Joseph City headlines this week’s football action with the Wildcats facing Fort Thomas in the opening round of the 1A State Playoffs. The ninth ranked Wildcats will travel to take on the eighth seeded Apaches in Fort Thomas for a six o’clock scheduled kickoff.
The Wildcats finished the regular season on a down note getting soundly beaten by Mogollon last week. They posted an overall regular season mark of 5-3. Fort Thomas went 6-2, but comes into this game on the heels of back-to-back losses to Arete Prep and Salome, both top six ranked teams. Both those games were fairly close with the Apaches averaging 35 points in each contest.
The only common opponent for the two schools this season was Valley Union, which they both beat by similar scores. Joseph City and Fort Thomas haven’t played since week one of the 2015 season, which was a big win for the Wildcats.
With this meeting being played on their home field, the Apaches may have a slight upper hand, although, they will have to deal with some talented skill position players for the Cats.
Joseph City only put up 181 total yards in last week’s loss to Mogollon and they will have to vastly improve on that number if they want to advance to the second round of the playoffs next week where they would meet up with top-ranked Williams who received a first round bye.
After having last week off, Holbrook will return to action in Blue Ridge on Friday night. The Roadrunners have struggled this season and they were not able to field enough players to host Snowflake last week causing the cancellation of that contest. This week they do expect to have the bodies needed, however, playing in Lakeside against the currently 11th ranked Yellowjackets on what is expected to be a chilly night will be too much for the Birds to overcome. Blue Ridge started the season slowly losing two of their first three but they appear to be back on track after taking care of Show Low last week. Look for the home field Jackets to win handily.
Snowflake will host Show Low in a rivalry game on Friday. The second ranked Lobos will welcome in the 15th ranked Cougars with more on the line for Show Low than Snowflake. With the Cougars perilously sitting in the 15th position, they need the win to secure a playoff spot. With a loss to the Lobos they will certainly have to win in the final week of the season, when they host Holbrook to have any playoff hopes.
In the last three years the Lobos have had only five regular season losses combined. Three of those have come at the hands of the Cougars with Show Low winning in each of the past three seasons. Last year’s final was a lopsided 42-8 Show Low win.
Snowflake may not put those kind of numbers on the board but they should be able to stop their three-game skid to the Cougars and keep their second overall ranking in good shape.
Winslow’s match up with the Longhorns in Payson is basically a playoff game for both teams. With the Bulldogs ranked 17th and the Longhorns sitting in the 20thposition, a loss for either team will bring their playoff hopes to an end. Even with a win in the final week neither team would be able to climb into the top 16 in the rankings to make the post season.
Winslow has been off since their 50-0 win over Holbrook two weeks ago. Payson gave up a late lead in losing to Show Low by six points last week. With this game being played in Payson, the Longhorns would appear to have a slight advantage. With a potential playoff position on the line look for both teams to play very well.
