It’s kickoff time Friday night and and Saturday afternoon

It’s the last stop for No. 1-seeded Jal and 3rd-seeded Eunice as they clash Saturday afternoon for the state 2A football championship.

That doesn’t lead off the weekend, though, for the 6A semifinals will kick off Friday night with a scheduled 7 o’clock start.

Top-ranked Rio Rancho Cleveland, one of four remaining undefeated teams, hits the road to play at 5th-seeded Clovis Las Cruces, and the other match-up has 2nd-seeded Rio Rancho High playing host to 3rd-seeded Albuquerque La Cueva.

The Storm is unbeaten in 11 starts and the reigning state champions who defeated the city rival Rams. They have won home and away, and this included a tight early-season tussle when Cleveland won by two points as Rio Rancho (8-1) missed a game-winning field goal as the clock ticked down.

In last week’s quarterfinals, Cleveland turned in a 42-14 romp over visiting, 8th-seeded Hobbs. Meanwhile, Rio Rancho also won at home by clobbering 7th-seeded Cibola, 44-0, and Las Cruces (7-4) surprised city-rival Centennial,

In the 5A semis, it’s Saturday afternoontime as unbeaten top-seeded Farmington and 2nd-seeded Los Lunas are in pursuit of the state title, but first the Scorpions (11-0) have to find a way to oust 4th-seeded Artesia (8-3) at the  field where the the Bulldogs have one of the finest home records and are 6-1 there this season.

Last week, Farmington rolled over 6th-seeded Santa Teresa 28-6 on the road, and Artesia disposed of 5th-seeded Mayfield, 35-21. Then there’s Los Lunas, also 11-0, and who will be home to surprising 6th-seeded Roswell Goddard (7-4), which stunned city-rival Roswell, 19-3, in the quarterfinals at the Wool Bowl. In the quarters, Los Lunas eliminated 7th-seeded Belen, 31-0.

In 3A, it’s all District 2 as top-seeded, undefeated Raton (11-0) heads down I-25 South to face 4th-seeded St. Michael’s (8-3) where it previously shut down the Horsemen, 14-0, at the Christian Brothers Athletic Complex. In the other semis, it’s 3rd-seeded Robertson (8-3) taking a ride to 2nd-seeded Socorro (10-1), and either way, the outcomes will bring a District 2 final.

In the quarters where Raton came off a bye, Robertson reigned supreme once more over city-rival, 6th-seeded West Las Vegas, 27-6, and in Santa Fe, St. Michael’s broke up a close tilt with a big second half to romp 34-14 over 5th-seeded New Mexico Military Institute, while Socorro handily pounced 10th-seeded Dexter, 41-0, and the Tigers had an easy time sending the 8th-seeded visiting Albuquerque Hope Christian home with a 49-12 blow out.

In 4A, the top seed is Lovington (8-3) and it paid a visit to 8th-seeded Silver and left with a 14-7 win in the quarterfinals. The 2nd-seed, Bloomfield, is now 10-1 after downing visiting 7th-seeded Valencia, 48-13, while surprising 6th-seeded Ruidoso (7-5) upset 3rd-seeded Albuquerque St. Pius X, 33-8, on the road.

Now Lovington has to take to the road to knock out surprising 4th-seeded Moriarty (7-2) that got past 4th-seeded, visiting Albuquerque Academy, 20-14. And in the other pairing, it’s Bloomfield home to Moriarty as the Pintos lose their two-game home field advantage and now have to bus to the northwest.

Can’t forget 2A, and it could be a close tilt or one of these two high-scoring team holding the upper hand with one big burst, but top-seeded Jal (10-1) did romp over Texico, 52-12, on the road while 3rd-seeded Eunice (8-3) ended 2nd-seeded, previously undefeated Tularosa’s season with a 45-6 mercy-rule rule result at the disappointed 2nd-seeded Wildcats.

These are Leshin’s Selections, but don’t your house on them. Just pick them as fun, as only games. Last weekend the selections had 13 correct and six wrong.

6A —  Cleveland is also in Ohio, but in the Land of Enchantment, they are winners home and away, and so it’s the Storm with the long ride and a 28-10 win over Las Cruces, and at Rio Rancho, the Rams look good with a tough 20-13 triumph over a good La Cueva team.

5A —  It’s Farmington and its unblemished record taking the field before a packed house in Artesia and carting off a 30-20 victory, and the other unbeaten team, Los Lunas, is home and it will be Roswell Goddard taking a disappointing ride home with a 42-19 shellacking.

4A — The only problem for Lovington could be as the visitors to Moriarty, but the Wildcats will survive and leave behind a 17-7 defeat, and in Bloomfield, Ruidoso’s ride should end with a 24-7 defeat.

3A — Will unbeaten Raton keep rolling along in yet another long trip to St. Michael’s, tough to say, but the Tigers are having an impressive campaign and should gain the state championship game with a 27-17 win and another happy 3-hour ride home, and at Socorro it’s the home field advantage that should bring a 28-21 triumph over the Cardinals.

2A — It’s easy to say that top-seeded Jal is the choice here, but on the other hand, it can go either way for two high-scoring opponents, so don’t rush to judgment and just think of Jal remaining hot and hoisting the championship trophy, but Eunice has also been chili-hot and might not give it up so easy.

So there you go and these teams will now wind up a regular season after last year’s unfortunate shortened coronavirus pandemic campaign.