High school football playoff seedings finalized, tournament brackets set

File photo of a football on a field, with full moon rising between goalposts. Photo by Aaron Crane, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — According to the statewide football playoff brackets revealed Saturday by the Utah High School Activities Association, four Region 9 teams will play first-round games on Oct. 23, while the other four teams in the region have byes until the second-round games scheduled for the following Friday, Oct. 30.

Each of the 4A classification’s 22 teams was seeded into the bracket based on its RPI ranking. Click here to see full bracket. The default kickoff time for all first- and second-round games is 6 p.m., although some schools have mutually agreed to change the start times.

One of Friday’s scheduled first-round games will feature two Region 9 teams facing each other, as 15th-seeded Crimson Cliffs will host 18th-seeded Canyon View. That game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Crimson Cliffs won their regular-season meeting at Canyon View, defeating the Falcons 40-7 on Sept. 11.

Pine View at Dixie, St. George, Utah, Oct. 9, 2020 | File photo by Jacqui Knighton, St. George News

Also this coming Friday, 16th-seeded Desert Hills will host the 17th-seeded Mountain Crest Mustangs, with the contest starting at 4 p.m. Interestingly, those same two teams faced each other in the first round two years ago, with Mountain Crest winning that game at Desert Hills by a score of 31-24 on Oct. 26, 2018.

Traveling to Northern Utah’s Cache County on Friday will be the 19th-seeded Hurricane Tigers, who will play the 14th-seeded Logan Grizzlies at Logan. The winner of that game will then face third-seeded Snow Canyon at Snow Canyon the following week, on Oct. 30.

Meanwhile, the winner of Friday’s Crimson Cliffs vs. Canyon View game will face Region 9 champion Pine View at Pine View on Oct. 30. The Panthers are the No. 2 seed in the 4A tournament bracket.

Two Region 9 teams that have a bye in the first round will face each other in the second round, as the eighth-seeded Cedar Reds will play ninth-seeded Dixie on Oct. 30. In their regular-season meeting at Dixie on Sept. 18, the Flyers edged Cedar 24-19.

Each of the second-round winners will then advance to the quarterfinals on Nov. 6, with games to be played on the home fields of the higher-seeded teams. The same holds true for the semifinals the following weekend.

The 4A championship game is scheduled for Nov. 21 at 11:30 a.m. at Dixie State University in St. George. DSU is also scheduled to host the football championship games for the 5A, 3A and 2A classifications.

2A football

The 2A football bracket was also unveiled by the UHSAA on Saturday. Two Southern Utah teams, including No. 1 seed Beaver and No. 3 Kanab, have first-round byes, while four other Southern Utah teams will host first-round games this coming Friday, with fourth-seeded Enterprise playing Layton Christian Academy, sixth-seeded Milford hosting Monticello, seventh-seeded Parowan playing Gunnison Valley, and eighth-seeded Millard playing North Sevier, with all games scheduled to start at 6 p.m., according to the bracket.

The 2A’s second round will be the quarterfinals Oct. 30, followed by the semifinal games at Southern Utah University on Nov. 7 and the title game at Dixie State University on Nov. 14.

Ed. note: An earlier version of this story indicated that the Desert Hills vs. Mountain Crest playoff game would be at Mountain Crest in Hyrum, but it will be played at Desert Hills, the higher-seeded team.

Updated Oct. 23, 8 a.m. to include corrected starting times for Friday’s games at Desert Hills (4 p.m.) and Crimson Cliffs (7 p.m.).

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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