Tuesday:
Volcano Vista (6-1-1) at Hope Christian (8-1). In the 9/15 MaxPreps rankings, Hope had a rating of 12.2. The next highest in A-4A was Moriarty, with 1.8. That means Hope can lose a few games the rest of the way and still get the No. 1 seed (as long as they win their district). The strength of schedule aspect of the MaxPreps ranking is only going to get better for them, as their remaining schedule includes Farmington, Los Alamos, Volcano Vista, and St. Pius.
Los Lunas (6-5) at Santa Teresa (7-3). Santa Teresa has played six games against 6A teams, and has two wins over Gadsden, which leads 3-6A. Los Lunas is hard to figure – they have wins over Clovis, Roswell and Valley, but also have been blown out a few times, including a 7-0 loss to Highland last week.
Clovis (6-4) at Eldorado (4-3-1). District play gets underway in 2-6A. Despite their winning record, Clovis is going to have a tough time making the playoffs and at a minimum they must finish they finish no worse than third in this district behind La Cueva and Eldorado.
Academy (6-3-2) at Rio Rancho (7-3-1). The Rams have had a nice first half of the season, but hit a speed bump with a draw against Sandia Prep (1-6-1) on Saturday. Now they have a tough week – Academy on Tuesday, Volcano Vista on Thursday, Cleveland on Saturday.
Gadsden (8-3) at Mayfield (9-1-1). Two of the top teams in 3-6A.
Wednesday
Atrisco Heritage (3-3-2) at Valley (4-4). District 4-6A opener. Atrisco is dangerous and may end up challenging Albuquerque High in this district. But Valley can play spoiler right off the bat here.
Thursday:
Rio Rancho at Volcano Vista. District 1-6A opener.
Los Alamos (10-3) at Hope Christian.
Kirtland Central (1-7) at Farmington (2-2-2). Not really a game to watch, but a chance to mention Farmington. Farmington started slowly, but now has a win over Los Alamos and a road draw with St. Pius. And they seem likely to go 9-1 or 10-0 in district. So the Scorpions are back in the picture for a top-4 seed. It may come down to their late-season non-district games against Academy, Hope and Capital.
Friday:
Valley at Albuquerque High (6-1-1).
Saturday:
Cleveland (6-3-3) at Rio Rancho. Cleveland seemed like the best team in 1-6A, but had a surprising non-district loss to West Mesa on Saturday.
St. Pius (1-3-4) at Capital (9-1-1). Potentially significant game for 5A seeding purposes. So who is better, the one-win team that has draws with Eldorado and Volcano Vista and a win over Los Alamos, or the nine-win team whose best wins are over Carlsbad (No. 21 in MaxPreps) or Santa Fe (No. 28)?
Portales (4-3) at Hope Christian. Currently, these are the No. 3 and No. 1 teams in A-4A, respectively.
Hobbs (6-2-2) at Mayfield. Big district matchup. Per MaxPreps, Mayfield has 50 goals on the season, the most in 6A, and has given up only 9, which is fourth-best in goals allowed.
