Notes to float your playoff boat . . .
Nearly half of Class 5A’s first-round winners must be laughing at the term victory points, the esoteric total so relevant in today’s playoff qualifying. Seven lower-seeded teams won, including four from the Centennial League that was allegedly weaker this season.
Seventeenth-seeded Legacy downed East (16). Grandview (18) beat Rangeview (15). Cherokee Trail (19) beat Rocky Mountain (14). Bear Creek (22) beat Highlands Ranch (11). Regis (20) beat Ponderosa (13). Cherry Creek (24) beat Chatfield (9).
And best of all, Eaglecrest (29) beat Fort Collins (4), the highest seed to go down in the first round since the 32-team bracket was instituted earlier in the decade. . . .
Defending champion Mullen, now on a 15-game roll, has given up only 42 points. One of the better statistics associated with it is that the Mustangs have had only 11 kickoffs to return — all season. . . .
Fairview, which must meet Grandview and its high-end defense, is 10-0 for the first time in school history. . . .
Thomas Jefferson has a date against Bear Creek. TJ won the program’s 400th game last week, against Douglas County. . . . Bear Creek, by the way, is one of three 5-5 teams in the second round. Eaglecrest and Cherry Creek are the others. . . .
If there’s a class that can justify a 32-team field, it’s 4A. Year in, year out, it’s a difficult poll to enter and has had the most teams. It has a bunch of competitive programs that fail to qualify for the playoffs. And it’s laced with schools designed to stay under the 5A enrollment. There, I wrote it. . . .
Consider some of the 4A matchups: Fountain-Fort Carson at Loveland; Durango at Pine Creek; Longmont at Liberty; Rock Canyon at Wheat Ridge; and Pueblo West at Greeley West. Nothing will be easy. . . .
After years of never coming close to qualifying and several agonizing degrees of coming thisclose in recent seasons, Standley Lake’s Gators finally made the postseason. Their reward? A major road trip — at Montrose. . . .
Durango (8-2) was 0-10 in 2008 . . . Pine Creek, a semifinalist last year, has had consecutive 10-0 regular seasons. . . .
A year ago, Wheat Ridge on the way to the 4A title waxed Rock Canyon 59-27. They’ll meet again Friday. . . .
Surely, it would have been difficult to seed 3A, which has four 10-0 teams in its first round. Steamboat Springs is one of them and the Sailors have the best player in the class if not in all of Colorado in Cal-bound quarterback Austin Hinder. Of course, they were seeded fourth. . . .
Toughest matchup of any first round? How about Erie, the 2008 2A state runner-up, at perennial challenger Kent Denver. . . .
Salida, which made it into 2A’s field at 5-5, will face 2008 champion Olathe, which has won 24 consecutive games. …
Three-time defending 1A champion Akron was won 13 consecutive playoff games. The Rams will host Lyons in the second round. . . .
Meeker will be at top-seeded Yuma in 1A’s second round. According to , it’s 364.09 miles — one way. . . .
Biggest surprise in 8-man’s quarterfinals? How about Antonito, which is 10-0. . . .
Six-man’s Otis outlasted Peetz 76-67 in the first round, good enough for a top-10 scoring effort in state history. The Bulldogs will need more. They will meet top-seeded Idalia, which scored 68 in a 40-point victory over Edison.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
