Idaho football playoffs start next week. How every 6A, 5A SIC team can make it
Eight weeks set the stage. Now one final night determines the playoff fate for high school football teams throughout the Treasure Valley.
Friday features a head-spinning array of playoff possibilities for teams in the 6A and 5A Southern Idaho Conferences. To cut through the noise, we broke down all the playoff scenarios for every team in the Boise region’s top two leagues below.
6A SIC FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SCENARIOS
- Guaranteed playoff berths: 6
- At-large berths: 3
- Playoff field: 12 teams
- Clinched: Eagle, Timberline
- Eliminated: Centennial, Borah
- Thursday’s game: (6) Centennial at (6) Borah
- Friday’s games: (1) Timberline at (1) Eagle; (5) Meridian at (2) Mountain View; (5) Kuna at (2) Rocky Mountain; (4) Capital at (3) Boise; (4) Owyhee at (3) Middleton
First, a quick explanation of how the 6A state playoffs works.
The winners of Idaho’s four divisions or conferences receive first-round byes. Eagle, Timberline, Coeur d’Alene and Rigby already clinched those.
That leaves four more automatic playoff berths for the Southern Idaho Conference. The winners of Friday’s crossdivision games earn those spots. The league seeds those teams as West 3 through West 6 on the playoff bracket.
The final spots go to the next three highest-ranked teams in the final MaxPreps.com rankings published Sunday. The loser of Madison at Highland will almost certainly claim one of those at-large berths. That leaves two additional spots for the 6A SIC to chase.
EAGLE (8-0): A win over Timberline wraps up the 6A SIC’s top playoff seed and home-field advantage through the state semifinals. A loss still comes with a first-round bye and home field in the quarterfinals.
TIMBERLINE (7-1): Beat Eagle and the Wolves clinch the first full conference title in program history and home-field advantage in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Lose, and the Wolves are only guaranteed a first-round bye and home field in the quarterfinals.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN (7-1): Take down Kuna and the Grizzlies get the league’s third seed in the playoffs, which comes with a first-round home game against the second at-large qualifier. Nothing is ever official with the MaxPreps rankings, but Rocky starts the week No. 2 in the state, so it would surely claim an at-large berth with a loss.
MOUNTAIN VIEW (5-3): A win over Meridian and a Rocky Mountain victory makes Mountain View the SIC’s No. 4 seed, which hosts the top at-large team in the first round. The Mavericks need Rocky Mountain to lose to rise to No. 3. A loss likely still sends Mountain View to state as it enters the week No. 5 in the MaxPreps rankings.
MIDDLETON (5-3): Beat Owyhee and the Vikings clinch a playoff berth. Add a Boise loss, and Middleton can’t finish lower than the league’s No. 5 seed, which comes with a first-round home game against the SIC’s No. 6 squad.
Wins by Middleton and Boise mean both will need to wait until the final MaxPreps rankings come out to determine who hosts that first-round matchup. Neither team holds a head-to-head win, so computer rankings will decide the seeds.
Middleton starts the week with a 2.6-point lead in MaxPreps rankings. But that formula remains a secret, and leads that small can disappear.
A loss should still send No. 9-ranked Middleton to the playoffs barring a host of upsets.
BOISE (4-4): Beat Capital and the Brave clinch a playoff berth. Then it gets complicated as Boise can finish anywhere from third to sixth in the SIC depending on other scores.
Wins by Rocky Mountain and Mountain View make Boise either the fifth or sixth seed. If Middleton also beats Owyhee, then style points matter.
Boise and Middleton didn’t play each other this year, leaving the final MaxPreps rankings to decide the higher seed. Boise trails Middleton by 2.6 points entering the week, a margin Boise could possibly overcome with a blowout win over Capital.
Lose, and No. 12-ranked Boise sits on the bubble for an at-large berth. It will need every higher seed in the SIC to win to have a chance to make the playoffs.
CAPITAL (4-4): Edge Boise and the Eagles return to the playoffs for a second straight year. Additional wins by Rocky Mountain and Mountain View make Capital the No. 6 seed. Each loss by that pair pushes the Eagles up a spot.
A loss leaves Capital to sweat out the final MaxPreps rankings for an at-large berth. Any major upsets could cost No. 11 Capital a playoff spot.
OWYHEE (5-3): Beat Middleton and the Storm return to the playoffs. The Storm can finish anywhere from third to sixth in the SIC depending on other results. Wins by top seeds Rocky Mountain, Mountain View and Boise make Owyhee the No. 6 seed. Each loss by that trio pushes the Storm up a spot.
Lose, and Owyhee must wait for the final MaxPreps rankings to claim an at-large berth. The Storm start the week in a strong position at No. 10. But each upset reduces the number of spots available.
MERIDIAN (2-6): Upset Mountain View and the Warriors steal a playoff berth. A win and a Rocky Mountain victory makes Meridian the No. 6 seed. The Warriors can rise to No. 5 only with a Rocky Mountain defeat. A Meridian loss spells trouble as the Warriors start the week ranked No. 13 by MaxPreps with a sizable gap between it and everyone else.
KUNA (2-6): The Kavemen can make the playoffs only by knocking off Rocky Mountain, and they can’t climb any higher than the league’s No. 6 seed. A loss ends Kuna’s season.
CENTENNIAL (0-8), BORAH (1-7): Both finished last in their 6A SIC division, eliminating them from the playoffs. The two will play for pride Thursday night at Dona Larsen Park.
5A SIC FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SCENARIOS
- Guaranteed playoff berths: 2
- At-large berths: 8
- Playoff field: 16 teams
- Clinched: Bishop Kelly
- Eliminated: Caldwell
- Friday’s games: Emmett at Bishop Kelly; Ridgevue at Skyview; Vallivue at Nampa; Columbia at Canyon Ridge; Parma at Caldwell
BISHOP KELLY (8-0): Beat Emmett, and the Knights clinch home-field advantage through the state semifinals. Lose, and BK risks falling to the No. 3 overall seed.
RIDGEVUE (6-2): The Warhawks are likely already in the playoffs via their MaxPreps ranking. But a win over Skyview clinches the first postseason berth in program history, as well as a first-round home playoff game.
VALLIVUE (4-4): A win over Nampa and a Ridgevue loss vault the Falcons into second place in the SIC, which comes with an automatic playoff berth and home-field advantage in the first round. All other scenarios leave No. 14 Vallivue fighting for an at-large berth. A victory all but wraps up that spot. A loss to Nampa (1-7) spells trouble for a team currently three spots above the cut.
COLUMBIA (5-3): The Wildcats and everyone else in the SIC can qualify only via an at-large berth. A win at Canyon Ridge secures No. 11 Columbia the third playoff berth in program history. A loss leaves Columbia to sweat out the final rankings.
EMMETT (4-4): The Huskies start the week as the last team in at No. 16 in the MaxPreps rankings. A win over heavily-favored Bishop Kelly would certainly clinch Emmett’s playoff spot, but even a loss likely leaves the team OK. Emmett should keep an eye on Century’s finale against Pocatello. A Century win prevents a sub-.500 team from stealing an automatic berth, boosting Emmett’s odds.
SKYVIEW (2-6): No one is ever truly out of it in the MaxPreps era. But No. 21 Skyview will need a miracle — as well as a win over No. 12 Ridgevue — to sneak into the playoffs.
CALDWELL (0-8): The Cougars forfeited their playoff eligibility to compete as an independent and create their own schedule.
This story was originally published October 22, 2025 at 12:09 PM.
