Class 6A: Corner Canyon getting the top seed was no surprise and Skyridge at No. 2 is the correct seeding. Davis earned the third seed and Mountain Ridge and Herriman will be No. 4 and No. 5 respectively. But there are some issues after that.

Lone Peak ended up with a No. 6 seed though they lost to both American Fork (seeded No. 7) and Lehi (seeded No. 10). American Fork actually lost to Lehi 26-3 and it is unfortunate that both teams will meet in the second round. As the higher seed American Fork will get to host.

Westlake, after a great year, will host No. 9 Syracuse as the No. 8 seed, the winner drawing Corner Canyon most likely in the quarterfinals. In the only first round match-up, No. 17 Cedar Valley will visit No. 17 Layton and the Aviators can certainly win that game.

Preece’s 6A Prognostications: A Corner Canyon vs. Skyridge final seems the most likely but that bottom bracket is loaded with good local teams from Region 3. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Lone Peak beat Davis in the second round. Skyridge will draw the American Fork vs. Lehi winner. Lehi took Skyridge to the brink where the Falcons took care of American Fork more easily. Though American Fork is the higher seed, Lehi has to be considered the favorite in that second round match-up.

Class 5A: The 5A classification has some really interesting seeding on the top end. West moved to the top of the RPI rankings after Week 9 and the Panthers stayed on top. But Orem, which won the Region 7 crown, slid from second to fourth, even behind Springville, a team it beat 17-14 to win the league title. Fremont pushed up to the second seed while the Red Devils were third. Certainly, the top side of the bracket looks a bit more stout with a possible semifinal shootout between West and Orem lurking.

As far as other local 5A teams, Timpview is seeded No. 13 and will host fellow Region 7 rival No. 20 Wasatch, in the first round. Pleasant Grove earned the No. 16 seed and will host Northridge while No. 19 Spanish Fork hits the road to take on No. 14 Hunter. If Timpview wins they will actually play Orem in the second round while Spanish Fork would draw Springville if it can pull off the upset. Payson and Maple Mountain finished out of the top 24 and will miss the playoffs though it is the opinion here that either would beat some of the 5A teams like Clearfield, Cyprus and Taylorsville that made the field.

Preece’s 5A Prognostications: It is hard to bet against Orem with all that talent. I would say West got a raw deal seeing the Tigers on the same side of the bracket. Fremont is a very good team but might not survive a possible match-up against Brighton in the second round. An Orem vs. Springville state championship title game just might be in the works.

Class 4A: The highest seeded local team is Provo at No. 5. The Bulldogs would have probably liked to stay at the No. 7 seed, where they were last ranked in Week 9 RPI instead of being placed on the top side of the bracket with undefeated Ridgeline. The defending champions, Crimson Cliffs, earned the No. 2 seed. Region 9 got a lot of the top seeds including the aforementioned Crimson Cliffs and then Snow Canyon checking in at No. 3 with Hurricane at No. 4 and Pine View at No. 6.

No. 12 seed Salem Hills will host No. 21 seed Mountain View with the winner visiting Provo in the second round. Timpanogos, at No. 15, will host No. 18 Bear River. This is a rematch of a first round playoff game from last year which was won by the Bears.

Preece’s 4A Prognostications: I don’t think Ridgeline or Provo were happy to see each other on the same side of the bracket. Based on the results against Crimson Cliffs, Provo should take care of Hurricane and then meet Ridgeline in the semifinals. Provo has won five straight and has scored over 60 points in three of their past four games. Crimson Cliffs has a much easier road to the championship finals. Their biggest threat might come from No. 7 Stansbury rather than league rival Snow Canyon, who will have to get past Pine View. Since No. 8 Park City did play Provo very close, Ridgeline better be sure to take the Miners seriously.

2A and 8-Player: Thanks to its Week 10 win over Judge Memorial, ALA moved up to the No. 6 seed in Class 2A and will take on No. 3 seed South Summit in the second round. Meanwhile, UMACW lost a close one to its military academy rival UMA-Hill Field which dropped the Marauders from No. 5 to No. 7 in the 8-Player seeding. This means UMACW will host a first-round game against Panguitch, and if the Marauders can get past the Bobcats, they would play No. 2 Milford in the quarterfinals.

Big first-round games to watch and Preece’s Picks: Cedar Valley got a playoff victory in their first year of existence but has been blanked since. Now the Aviators are in 6A. They play in the only first-round game 6A has to offer and I see No. 17 Cedar Valley pulling off the “upset” at No. 16 Layton. 

In 5A, I fully expect No. 19 Spanish Fork to take down No. 14 Hunter. I just feel year in and year out, 5A Region 7, made up of Utah County teams save Wasatch, is just a tougher league and the battle-tested Dons will get it done.

In 4A, No. 15 Timpanogos is taking on No. 18 Bear River in the first round of the 4A playoffs for the second straight year. Timpanogos wants to defend its home turf. Sometimes it is hard to figure out what will happen between teams that have a 4-5 and 3-7 records respectively. Neither team beat a team with a winning record but Timpanogos nearly did beat Salem Hills who beat Sky View. The Bobcats beat Bear River pretty badly 62-17, so based on this little bit of common thread, I predict Timpanogos to get it done this time around and advance.

If I had to predict a huge upset for Round 1 it would be in 5A where No. 22 Viewmont meets No. 11 West Field. I just think 5A Region 6 is a way better league than 5A Region 5. Viewmont had it going early in the season but playing the likes of returning 5A champ Bountiful, returning 5A semifinalist Brighton, along with solid teams like Olympus and Woods Cross, gave the Vikings some losses down the stretch. So in my view, Viewmont travels to West Field and gets it done.

The default start time for playoff games Friday is 6 p.m. but it might be wise to check on whatever game you’re interested in seeing as sometimes the coaches from both schools agree to change the time.