ZUVIE'S VIEWS: Playoff berths, just like the games, went down to the wire

The first week of the high school football playoffs is a week of conflicting emotions.

On one hand, I’m excited about the start of a new stage of the season, a stage that is always the most, well, exciting. The games tend to be more intense and well-played because teams are fighting for their figurative lives every week.

The winners live to fight another week, and continue striving for the ultimate goal of winning a state championship. The losers, meanwhile, must take off their uniforms and turn in their equipment.

If the losing players are lucky, they’ll have to wait until next year. Others will have walked off the field for the last time.

Along those lines, several Permian Basin teams had a chance to make the playoffs up until the last week of the regular season but didn’t quite make it.

Among them is Andrews, which could have clinched a playoff berth on either of the last two Fridays. First the Mustangs suffered a gut-wrenching loss against Greenwood, which rallied from an early 27-point deficit to win 62-61, and then they had the misfortune of meeting Monahans.

Their 45-23 loss to the playoff-bound Loboes opened the door for Greenwood, which stomped on another team’s playoff dream route to securing District 4-3A’s third and final postseason berth. The Rangers beat Fort Stockton last week to secure their spot, ending one of the area’s best stories this season.

Fort Stockton, which went 1-9 last year, started 6-0 under first-year head coach Derrick Taylor. But the Panthers hit a wall against the stiff competition in 4-3A, losing all four of their district games.

Kermit, under first-year head coach Coby Owen, suffered a fate similar to Andrews’. The Yellow Jackets could have clinched a playoff berth with a win against Alpine on Oct. 28 or a win against Colorado City on Friday, but they lost both games and then lost a tiebreaker to Alpine for District 2-2A Division I’s final postseason spot.

The other team on the short end of the tiebreaker, Crane, never even had a chance after a 28-14 loss to Kermit on Oct. 21. The 14-point margin made the Golden Cranes’ deficit insurmountable under the tiebreaker scenario, and that was in a game in which Crane outgained Kermit by more than 150 total yards and had nine more first downs.

Marfa is the other area team that saw its playoff hopes slip away in the regular season’s final week. The Shorthorns started the season with district-title hopes, but they couldn’t overcome some key injuries and finished fourth in District 5-1A Division II.

But every game has winners and losers, including the area’s district races. Several Permian Basin teams also punched their postseason tickets on the last day of the regular season, namely Alpine, Greenwood, Iraan and Balmorhea.

The Fightin’ Bucks showed plenty of fight down the stretch. They had to beat Kermit by at least nine points and won by 13, then edged Denver City 20-19 last week to squeak into the postseason.

Oscar Trevino proved heroic for Alpine, scoring two special-teams touchdowns against Kermit and then rushing for the team’s first and last scores against Denver City.

Balmorhea and Iraan are the other area teams that clinched playoff berths with wins Friday. The Bears had to beat a Sanderson team they had already beaten once, while the Braves ended up snagging a share of their fifth consecutive district title because McCamey lost to Van Horn.

To all the area teams that are still playing this week, I wish you the best of luck. It’s been fun watching you develop this fall.

As for the teams that have turned off the stadium lights for the last time this year, remember, August is only nine months away.

>> Follow Adam Zuvanich on Twitter at @OAZuvanich