St. David, the 1A South champion that went unbeaten in region play, was designated Saturday as the No. 2 seed in the eight-man 1A state playoffs that start Friday.
The Tigers, 8-1 overall and 6-0 in the 1A South, earned a bye and will first play in the quarterfinal round at home Oct. 29.
They will play the winner of Friday’s first-round matchup of No. 10 Lincoln Prep (6-2) at No. 7 Bagdad (6-3). St. David defeated Bagdad 62-6 at home on Sept. 3.
The top seed of the playoffs is Mogollon, which went 9-0 overall and 5-0 in the 1A North in the regular season. The Mustangs defeated St. David 48-26 at home on Sept. 17.
Also representing the 1A South in the playoffs are No. 5 San Manuel (7-1) and No. 11 Valley Union (4-4).
San Manuel will host No. 12 Tempe Prep (5-3) and Valley Union will travel to No. 6 Hayden (4-3) in first round games that are scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m.
No. 4 Mohave Accelerated (6-1) awaits the winner of Tempe Prep-San Manuel and No. 3 Williams (7-2) the winner between Valley Union-Hayden in the quarterfinal round Oct. 29.
1A (8-Man) State Playoffs
Friday
First round
No. 9 Salome (6-2) at No. 8 El Capitan (5-3), 7 p.m.
No. 12 Tempe Prep (5-3) at No. 5 San Manuel (7-1), 7 p.m.
No. 11 Valley Union (4-4) at No. 6 Hayden (4-3), 7 p.m.
No. 10 Lincoln Prep (6-2) at No. 7 Bagdad (6-3), 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 29
Quarterfinals
Salome-El Capitan winner at No. 1 Mogollon (9-0), 7 p.m.
Tempe Prep-San Manuel winner at No. 4 Mohave Accelerated (6-1), 7 p.m.
Valley Union-Hayden winner at No. 3 Williams (7-2), 7 p.m.
Lincoln Prep-Bagdad at No. 2 St. David (8-1), 7 p.m..
Friday, Nov. 5
Semifinals
Both games at Scottsdale Coronado, times TBA
Saturday, Nov. 13
Championship
Final at Scottsdale Coronado, 6 p.m.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District