Idaho statewide football playoffs start next week. Who’s in, who’s out? Who needs help?
The final week of the high school football regular season is here. That can only mean one thing — it’s time to map out your favorite team’s road through the state playoffs.
Figuring out who goes where on the bracket is a challenge every year. And it’s gotten more complicated this fall with MaxPreps rankings making their way into fray.
But we’ve got you covered. We broke down the 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A leagues in the Treasure Valley, along with every team’s postseason chances so you can focus on what matters to your squad.
5A SIC
Playoff berths: Six automatic, plus up to two at-large bids
Conference champ: Rocky Mountain or Capital
Clinched playoff spot: Rocky Mountain, Capital, Eagle
Eliminated: Boise
Buckle in. This is about to get complicated.
Let’s start with the easy part. Rocky Mountain and Capital won their divisions, so the two will meet at Rocky Mountain on Friday in the first 5A SIC championship game.
The winner gets the league’s top seed in the state playoffs. The loser gets the second seed. Both get first-round byes.
Everyone else (except Boise) plays in a crossdivision round Friday for playoff seeding. The winners get an automatic spot in the state playoffs as the league’s No. 3 through No. 6 seeds. The losers must hope for an at-large bid.
Here are the crossdivision matchups, which function as a pseudo-district tournament:
Centennial (West 6) at Eagle (West 2)
Kuna (West 5) at Skyview (East 2)
Mountain View (West 4) at Timberline (East 3)
Borah (East 4) at Meridian (West 3)
Ranking those crossdivision winners into the No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 seeds is where it gets tricky.
The SIC wants to avoid divisional rematches in the playoffs as much as possible. So if both second- or third-place teams win, they’ll be sent to the opposite side of the playoff bracket from their division champ.
That creates a scenario where if Rocky Mountain beats Capital, and Eagle and Skyview win, Eagle is the fourth seed in the playoffs to avoid a potential semifinal rematch with Rocky Mountain.
Got it?
Don’t worry. Here is a team-by-team breakdown of what’s at stake.
Rocky Mountain: The Grizzlies (5-0) win the league title and grab the top seed in the playoffs by beating Capital. A loss makes them the second seed.
Capital: The Eagles (4-0) must beat Rocky Mountain to get the top seed. A loss makes them the second seed.
Eagle: The Mustangs (4-1) are the only team in the crossdivision round that has already clinched a playoff spot. Even with a loss, they will qualify for an at-large berth.
A win over Centennial and wins by Rocky Mountain and Skyview make Eagle the fourth seed. A Capital win makes Eagle the third seed regardless of what Skyview does. A loss by Skyview makes Eagle the third seed no matter who wins the league title.
Eagle opens the playoffs at home against an at-large team in all those scenarios.
Eagle would finish as the first at-large team with a loss.
Skyview: The Hawks (3-2) finish as the fourth seed with a win and victories by Capital and Eagle. They will be the third seed with a win and a victory by Rocky Mountain.
Skyview opens the playoffs at home against an at-large team in both scenarios.
A loss sends Skyview into the fray for an at-large berth. Wins by Eagle, Meridian and Lake City would guarantee it an at-large playoff berth. Otherwise, the Hawks will have to rely on a point-differential tiebreaker with up to three other teams (Meridian, Thunder Ridge and Lewiston).
Meridian: Beat Borah and the Warriors (3-2) are in the playoffs. Meridian has all sorts of scenarios still in play, and it can finish anywhere from the third seed.
There are too many scenarios to list. So let’s focus on the plausible ones.
Meridian can finish fourth (Rocky Mountain, Eagle and Kuna win; or Capital, Mountain View and Kuna win), fifth (Capital wins; or Rocky and Mountain View win) or sixth (Rocky and all high seeds win).
A loss drops Meridian into the at-large pool. It would need Eagle, Skyview and Lake City to win to guarantee a playoff berth. A loss by any of those three would then require a point-differential tiebreaker.
Timberline: The Wolves (2-2) are in a similar spot as Meridian. They must win to guarantee a playoff spot, and they can finish anywhere from third to sixth.
Again, let’s focus on the most likely scenarios. The Wolves can finish fourth (Capital wins and Eagle or Skyview loses), fifth (Rocky and all high seeds win; or Rocky, Meridian and Kuna win), or sixth (Capital and all high seeds win).
But Timberline enters dangerous territory with a loss. It would need four teams (Eagle, Skyview, Meridian and Lake City) to win to secure an at-large bid. A loss by any of them would eliminate the Wolves.
Point differential would not save Timberline if it falls below .500 against 5A opponents.
Mountain View, Borah, Kuna and Centennial: Each of these four teams must win their crossdivision game to qualify for the playoffs. They cannot rely on an at-large berth.
If just one of them wins, they’d be the No. 6 seed out of the SIC. Multiple would have to win for any of them to climb higher.
4A SIC
Playoff berths: Four automatic, plus up to four at-large bids
Conference champ: Emmett or Bishop Kelly
Clinched playoff spot: Emmett, Bishop Kelly, Nampa, Vallivue
Eliminated: None
The league’s four automatic playoff berths are locked up. All that remains is determining the league champ.
Finishing second, third or fourth doesn’t matter this year thanks to a new state playoff system that seeds the entire 16-team playoffs based on MaxPreps rankings. A fourth-place team could theoretically end up ahead of the second-place team in the MaxPreps rankings and draw a higher playoff seed.
The five league champs are ranked No. 1 through No. 5 based on their final MaxPreps ranking. The 11 teams that didn’t win a league title are then sorted by their MaxPreps rankings. It doesn’t matter if those 11 teams automatically qualified for the playoffs or were an at-large team.
The MaxPreps rankings won’t be finalized until Sunday afternoon, IHSAA Executive Director Ty Jones told the Statesman this week. That means teams will have to wait until then to learn their first-round opponent.
Emmett: The Huskies (6-2, 5-1 4A SIC) control their own destiny. Beat Vallivue (6-2, 4-2) and Emmett clinches the first 4A SIC title in program history.
A loss eliminates Emmett from the title race and drops it into the crowd seeded by MaxPreps rankings.
Bishop Kelly: The Knights (5-1, 5-1) can only win the league with an Emmett loss. It doesn’t matter what BK does against Ridgevue (2-6, 1-5) on Friday.
BK would win the league outright with a win and an Emmett loss. But it could also lose and still take the top seed. Losses by both Emmett and BK would throw the league into a four-way tie for first place with Nampa and Vallivue, and the Knights hold all the tiebreakers.
Nampa: The Bulldogs (5-2, 5-2) enter the week in a strong position for a high playoff seed and a first-round home game.
Nampa is currently ranked fifth in 4A by MaxPreps. Only two teams ahead of it can win a league title, slating it for the No. 8 overall seed. That means it would host the No. 9 seed (likely Vallivue or Middleton) in a first-round matchup, if the current rankings hold.
Any prediction of how the rankings will act is purely speculative. So bear with me here as we do some speculating.
Vallivue: The Falcons (6-2, 4-2) have plenty to gain this week. They are currently slated for a first-round road game in the 8-9 matchup. A convincing win over Emmett (No. 4 MaxPreps) could vault Vallivue past Nampa and allow the Falcons to open the playoffs at home.
A loss all but guarantees it will hit the road the first week.
Middleton: The Vikings (5-3, 3-3) don’t have a guaranteed playoff spot. But their MaxPreps ranking (No. 8 in 4A thanks to a strong nonconference schedule) ensures they will move on.
Middleton travels to Columbia this week, where it can’t improve its ranking much even with a win. It appears destined for the No. 8 vs. No. 9 or No. 7 vs. No. 10 matchup as the road team.
Columbia, Ridgevue and Caldwell: While technically not eliminated, all three remain long shots to make the playoffs.
Columbia (2-4, 2-4) has the best chance. It is currently No. 18 in MaxPreps’ 4A rankings with No. 12 Lakeland penciled in for the last at-large spot. The Wildcats would need to crush Middleton and get a lot of help to climb that many spots in a single week.
3A SRV
Playoff berths: Three
Conference champ: Fruitland or Homedale
Clinched playoff spot: Fruitland, Homedale, Weiser
Eliminated: McCall-Donnelly, Parma, Payette
The Snake River Valley had to get creative this year because Fruitland and McCall didn’t play a full league schedule due to the coronavirus. But the end result is the same: Homedale (5-1, 4-0 3A SRV) hosts Fruitland (6-0, 3-0) for the league title Friday.
All five league champions around Idaho get an automatic bye into the 3A quarterfinals. The remaining automatic qualifiers face off in the first round with MaxPreps drawing the matchups. Again, those rankings won’t be final until Sunday afternoon.
The 3A classification has no at-large teams.
The loser of Fruitland-Homedale will almost assuredly finish as the second seed in the first round, where early signs point to a likely league rematch with Weiser.
2A WIC
Playoff berths: One
Conference champ: Melba
Clinched playoff spot: Melba
Eliminated: None
Only conference champions get an automatic playoff spot in 2A. After that, the next six best teams in MaxPreps’ rankings make the field, regardless of conference affiliation or standings.
That does not bode well for the Western Idaho Conference. New Plymouth (4-3) is the only conference team currently slated for an at-large berth, and the Pilgrims are clinging to the final spot heading into the final week of the regular season.
New Plymouth must beat Marsing to hold onto that spot.
Nampa Christian (3-5) and Cole Valley Christian (3-3) face off Friday. The winner would need a major shakeup of the rankings to have any hope of moving on.
Marsing is technically still alive but remains too far down the MaxPreps rankings to pose a threat.
This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
