Another week, another reshuffling of the Open Division playoff rankings.
With Scottsdale Horizon’s 21-10 win over Scottsdale Desert Mountain on Friday in a key 5A Northeast Valley region game, another team will likely move in. Desert Mountain (6-1) came in as the No. 2 team in the second edition of the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s rankings while Horizon (6-1) was No. 8.
Last week, Gilbert Higley was No. 3 in the Open before losing to American Leadership Academy Gilbert North and falling out of the rankings to No. 9. Only the top eight teams from the 6A and 5A conferences make the state’s highest playoff bracket.
Horizon coach Tyson Ditmore has mixed feelings about being in the Open, but as he said earlier this week, his team is just going to ride the wave. His players are echoing that message.
“The Open is a thing that there’s here now,” Horizon senior quarterback Jase Ashley said after he accounted for all three touchdowns in the win. “We can’t control it. If we’re in it, we’re in it. We’re playing to win. If we’re in the 5A, we’re going to try to make a run there. But no matter what happens, we just gotta see how it ends up and keep winning games, keep playing good football.”