PHOENIX — With Friday Night Fever, Arizona’s number one and oldest high school football show now done with its regular season, it is now known which teams are going to be in the hunt for a state championship this year.
On Saturday morning the Arizona Interscholastic Association unleashed the playoff brackets of the Open Division football, 6A football, 5A football, 4A football, 6A tag rugby football, 5A tag rugby football, and 4A tag rugby football.
The playoffs have already started in 3A football, 2A football and 1A football.
And before I dissect the 6A bracket let me briefly explain how playoffs function in Arizona.
1.A has a 12-team bracket with four seeds that were given direct ticket to quarterfinals. That is the only conference where teams get to have byes. All 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A conferences are involved in a 16team bracket. The Open Division is an eight-team bracket consisting of the top eight teams in 5A and 6A, based on co-ordinate annual ratings of the AIA.
All three conferences participate in 16-team brackets in flag football.
Now, let’s take a look at the 6A bracket and first, begin with the seeds.
2024 6A High School Football Playoff Seeds
Note: The seeds below will not include the teams ranked No. 1-4 in 6A (Basha, ALA-Queen Creek, Liberty and Hamilton) as those teams will play in the Open Division playoffs instead of the 6A playoffs.
- Brophy Prep Broncos (8-2, 3-1) 2nd place in 6A Central region
- Queen Creek Bulldogs (8-2, 3-1) 2nd place in 6A East Valley region
- Red Mountain Mountain Lions (7-3, 3-1) 3rd place in 6A East Valley region
- Mountain View Toros (9-1, 5-0) 6A Fiesta region champions
- Salpointe Catholic Lancers (7-2, 4-0) 6A Central region champions
- Highland Hawks (7-3, 1-3) 4th place in 6A East Valley region
- Pinnacle Pioneers (7-3, 3-1) 2nd place in 6A Northeast Valley region
- Perry Pumas (5-5, 1-3) 3rd place in 6A Premier region
- Chandler Wolves (5-5, 1-3) 4th place in 6A Premier region
- Mountain Pointe Pride (6-4, 2-2) 3rd place in 6A Central region
- Casteel Colts (5-5, 1-3) 5th place in 6A Premier region
- Williams Field Black Hawks (4-6, 0-4) 5th place in 6A East Valley region
- Cesar Chavez Champions (7-3, 4-1) 2nd place in 6A Fiesta region
- Centennial Coyotes (3-7, 2-2) 3rd place in 6A Northeast Valley region
- Sandra Day O’Connor Eagles (4-6, 3-1) 2nd place in 6A Desert Valley region
- Boulder Creek Jaguars (4-6, 3-1) 6A Desert Valley region champions
2024 6A Playoffs First Round (Round of 16) Matchups
- No. 1 Brophy will host No. 16 Boulder Creek
- This will be the fifth meeting between Brophy and Boulder Creek, according to MaxPreps. Brophy leads the series 3-1 and won the most recent meeting, 24-6 in 2021.
- No. 2 Queen Creek will host No. 15 O’Connor
- This will be the first-ever meeting between Queen Creek and O’Connor in football, according to MaxPreps.
- No. 3 Red Mountain will host No. 14 Centennial
- This will be the fourth meeting between Red Mountain and Centennial, according to MaxPreps. Red Mountain leads the series 2-1 and won the most recent meeting, 20-19, in the first round of the 6A playoffs in 2021.
- No. 4 Mountain View will host No. 13 Cesar Chavez
- This will be the fourth meeting, and second this season, between the 6A Fiesta region rivals, according to MaxPreps. Mountain View has won all three previous games and beat Chavez 50-0 on Nov. 1.
- No. 5 Salpointe will host No. 12 Williams Field
- This will be the fourth time Salpointe and Williams Field will meet in football and the second straight season that they will play in the playoffs, according to MaxPreps. Salpointe has a 3-0 record against Williams Field and beat the Black Hawks 35-25 in the quarterfinals of last year’s 6A playoffs.
- No. 6 Highland will host No. 11 Casteel
- This will be the fourth meeting between Highland and Casteel, according to MaxPreps. Highland currently has a 3-0 record against the Colts and won the most recent meeting 24-7 in the quarterfinals of the 6A playoffs in 2021.
- No. 7 Pinnacle will host No. 10 Mountain Pointe
- This will be the seventh meeting between Pinnacle and Mountain Pointe, according to MaxPreps. Mountain Pointe leads the series 4-2, but Pinnacle won the most recent game, 40-0, in 2019.
- No. 8 Perry will host No. 9 Chandler
- This will be the 16th meeting, and second this season, between the 6A Premier region rivals, according to MaxPreps. Perry got their first-ever win over Chandler, 24-17, on Nov. 1.
All eight of the first round games are presently slated to take place on Friday, Nov. 15 and site of all the games will be the higher seed.
The 6A State Championship Game will be at 1 pm on December 7th at Mountain America Stadium located at Arizona State University in Tempe.
Also in 6A there is a new kid on the block because Saguaro last years champions did not make it this year to the playoffs.
