Taos Tigers in, must travel to Ruidoso for first round game

The Taos Tigers are in the playoffs.

The brackets for the New Mexico state playoffs were made public for 11-man teams in class 3A to 6A November 5 at 10:30 p.m. This included class 4A - the division Taos High falls under.

In this year's tournament, the Tigers have been ranked 9th in the state - meaning they must travel for their first round game. Unfortunately, this means that Taos must make a 260-mile trip to play the 8th-ranked Ruidoso Warriors.

The Tigers enter the post-season riding a three-game win streak, having defeated the West Las Vegas Dons (Oct. 21), the Pojoaque Valley Elks (Oct. 28) and the Bernalillo Spartans (Nov. 4) to end with a 6-4 overall record and 4-2 in district play. Conversely, the Warriors end their season on a two-game losing streak and end their season 5-5 overall and 2-2 in District 4-4A.

Due to New Mexico Activities Association (NMAA) regulations, the geographic distance between these two opposing teams means that the game could have been played on a Saturday - to account for appropriate travel time needed. However, the game will be played on Friday, November 11, and will start at 6 p.m.

This appears to be the first time these two teams have met, and this marks the second consecutive year Taos has made it into the post-season. The Warriors won the state title in 2014 with a 35-28 final over the Cobre Indians.