Graduates of Westview and Centennial remain affiliated with their schools, help football teams on Friday nights.

Two-way Saguaro lineman Cyrus Hobbi was spent. Nagging physical aliments and fatigue had him collapsing often in the final minutes of Saturday\'s 4A-I football championship game with Canyon del Oro. But when time had expired do-everything quarterback Teddy Ruben had enough energy to play another 48 minutes. The diminutive Saguaro signal caller jumped and spun with joy knowing he and his teammates had snared a hard-fought, come-from-behind 41-34 victory over defending champ CDO at Sun Devil Stadium.

Last year Jason McBrayer was the backup quarterback for Canyon del Oro. A very good team. An undefeated 4A-I state title team. That was fine. Going along for a championship ride. But he ached for the chance to play more and contribute the best way he knew how -- by playing. He has received that opportunity this year and hasn\'t disappointed.

Normally if a team only has the ball for a 1 minute and 23 seconds in a quarter it was not very productive for that 12 minutes. Except if that school is Saguaro High. The Sabercats ran only nine plays in the second period Friday night, but scored 28 points in the stanza and that led the Sabercats to a 42-13 victory over Queen Creek in a 4A-I semifinal game at Paradise Valley High School.

The power-point rankings were dead on in 4A-I. The No. 1,2 3 and 4 seeded teams are in the semis and should give fans Friday a healthy serving of quality playoff football.

When Gilbert High dropped its fourth game in five tries to finish September, there was little sense in thinking there was life left in the 2010 Tigers. Except, however, if you are a diehard. Count Gilbert coach Dan Dunn a diehard.

An all-White Mountain 3A semifinal? It has happened before. Could happen again. That scenario is as much up to Winslow, Coolidge, Florence and Fountain HIlls as it is to Show Low, Snowflake, Round Valley and Blue Ridge as 3A quarterfinal matchups come to the East Valley on Saturday afternoon and evening.

The 5A-II state football playoffs are similar to 5A-I in that there is a prohibitive favorite in defending champion and top-seed Chaparral. Beyond that the 5A-II opening-round games do not look anything like their 5A-I counterparts. The matchups ffigure to run like clockwork according to the seeds with perhaps the usual exceptions in a 9-8 or 10-7 matchup. And rather than one rematch of a regular-season meeting, there are four of eight in the initial battles for 2010 5A-II supremacy.

The 5A-I state football playoffs offers some suspense in the early going. Perhaps more so than in recent years so fans should rejoice in that aspect. Hamilton (5A-I) is the prohibitive favorite to be sure with an unbeaten record and defending state-champion status. And it is a bit of an odd year when Mesa Mountain View and Brophy are double-digit rather than single-digit seeds and qualify with .500 records.

Desert Edge senior set two records in the state meet, considering possible Olympic bid in 2012.