For the second time in as many years, undefeated Cienega is the No. 1 seed in the Class 5A state football playoff bracket.
The Arizona Interscholastic Association released the brackets during a selection show Saturday morning. Playoff games will begin Friday night throughout the state.
The top seed was a little big of good fortune for the Bobcats, who as recently as last week were projected as the No. 3 seed in the state's second-largest classification. But Peoria Centennial and Queen Creek both lost Friday, allowing the Cienega β who finished a perfect season with a win over 41-14 win over Mountain View β to slide into the top spot.
Cienega will host No. 16 Laveen Betty Fairfax in the first round, and if the Bobcats win, they'll play the winner between No. 9 Marana and No. 8 Buckeye Verrado. The winner of the second-round game could conceivably play Mountain View, which β as the No. 12 seed β will travel to face fifth-seeded Queen Creek on Friday.
Pusch Ridge Christian also earned a top seed in the state playoffs, and will host Wickenburg Saturday in the first round of the Class 3A bracket. Sabino and Empire also made the 3A brackets as the No. 5 and No. 12 seeds, respectively.
A full list of Southern Arizona teams in the playoffs β and their matchups β is below:
Class 5A state playoffs, first round (all games at 7 p.m. Friday):
No. 16 Laveen Betty Fairfax at No. 1 Cienega
No. 9 Marana at No. 8 Buckeye Verrado
No. 12 Mountain View at No. 5 Queen Creek
No. 6 Ironwood Ridge vs. No. 11 Glendale Apollo (Ironwood Ridge HS)
Class 4A state playoffs, first round (all games at 7 p.m. Friday):
No. 13 Pueblo at No. 4 Salpointe Catholic
No. 11 Catalina Foothills at No. 6 Chandler Seton Catholic
No. 10 Walden Grove at No. 7 Peoria
Class 3A state playoffs, first round (all games at 7 p.m. Saturday)
No. 16 Wickenburg at No. 1 Pusch Ridge Christian
No. 12 Fountain Hills at No. 5 Sabino
No. 14 Empire at No. 3 Casteel
