Prep picks: It's playoff time for a handful of wannabes

The NFL has a wild-card weekend.

The preps have the opening round.

Welcome to the high school football playoffs, New Mexico edition.

Only six Santa Fe-area teams made it to the opening round.

Three others got byes into next weeks quarterfinals, a time when the real fun starts.

For now, its all about seeding and home field.

Half of this weekends teams are on the road, a place that has been historically unkind to teams not wearing the home jerseys.

All eyes will naturally be on the weather, as both Espanola Valley and Los Alamos will have spent time shoveling out from this weeks snow storms.

Perhaps no one had more field prep headaches than Los Alamos, a fact that probably bodes well for one of the states hottest teams.

Heres a look at the games in our area: Class 4A playoffs opening round After rising as high as No.

3 in the state, things cooled off a bit for the Sundevils in District 1-4A.

They needed a win in the final week to tie for fourth.

A win sends them to Taos next week.

They start things off with a visit from a reeling Monarchs squad that enters the postseason riding a four-game losing streak, the last three of which came by an average of just five points.

This game has all the makings of a low-scoring affair as neither team has a habit of lighting up the scoreboard.

Espanola tends to grind opponents into a fine pulp with its three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust approach on offense.

The Sundevils have attempted just 13 passes all season, completing four for a total of 91 yards.

No single rusher has gained more than 515 yards, which makes this offense extremely difficult to prepare for.

Basically, anyone can hurt you.

Prediction: Espanola Valley 33, Manzano 12 Class 3A playoffs opening round The winner heads to No.

2 Dexter next week.

The Elks have backed their way into the playoffs, losing four of their last five in what was a brutally competitive District 2-3A race.

The fact the district landed four of the top eight seeds tells you everything you need to know about what Pojoaque dealt with the last month of the regular season.

This team certainly has the goods to pull this one off, as demonstrated by their win at Los Alamos earlier in the season.

The four-man backfield of QB Joshua Gonzales and RBs DMarcus Rodriguez, Jonah Villegas and Corey Gonzales (over 2,000 combined rushing yards) makes them a threat.

If the Elks can shake off the distractions of their on-field and off-field incidents at the end of the season, this could be a game they win.

Doing so would give them their most Ws in a single year since 2013.

Prediction: Pojoaque Valley 36, Hatch Valley 32 Class 5A playoffs opening round The winner heads to Gadsden next week.

After what seems like a lifetime (because it sorta was) without Gadsden being relevant in football, all of a sudden the Panthers are a thing.

Part of their resurgence is rooted in a playoff win at Los Alamos two years ago.

Speaking of the Hilltoppers, their seven-game winning streak has featured plenty of scoring as theyve averaged 51.3 points since starting 0-3.

QB Kyle Evenhus and 1,100-yard rusher Jordan Herrera are a big reason for that.

Evenhus has blossomed into a steady, mistake-free leader while Herrera has become a star despite his sophomore status.

This game is a rematch of an Oct.

25 blowout at Sullivan Field, a game where the Hilltoppers erupted for 35 points in the second quarter.

Handed the fifth seed after an unblemished run through district play, the Hilltoppers have the look and feel of a team capable of making it as far as the state semifinals.

It starts here with a win.

Prediction: Los Alamos 46, Valley 27 Class 3A playoffs opening round This is going to sound like a broken record, but West is dangerous.

The Dons have played what is arguably the toughest schedule of any 3A team.

Three of their losses are to teams still unbeaten.

A fourth (to Robertson) was its only loss to an unbeaten team while the fifth (Portales) is the 5-seed in 4A.

This team does not get blown out; it runs the ball with big, physical players and has a defense that has yet to give up more than 28 points.

These guys are in every game and their eyes are focused on another playoff date with the crosstown Cardinals next week.

Expect a typical Dons effort; ball-control offense with the occasional explosive play mixed in, a defense that forces a turnover or three, and special teams that simply get the job done.

In other words, get your popcorn ready for the Meadow City playoff showdown a week from now.

Prediction: West Las Vegas 41, Ruidoso 13 Class 2A playoffs opening round Four teams from District 1-2A made the playoffs and none of them were seeded higher than these two.

The winner gets a trip to unbeaten Texico next week.

The Bobcats only loss since the third weekend in September was at home to Navajo Prep, and it wasnt that close.

The Cats scored all their points in the first quarter but gave up 28 unanswered points and lost by 20.

McCurdy QB Jeremaya Roybal will need a huge game to keep his team alive, as will a defense that gave up 11 touchdowns in the last two games.

Prediction: Navajo Prep 32, McCurdy 29 8-Man playoffs quarterfinals The Lobos stayed alive with an impressive road win over district rival Menaul last week, a game that avenged a home loss to the Panthers less than a month ago.

Round 2 of the payback parade means a significant step up in weight class with the unbeaten Foxes.

Simple arithmetic tells us that the Fort and perennial power Melrose are on a collision course for the state finals on Nov.

23 because no team has scored more than eight points in any game against the Foxes all season, and that was Escalante in the regular season finale two weeks ago.

The Lobos simply reaching double digits would be a significant achievement.

Prediction: Fort Sumner/House 61, Escalante 6.

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