The march through the state playoffs in the 3A Conference continues with no surprises in the first round, except for a slim 26-24 victory by No. 5 Paradise Honors over No. 12 Payson. Ultimately, all of the top eight seeds advanced to the quarterfinal round with the top four seeds winning in dominant fashion.

Top-seeded Thatcher beat No. 16 Benson 62-7, No. 2 Eastmark took care of No. 15 Monument Valley 50-0, No. 3 Pusch Ridge beat ALA West Foothills 35-0 and No. 4 Show Low beat No. 13 Blue Ridge 56-7. All four top seeds will host the quarterfinal round next Friday night in a somewhat shortened schedule with most of the 4A, 5A and 6A regular season games taking place on Thursday night due to Veteran’s Day.

Thatcher moved to 11-0 on the year and two of those victories came over Eastmark (10-1) and Pusch Ridge (10-1) and both of those game were played at home. The victory over Eastmark was a 31-30 game that wasn’t decided until the fourth quarter and the 28-14 victory over Pusch Ridge started on a Friday night and ended on the following Saturday due to weather conditions, causing the Lions two long trips to finish the game. Show Low (10-1) needs to get past Paradise Honors (9-1) to have a shot at Thatcher in the semifinals round.

In the Pusch Ridge victory over ALA West Foothills, junior QB Bubba Mustain threw for three touchdowns and ran for another with the fifth TD coming off on a 20-yard interception return from Morgan Quiri. Mustain hit Bryce Jewell from 36 yards out to put the Lions up 7-0 and he ran from 2 yards out to put his team up 14-0 in the first quarter.

Mustain hit his brother, Tyler Mustain, on a 63-yard pass to go up 21-0 in the second quarter, Quire put the team up 28-0 and then the Mustain brothers connected again on a  6-yard play for the 35-0 final.

Pusch Ridge will host No. 6 Round Valley (8-3) and Eastmark will host No. 7 Sabino (8-3) in the quarterfinal round. This will be the first game of the year between Pusch Ridge and Round Valley but Eastmark took care of Sabino 56-19 three weeks ago. Pusch Ridge beat Sabino 41-20 in September.