Beating a rival never felt so good.

McCurdy School's 35-18 home win over Escalante on Saturday secured the Bobcats a No. 4 seed and another home game next week in the Class A quarterfinals.

The tournamnet bracket was announced Saturday night by the New Mexico Activitiees Association.

McCurdy (6-3) will host No. 5 Jal (5-4) on Saturday, a team McCurdy beat in the 2008 quarterfinals.

For Escalante, despite boasting a better overall record than McCurdy, Saturday's loss dropped them to the tournament's No. 6 seed, the final spot in the playoff bracket, as announced by the New Mexico Activities Association.

"It's fair. We lost (Saturday) so McCurdy deserved to be the No. 4 seed," Escalante head coach Diego Brusuelas said. "I don't think there's a lot of difference from the No. 3 and No. 6 teams so no matter what, we're going to have to play some good football to win"

Escalante (7-3) will hit the road Friday to play No. 3 Fort Sumner (7-3).

The winner of that quarterfinal faces the tournament's No. 1 seed, Clayton (8-1), on Nov. 13 or 14. The winner of the McCurdy/Jal quarterfinal plays No. 2 Hagerman (9-1) on Nov. 14.

A McCurdy/Escalante rematch, while unlikely, could only happen if both teams advance to the Nov. 21 Class A championship.