Small schools scramble to make playoffs

The final week of high school football’s regular season means the last chance for some small school teams to qualify for the playoffs.

In Class 2A, White Pine and Mountain View are scrambling to qualify for the postseason.

In Class 1A, a Spring Mountain-Indian Springs showdown will decide the final playoff team.

Here’s a look at each of the three small-school classes and the playoff possibilities in each.

Who’s in: Everyone.

Who could still get in: Everyone is already in.

In a four-team league, it’s almost impossible not to play a postseason game.

But there’s still some shaking out to be done as Moapa Valley (6-2, 2-0) visits Virgin Valley (8-1, 2-0) on Friday to decide the top spot in the league.

The winner will host fourth-seeded Faith Lutheran (5-4, 0-3) in the first round.

The loser will entertain third-seeded Boulder City (5-3, 1-2).

Who’s in: The Meadows, Needles and Lincoln County.

Who could still get in: Mountain View or White Pine.

A win by The Meadows (7-2, 5-1) over Needles (6-2, 5-1) last week put the top three teams in the league in a three-way tie, and any number of scenarios could play out there.

If the three end up tied, Lincoln County (6-3, 5-1) would get the No. 1 seed with The Meadows taking the No. 2 seed and Needles falling to No. 3.

Two-team tiebreakers between the teams go this way:

The Meadows wins a tiebreaker against Needles. Lincoln County wins a tiebreaker over The Meadows. Needles wins a tiebreaker over Lincoln County, all as the result of head-to-head matchups.

The No. 4 seed will be the winner of the Mountain View (3-6, 3-3) vs. White Pine (2-6, 2-4) game Thursday.

Calvary Chapel could get into a three-way tie with those two teams, but it lost to both and has already been eliminated.

Who’s in: Pahranagat Valley, Tonopah and Round Mountain.

Who could still get in: Indian Springs or Spring Mountain.

Pahranagat Valley’s win over Tonopah (5-3, 4-1) still didn’t lock up the No. 1 seed. The Panthers (8-0, 5-0) can take care of that with a win at Round Mountain (5-3, 4-1) on Thursday.

If Pahranagat Valley wins, it will be the No. 1 seed, Tonopah the No. 2 and Round Mountain the No. 3.

Even if Round Mountain wins, Pahranagat Valley could still be the No. 1 seed if there’s a three-way tie for first.

Tonopah can’t get the No. 1 seed, and Pahranagat Valley can’t fall below the No. 2 seed.

Spring Mountain (3-5, 2-3) heads to Indian Springs (4-4, 2-3) to battle for the No. 4 seed. This one is much easier to figure out. The winner is in, the loser out.

All of the playoff tiebreakers can be found on the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association’s Web site (www.niaa.com).

Check back on Nevadapreps.com late Thursday night or early Friday for all the first-round playoff matchups.