By Matt Loeschman
Twitter: @MattLoeschman

There were no huge surprises Saturday morning in Mesa during the reveal of the 2018 Arizona Interscholastic Association prep football playoff brackets.

6A Conference

In the largest classification, the Liberty Lions (9-1) are the #4 seed and will host #13 Westview (8-2) on Friday night. Liberty’s lone loss this season was to Pinnacle when the Lions surrendered a big second-half lead and eventually fell 34-33.

Other 6A first-round matchups:

#16 Boulder Creek at #1 Chandler

#9 Brophy Prep at #8 Mountain Pointe

#12 Cesar Chavez at #5 Highland

#14 Chaparral at #3 Desert Vista

#11 Basha at #6 Perry

#10 Red Mountain at #7 Queen Creek

#15 Desert Ridge at #2 Pinnacle

5A Conference

Among 5A teams, the Centennial Coyotes (10-0) have been #1 all season and the defending champion Coyotes will enter the playoffs as the top seed in their bracket. Centennial will host #16 Sunnyslope (5-5), a team they beat 49-0 back on Oct. 5.

“Our kids are focused on one game at a time,” Centennial Head Coach Richard Taylor said after the brackets were released. “My biggest job right now is to kind of ‘kill the noise’ — people telling our kids how good they are. We just need to focus on playing football and doing our job, not about anything else.”

Centennial defeated four of the other seven teams (Sunnyslope, Ironwood Ridge, Cienega and Casteel) in the top half of the bracket by a combined score of 181-26 during the regular season.

“We will review the Sunnyslope film and see what we can do even better in all three phases,” Taylor said.

Sunrise Mountain (7-3) secured the #7 seed and will host #10 Campo Verde (6-4) this Friday.

Ironwood (6-4) just missed out on the postseason. The Eagles trounced Kellis on Friday night but a loss in Week 9 to Sunnyslope put a damper on Ironwood’s playoff hopes.

The rest of the 5A field:

#9 Marana at #8 Cienega

#12 Ironwood Ridge at #5 Higley

#13 Horizon at #4 Casteel

#14 Gilbert at #3 Notre Dame Prep

#11 Flowing Wells at #6 Millennium

#15 Maricopa at #2 Williams Field

4A Conference

In the 4A field, the 9-1 Peoria Panthers secured the #4 seed and will host #13 Seton Catholic Prep (7-3) in the opening round. Cactus (7-3) is the #7 seed and will host #10 Canyon Del Oro (7-3) on Friday.

The rest of 4A:

#16 Apache Junction at #1 Salpointe Catholic

#9 Mingus Union at #8 Bradshaw Mountain

#12 Glendale at #5 Sahuaro

#14 Walden Grove at #3 Desert Edge

#11 Prescott at #6 Greenway

#15 Estrella Foothills at #2 Saguaro

3A Conference

In 3A, Northwest Christian (9-1) secured the top seed and will host #16 Winslow (6-4) in round one.

“There are a lot of good teams in this bracket,” Crusaders Head Coach Dave Inness said during the selection show. “But we have a bunch of young men that play hard. We are blessed with kids who are smart in our schemes and they are looking forward to the grind. We are gonna play as long as we can — until they take the pads away.”

Other 3A matchups:

#9 Ben Franklin at #8 Wickenburg

#12 Coolidge at #5 Valley Christian

#13 Pusch Ridge at #4 Page

#14 Fountain Hills at #3 Snowflake

#11 Blue Ridge at #6 Sabino

#10 Safford at #7 Odyssey Institute

#15 Show Low at #2 Yuma Catholic

In each bracket, the higher seed hosts during the first two rounds until the state semifinal round when games shift to neutral sites. First round games are set for Friday, Nov. 2.