Jaguars No. 2, Demons No. 3
Brackets bring some surprises; see the full schedules for the boys and girls inside
Seledon Martinez spoke Sunday night for quite a few coaches in not just Northern New Mexico but around the state.
“I am just sitting here at a loss for words,” said Pojoaque Valley’s head girls basketball coach when he learned that his team earned the fifth seed in the Class 4A bracket for the state boys and girls state tournament.
The surprises didn’t end there as the New
Mexico Activities Association announced the postseason brackets for the premier prep athletics event in the state Sunday.
It was no surprise that Santa Fe’s two big public schools were the second and third seed in the 5A boys bracket. The surprise was that Capital grabbed the 2-seed, thanks in large part to its 59-54 win over Santa Fe High in the District 5-5A championship game over the weekend. The Demons, who beat the Jaguars in the 5-5A playoff game after the two teams finished tied for first in regular-season play, was seeded third.
Capital plays No. 15 Las Cruces Centennial at home Saturday in the opening round of the 16-team bracket. Santa Fe High will entertain Carlsbad, the 14th seed, on the same day.
All first-round boys games will take place Saturday, while the girls are set for Friday. Times for all boys and girls first-round games will be announced later this week.
It seemed like the Demons had the inside track to the second seed behind No. 1 Las Cruces, but their loss to the Jaguars took away a crucial criteria point they had over Capital — head-to-head matchups. The Demons held a 3-2 advantage over Capital heading into Saturday’s district championship game, but the Jaguars evened up the series with the win.
It also propelled Capital to fourth place in the MaxPreps.com Freeman rankings, which the New Mexico Activities Association uses as a part of its criteria to select and seed teams, and ahead of Santa Fe High,
which fell to fifth.
That was revealed when MaxPreps.com released its final rankings Sunday and gave Capital the advantage it needed to slide into the No. 2 spot.
Santa Fe High head coach Zack Cole said he and his coaching staff felt all along the Demons were going to get a top-three seed, which muted his disappointment about their seed.
“We all felt like we were going to be a two or a three,” Cole said. “We were expecting one of the two . ... We lost the criteria based on MaxPreps, and it was just the luck of the draw. Capital jumped up on MaxPreps and that was the deciding factor.”
The seeding drama wasn’t only contained to 5A. In 4A girls, Pojoaque Valley earned the fifth seed, even though it lost three of four games against Española Valley — including the 2-4A playoff and the 2-4A tournament championship. Again, the two teams were tied for first place, which allowed the Elkettes to be seeded according to criteria instead of district finish. The Lady Sundevils will be the eighth seed and play No. 9 Bloomfield, while Pojoaque plays No. 12 Lovington.
When Martinez saw the bracket, he couldn’t believe what he saw.
“I was expecting anywhere from a seven to a 12,” Martinez said. “I’m sitting there with [assistant coach Jacob Archuleta] and I don’t understand what I’m seeing, but I’ll take it.”
In 3A boys, Las Vegas Robertson grabbed the fourth seed despite losing the 2-3A playoff to St. Michael’s. The Horsemen fell all the way to a sixth seed as fellow district school West Las Vegas, which beat St. Michael’s for the 2-3A tournament title, moved to the five slot.
The three teams finished in a three-way tie atop the district standings, which allowed the NMAA to seed each of them according to the six-point criteria it uses. The Cardinals had the better overall record (21-7), Freeman rankings (No. 1) and wins over district champions compared to the other two.
Robertson plays No. 13 Thoreau, West Las Vegas takes on No. 12 Tohatchi, and St. Michael’s gets a district matchup with Santa Fe Indian School, the 11 seed.
In 4A boys, Española nabbed the seven seed and plays No. 10 Kirtland Central.
Meanwhile, Taos played its way into the eighth seed by beating the Sundevils for the 24A tournament championship, and will get No. 9 Valencia.
In Class 3A girls, West Las Vegas earned the fourth seed and will play No. 13 St. Michael’s in the first round. Santa Fe Indian School is the six seed and plays No. 11 Thoreau, while No. 10 Las Vegas Robertson, the defending 3A champion, heads to No. 7 Socorro.
Pecos boys and Peñasco girls were the top seeds in those brackets, both getting matchups with the 16th seed. Pecos plays Estancia, while Peñasco takes on Loving.
On the boys side, Mora is the 11 seed and plays at No. 6 Jal, Escalante is 13th and plays No. 4 Albuquerque Menaul and McCurdy was the 15th seed and plays No. 2 Magdalena. The girls bracket has Pecos at No. 7, taking on No. 10 Alamo Navajo, and Escalante earned the eighth seed and will play No. 9 Rehoboth. Both of them will get home games for being top-eight seeds.
Questa is 12th and plays No. 5 Magdalena, and McCurdy is No. 14 and heads to No. 3 Newcomb.
The lone 1A team in the North to reach the state tournament was New Mexico School for the Deaf, which nabbed the 15th seed and plays No. 2 Maxwell.