After his team fell 27-7 to St. Michael's on Saturday afternoon, Pojoaque Valley head coach Quevin Redding decided on an evening out with the girlfriend would take his mind off football.

His Elks football team won a school record six games this season, but lost its final three and were certainly no sure thing to make the postseason when the Class AAA playoff seedings were announced Saturday night by the New Mexico Activities Association.

"I didn't want to even think about football," Redding said. "So I went to dinner with my girlfriend at Applebees (in Santa Fe), where I probably spent three hours talking about football and looking at my phone the whole time."

Redding finally got the call around 8:30 Saturday night. His Elks earned the No. 12
seed in next week's state tournament where they will play No. 5 Albuquerque Academy on Saturday.

"I can't tell you how excited I am for this program and these kids," Redding said. "And my girlfriend is pretty excited for me, too."

Pojoaque was one of four District 2AAA teams to earn berths in the playoffs, along with district champion Raton (No. 2 seed), Las Vegas Robertson (No. 6 seed) and St. Michael's (No. 7 seed).

Raton, along with all of the top four seeds, earns a first round bye.

The Tigers quarterfinal game could be a rematch of a thrilling 36-35 overtime win they had just two weeks ago over district rival St. Michael's.

For that to happen, though, the Horsemen will first have to get by No. 10 Hot Springs in Saturday's opening round game at Brother Abdon Field.

"You hate to see two of the top teams going at it in the quarterfinals," St. Michael's coach Joey Fernandez said. "But we put ourselves in that position by losing the games we lost."

The Horsemen, ranked in the top three of the New Mexico High School Coaches Association Top 10 poll most of the season, lost two of its final three games — the overtime loss at Raton on Oct. 23 and an embarrassing 26-0 home loss to Robertson on Oct. 31.

As for Robertson, the Cardinals earned the No. 6 seed and host No. 11 Cobre on Saturday.

A Cardinals win would lead to a quarterfinals rematch at No. 3 Socorro, a team Robertson beat in Socorro on Oct. 16.

"I'm not thinking about that," said Robertson head coach Richard Martinez. "We have to beat Cobre first and that's all we're thinking about right now."

Some expected the Cardinals, ranked No. 3 in the Nov. 4 NMHSCA poll, to be ranked higher.

"I think they should have been the No. 3 seed," Fernandez said. "They earned that this season, but that's the way it played out."

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No Northern New Mexico team qualified for the Class AAAA or AAAAA state playoffs

Contact Geoff Grammer at 986-3060 or ggrammer@sfnewmexican.com. Read his blog at grammerschoolblog.com.