the first half of the season and the expected East Region losses did arrive.

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However, Holbrook has put a better product on the field regardless of their winless record. Last week Holbrook scored early against Blue Ridge and trailed just 14-12 at one point. Yes, Blue Ridge went on to open a huge lead, but Holbrook kept fighting and playing hard as they have all season and finished the game scoring 32 points. They will score against Show Low on Friday. With neither team having a lot to play for the Roadrunners will continue to build their program for next season.

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Show Low has nothing but pride left to play for. Questions is, will that be enough to defeat a hungry Holbrook team? Maybe, just maybe Holbrook ends the season with a huge win. Even if they don’t the Holbrook football program is headed in the right direction.

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