Joseph City closed out the regular season with wins over Ash Fork and Seligman last week setting themselves up with momentum for the 1A state play-in game on Tuesday.
The Wildcats are seeded 10th for the play-in game and will travel to El Capitan on Tuesday night to take on the seventh seeded Eagles. With a win, they would advance to the eight-team state tournament bracket, which will get underway on Friday night at the site of the higher seeded teams.
In their win at Ash Fork on Monday, they started slowly but gradually outscored the Spartans in every quarter for a final margin of 56-36. Jareon Miller led the way with 19 points. Bannon Johnstun added 9; Karter Lampsa, 7; Tyler Penrod, 6; Bridger Fields, 6; Bryce Bushman, 4; Blake Palmer, 4; and Ethan Thomas helped with a single point.
Playing at home on senior night, the Wildcats lit up the scoreboard in a 91-35 rout of visiting Seligman. Joseph City poured in 32 points in the first eight minutes and led 50 to 19 at the half. The third period saw them post another 31 points before netting just 10 in the final eight minutes.
Twelve Wildcat players made the scorebook led by Lampsa’s 20-point effort. Penrod added 16; Johnstun, 11; Bushman, 9; Fields, 8; Miller, 5; Cole Moss, 5; Thomas, 4; Zane Johnson, 4; Palmer, 4; John Weightman, 3; and Brent Bush added 2.
Joseph City finished the regular season with an overall record of 20-9.
