NOTE: This 2011 high school football preview covers the area from north Scottsdale west through Phoenix, the southwest and northwest Valley, northwest Arizona, northern Arizona and northeast Arizona, including Native American communities.

By Don Ketchum

It’s now called Division VI instead of Class 1A, but the battle for supremacy in Arizona eight-man football should be the same as it always has been.

Joseph City and Heber Mogollon, who played for the 1A title with Joseph City taking home the trophy, are the ones to beat in Division VI, Section I, as well as across the state.

Joseph City coach John Bryant has continued his amazing success string.

He has won six state championships in Class 1A, the last two at Joseph City (2009, 2010), in 2004 and 2005 at Pima and in 1997 and 1998 at St. David.

The keys for Joseph City and Mogollon will be to find leaders to replace their graduated quarterbacks, Tracy Poudrier for Joseph City and J.T. Maner for Mogollon.

Bagdad, which fell to Joseph City in the semifinals, has a new quarterback and a new coach. Sophomore Kody Low replaces graduated Zach Loveall under center and Bryan Tate, a former coach at Class 3A Tuba City, steps in to replace Dan Corbin. Bagdad is in Section III.

Mayer always fields a competitive team, and that should be the case this season. The nearby Orme School also should add to the strength in Section I.

Mayer expects to rely on the ground game, led by senior back David Atkerson.

Phoenix Valley Lutheran should be a factor again in Section III. The Flames, who fell to Mogollon in the semifinals, had junior Dimitri O’Brien rush for more than 2,000 yards, and likely will have another strong ground game.

An interesting component in the Section III race should be Glendale Joy Christian, led by former Phoenix North Canyon coach Brian Cole (Class 5A Division II).  Cole relied a lot on the running game in the higher classification, but probably will be more diverse at this level.