Several state finals or semifinals are here.
Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri all get their state finals this weekend. MAVRC already had theirs ... notes on that below.
In addition, Utah crowns champs and so does Colorado, Virginia, and North Carolina.
These are all pretty interesting. St. Martin's has been emerging is a serious challenger for St. Thomas Aquinas in Kansas and already beat them in the regular season. KC Jr. Blues in Missouri is enjoying one of their better seasons in a while and would love to put a stamp on it with a win. East HS and Regis Jesuit are very close in Colorado and that's a bit of a tossup. Injuries have not been kind to Vienna and certainly their clash with Fort Hunt is a bit of a tossup in Virginia.
"Both teams are playing well at this point and are ready for the match," said Fort Hunt Head Coach Dale Roach.
Charlotte Tigers are a bit of a surprise arrival in the North Carolina final as they upset a very good Raleigh Redhawks side. Still, the Charlotte Cardinals seem to be favorites.
Utah has a school final—a tossup in East vs Herriman— and a club final with Layton Christian vs Bright in which LCA is probably the favorite.
Oklahoma sees favored Bixby taking on an F5 team that won a very close semi to get there.
MAVRC
The MAVRC conference final has already been played, with Gonzaga shutting out Georgetown Prep 34-0. Georgetown worked hard to play a field-position game and kicked a lot. So there was a lot of pressure on Emmett Cook at fullback and Kieran Downs at flyhalf as they were the main guys fielding the kicks and figuring out a response. They did well, and while Gonzaga had a long field to take on, they managed.
Montana
A resurgent Montana league enters its playoffs with four teams in the quarterfinals. #1-ranked Missoula gets a bye, while the other four teams battle it out. Good news for anyone who loses this weekend ... there's a second chance as the highest-ranked losing team will play Missoula in the semis.
And ...
Meanwhile Xavier plays Greenwich in a massive HS Nationals seeding game. Pennsylvania has their semifinals, and we already have a few very interesting midweek results.
