Both the Española Valley Sundevils and the Escalante Lobos are in the state tournament football field, announced Sunday morning by the New Mexico Activities Association.
Española Valley is the No. 7 seed, and plays at home against No. 10 St. Pius X.
The Sundevils are seeking their first win in a state playoff game in school history. They also, for the first time in school history, won their district without needing a tiebreaker. This will be just their third appearance in the playoffs, after 1991 and 2015. Most recently, in 2015, the Sundevils were the No. 5 seed but lost to No. 12 Farmington at home in the first round.
Española Valley finished the season at 7-3 overall, and swept through the district, defeating Taos, Moriarty and Pojoaque Valley in order. They head into the playoffs playing their best football, and hot on a six-game win streak.
The Sartans finished the year at 4-6, 1-2 in their district. They lost their final two games, including to No. 8 Grants by one score in the last week of the season.
Should the Sundevils win their first game, they will face No. 2 seed Lovington, who received a first-round bye after finishing 7-3 and defeating Portales in their district championship game.
Escalante, for the second year in a row, is the No. 8 seed. And for the second-straight year, they have a long trip ahead of them as they travel 422 miles to Eunice to face the top seed.
The Lobos placed second in their district and finished 4-6 behind a strong rushing attack of Trey Archuleta and Jeremiah Martinez.
Eunice, Escalante’s opponent, finished 8-2 on the season. Their lone losses on the season came against Dexter, one of the top teams in 3A, and Portales, who went 9-1 in 4A. They recorded wins over No. 2 Texico, No. 4 Jal, and won by 37 over No. 7 Estancia
McCurdy just missed the field after finishing the season at 6-3, but losing two of three district games.