No. 9 Mesquite (8-3) at No. 1 Cienega (11-0)

Mesquite defeated No.8 Marana Mountain View 21-19 in the first round to provide the only “upset” of the 5A playoffs. As a reward, the Wildcats will face the top-seeded Bobcats on Thursday night. Mesquite improved to 2-3 in games involving teams in the 5A playoffs with losses to No. 2 Williams Field, No. 4 Desert Edge and No. 6 Queen Creek. The other victory came against No. 10 Kellis.

Cienega is now on a 14-game win streak and, in many ways, is still trying to prove to the rest of the state that they earned the top seed. The Bobcats beat No. 3 Ironwood Ridge, No. 7 Marana, No. 8 Marana Mountain View, No. 14 Flowing Wells and No. 16 Fairfax by an average score of 48 to 18. On top of that, the Bobcats beat 6A playoff team No. 11 Tucson 66-34 and 4A power No. 4 Salpointe 51-14.

Cienega is led by junior standout Jamarye Joiner (1,338 yards passing with 15 touchdowns and 664 yards rushing with 12 TDs.) Senior RB has 667 yards rushing and senior Breaben Bolton has 907 yards receiving. Joseph Eubanks leads Mesquite with 910 yards rushing and senior Robert Ortiz has 491 yards passing.

Edge: Cienega.

No. 7 Marana (9-2) at No. 2 Williams Field (11-0)

The Tigers got past Kellis in the first round thanks to heroics from QB Connor Leavens in the final 30 seconds. Leavens drove his team 76 yards in the final two minutes and hit on a touchdown pass to defeat the Cougars 28-21,

Marana started out the season with losses to Ironwood Ridge and Cienega but then ripped off nine straight wins to get to this point. Leavens has 1,430 yards passing with 19 TDs and he shares QB duties with sophomore Trenton Bourguet (1,376 yards passing with 14 TDs). Senior Tony Reyes has 520 yards rushing and senior Dominic Gehr has 749 yards receiving.

The Blackhawks beat 5A No. 6 Queen Creek, No. 9 Mesquite, No. 13 Verrado and No. 15 Chaparral. Sophomore QB Zack Shepherd has 2,044 yards passing with 21 TDs. Senior Josh Alexander has 616 yards rushing and senior Max Fine has 953 yards receiving.

Edge: Williams Field.

No. 6 Queen Creek (9-2) at No. 3 Ironwood Ridge (9-2)

This game is a high-profile rematch from Sept. 23 where the Bulldogs beat the Nighthawks 37-12. That game was played at Queen Creek but this game will be played in Oro Valley. The big win over Ironwood Ridge set the Bulldogs on a successful run with only two losses against 6A power No. 6 Hamilton and Williams Field.

Ironwood Ridge has the loss at Queen Creek plus a loss to Cienega ta home. This is as close of a quarterfinal match on paper as one can find. The Bulldogs are led by sophomore QB Devin Larsen (2,243 passing with 22 TDs), senior RB Jace Koester (1,388 yards rushing with 15 TDs) and senior Armon McGuire (1,061 yards receiving).

The Nighthawks are led by senior QB Cole Gerken (1,509 yards passing with 16 TDs), injured senior RB Soma Ikaika Helu (904 yards rushing), junior Nick Brahler (856 yards rushing) and senior Garrett Billings (653 yards receiving).

Edge: Even.

No. 5 Centennial (10-1) at No. 4 Desert Edge (10-1)

Another rematch in the 5A brackets. Desert Edge beat Centennial 26-24 to start the season off but the Coyotes battled back and won 10 straight to earn the rematch. The Scorpions lost to Verrado on Oct. 27 but avenged that loss in the first round of the playoffs, proving it’s very hard to beat a top team twice.

Senior QB Tehran Thomas threw for 1,221 yards with 17 TDs to lead Desert Edge. Thomas also gained 1,406 yards rushing with 20 more TDs. Junior Rocky Perez rushed for 1,007 yards. Junior Ruben Beltran is the QB leader for Centennial. Junior Zidane Thomas has 931 yards rushing.

The winner of this game will advance to a potential match against Cienega in the semifinals. This arguably the toughest half of the bracket if one follows the rankings leading up to the final week of the regular season.

Edge: Even.