Football playoff capsules

GALENA AT NORTH VALLEYS,

7 P.M. TODAY

This promises to be a shootout as both teams have plenty of weapons in the the Northern 4A first round game.

Galena's defense, once thought to be possible the best in the Northern 4A, has been shredded for 75 points in the last two weeks in losses to Manogue and Reed. The Grizzlies figured to be tested again by the Panthers, who feature one of the North's best all-around athletes in Archie Kovich.

Galena will also have to deal with Chris Castellanos, who has averaged 5.9 yards a carry while gaining 816 yards and scoring 13 touchdowns.

But the Grizzlies also have plenty of weapons, including Jimmy Sargent, who ran for 313 yards in last week's loss to Reed. Sargent is averaging 5.8 yards a carry as he has rushed for 1,411 yards and 15 TDs. Galena also has a solid quarterback in Jacob Anderson.

LOVELOCK AT YERINGTON,

6 P.M. TODAY

The Lions (7-2) are coming off a 21-18 loss to Rite of Passage last week, but still come in as the Northern 2A's No. two seed based on their 50-34 win against Lovelock. So this figures to be another shootout as both teams have plenty of weapons. The winner will advance to next week's state semifinals.

Among the weapons Yerington will have to stop is Lovelock's Jayce Montes, who has averaged 6.9 yards a carry while running for 736 yards and 12 TDs.

Yerington has plenty of weapons of its own, including quarterback Daniel Bauer, who's a threat as a passer and a runner and Tim Fitzpatrick and Stephen Skroch. Among the defensive standouts late in the year have been Matt Bevington and Kyle Marriott.