Prep boys seeded 9th; 3 Northern teams earn opening byes

Anyone looking for surprises in the state soccer brackets Sunday afternoon had to look elsewhere — unless you’re Hersch Wilson.

Santa Fe Prep’s head boys soccer coach wasn’t aware that the postseason brackets had been released when he learned through a reporter that his Blue Griffins earned the ninth seed in the Class 1A/3A field. Even more surprising to Wilson was the opponent his team drew — fellow District 2-1A/3A foe and long-time rival St. Michael’s, the eight seed.

“I thought we’d have to go to Hatch,” Wilson said of his team’s destination.

Despite producing a 4-12 overall mark and finishing fourth in the district, Prep rose to its ranking thanks to its schedule (its strength of schedule was No. 1 in 1A/3A) and finishing ahead of Las Vegas Robertson in the district standings. It helps that the Blue Griffins play in a district that houses the top seed (Albuquerque Bosque School) and the third seed (Sandia Prep).

“I think our schedule difficulty really helps us out,” Wilson said.

Three Northern schools earned byes through the opening round — Monte del Sol boys (No. 4 in 1A/3A), St. Michael’s girls (No. 3) and Los Alamos (No. 2 in 4A). Meanwhile, Academy for Technology and the Classics grabbed the seventh seed after winning its first District 1-1A/3A title, but the Phoenix

also get a familiar foe in the opening round as they play No. 10 Rehoboth Christian.

Eddy Segura, ATC’s head coach, was hoping his team would get the No. 6 seed and a different opponent.

“Personally, I would like to play another team because it will create more excitement for the girls to play a team they haven’t played,” Segura said. “I was telling my wife, ‘Now we will play them a third time. We did well the last couple of times, but that doesn’t mean anything now.’ ”

The rest of the 1A/3A girls bracket as Las Vegas Robertson, the 6-seed, taking on No. 11 Navajo Prep. Santa Fe Prep also grabbed the nine seed, but will have to make the trip Wilson thought his boys would make to No. 8 Hatch Valley.

For the second straight year, Santa Fe Indian School earned the 12th seed despite a 2-18 record. It beat out Monte del Sol, thanks to placing 13th in MaxPreps.com’s Freeman rankings, compared to No. 14 for the Lady Dragons.

In 4A girls, Los Alamos was seeded fifth and will take on No. 12 Roswell Goddard, while Taos is a nine and heads to No. 8 Silver.

The 1A/3A boys bracket has No. 7 Tierra Encantada taking on No. 10 Las Vegas Robertson, last year’s state runner-up. The 4A bracket has Taos at No. 6, and the Tigers will play Albuquerque Valley, the 11 seed.

Dates and times for opening-round matches will be determined by Monday, while the top four seeds in each class will not play until the quarterfinals on Nov. 7 at the Bernalillo Soccer Complex