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Hayden Lobos win 1A State Championship

The first tackle football state championship of the year went to Hayden, who beat three-time defending champion, Mogollon. Here's a look at their path to the title

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PHOENIX — Congratulations to the Hayden Lobos!

The #1 seed in the 1A (8-man football) bracket went all the way in 2023, claiming their first state championship since 1972 with a 62-30 win over the three-time 1A defending state champion, the Mogollon Mustangs, on Saturday night at Coronado High School in Scottsdale.

It has been a dream season for the Lobos as they finished the regular season with a perfect 9-0 record, which included a 34-8 win over Mogollon on September 1, in what turned out to be a state championship preview.

The Lobos were the champion of the 1A East region.

After getting the #1 seed in the playoffs, the Lobos got a week off, then beat #9 St. David (68-0), #5 El Capitan/Academy (28-8), and then #6 Mogollon (62-30) to claim the golden football.

Here is a look at the final bracket.

Credit: 12Sports

Congratulations to the Hayden Lobos on winning the 2023 1A high school football state championship. Here is a look at the final bracket.

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UPDATE NOVEMBER 5, 2023

The state championship matchup is set for 1A (8-man football) in Arizona!

The playoffs started with 12 teams and it now comes down to the final two to decide who will take home the first tackle football state championship of the year!

The semifinals were played out over two days this weekend at Coronado High School in Scottsdale.

On Friday, #1 Hayden advanced to the state championship after beating #5 El Capitan/Academy, 28-8.

On Saturday, #6 Mogollon advanced to their fourth straight state championship game after beating #2 Bagdad, 36-34.

#1 Hayden and #6 Mogollon will play for the title on Saturday, November 11 at 6 p.m. at Coronado High.

Here is a look at the updated bracket:

Credit: 12Sports

The state championship matchup for 1A (8-man football) is set! Here is a look at the updated bracket

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UPDATE OCTOBER 28, 2023

The quarterfinals of the 1A (8-man football) state playoffs is complete and the final four teams are set to compete in the semifinals!

Here's a look at the results followed by an updated bracket.

#1 Hayden beat #9 St. David, 68-0.

#5 El Capitan/Academy beat #4 Salome, 36-20.

#6 Mogollon beat #3 Cicero Prep, 42-24.

#2 Bagdad beat #7 Mohave Accelerated, 63-0/.

In the semifinals, #5 El Capitan/Academy will play #1 Hayden. #6 Mogollon will play #2 Bagdad.

El Capitan/Academy will play at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 3. Mogollon and Bagdad will play at 6 p.m. on Saturday, November 4. Both games will be played at Coronado High School in Scottsdale.

Credit: 12Sports

We are now just two weeks away from the first tackle football state title game in Arizona! Here's a look at the 1A Semifinals.

The 1A state championship game will be held on Saturday, November 11 at 6 p.m. and will also be played at Coronado High School.

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UPDATE OCTOBER 21, 2023

The first round of the 1A (8-man football) state playoffs is complete and four teams from the initial 12-team bracket (which you can see below) have advanced to the quarterfinals.

As a reminder, #1 Hayden, #2 Bagdad, #3 Cicero Prep and #4 Salome all got byes into the quarterfinals and did not play this week.

Here's a look at the results followed by an updated bracket.

#9 St. David beat #8 San Manuel, 44-38. This was the lone upset of the round.

#5 El Capitan/Academy beat #12 Valley Union, 60-16.

#6 Mogollon beat #11 Williams, 64-12.

And, in the final game of the week, #7 Mohave Accelerated beat #10 Baboquivari, 28-22.

In the quarterfinals, #9 St. David will play #1 Hayden, #5 El Capitan/Academy will play #4 Salome, #6 Mogollon will play #3 Cicero Prep and #7 Mohave Accelerated will play #2 Bagdad.

Credit: 12Sports

Here is a look at the 1A football playoff bracket heading into the quarterfinals.

As a reminder, all four games will be played on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. All of the games will be at the higher-seeded school except for Mogollon at Cicero Prep, which will be played at Scottsdale Prep.

The 1A state championship game will be held on Saturday, November 11 at 6 p.m. at Coronado High School in Scottsdale.

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Week Nine of Friday Night Fever's 34th season is next week and it will see the first playoff games of the year take place as the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) released the 1A (8-man football) playoff bracket Saturday.

In 1A, only 12 teams make the playoffs, instead of the 16 that make it in 2A-6A and the 8 that qualify for the Open Division playoffs. That means eight teams will play this upcoming week and four teams will get a bye into the 1A quarterfinals.

First, here are the teams that made it into the 1A playoffs (Bold = Region Champion).

Hayden Lobos (9-0, 5-0 1A East region)
Bagdad Sultans (8-1, 5-0 1A West region)
Cicero Prep Centurions (7-1, 4-1 1A East region)
Salome Frogs (8-1, 4-1 1A West region)
El Capitan/Academy Eagles (8-1, 5-0 1A North region)
Mogollon Mustangs (6-2, 4-1 1A North region)
Mohave Accelerated Patriots (6-2, 3-2 1A West region)
San Manuel Jr./Sr. Miners (6-3, 5-1 1A South region)
St. David Tigers (5-4, 5-1 1A South region)
Baboquivari Warriors (5-3, 4-2 1A South region)
Williams Vikings (4-4, 3-2 1A North region)
Valley Union Blue Devils (6-3, 3-3 1A South region)

That means #1 Hayden, #2 Bagdad, #3 Cicero Prep and #4 Salome have earned byes into the quarterfinals.

In the first round, #9 St. David will play #8 San Manuel Jr./Sr. The winner of that game will play #1 Hayden.

#5 El Capitan/Academy will play #12 Valley Union. The winner of that game will play #4 Salome.

#6 Mogollon will play #11 Williams. The winner of that game will play #3 Cicero Prep.

And finally, #7 Mohave Accelerated will play #10 Baboquivari. The winner of that game will play #2 Bagdad.

All of the first-round games will be on Friday, October 20 at 7 p.m. at the higher-seeded school.

All of the quarterfinal games will be on Friday, October 27 at 7 p.m. at the higher-seeded school.

Take a look at the full bracket below.

Credit: 12Sports

The AIA has released the 12-team bracket for the 1A state championship. Here's a look at the matchups

The 1A state championship game will be held on Saturday, November 11 at 6 p.m. at Coronado High School in Scottsdale.

Here's a look at every 1A state champion since the conference was re-named in 1989.

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