East Valley Region making its imprint in Arizona high school football

The 6A East Valley might have asserted itself as the premier (no pun intended) region in Arizona high school football.

It has always been the Premier Region with the Chandler schools -- most notably the Big 3 of Basha, Chandler and Hamilton.

But Chandler lost to East Valley Highland. Hamilton has looked vulnerable at times, even though its only loss has been to Basha. Basha still is Basha, the No. 1-ranked team in the state by The Arizona Republic.

But East Valley Red Mountain, American Leadership Queen Creek and Highland all have legit shots at making the eight-team AIA Open playoffs this year.

That would be huge for a region that only had QLA QC and Highland in the last year's Open. Red Mountain (7-0) has never gotten to the Open, but coach Kyle Enders has this team off to the best start in school history. And there seems no slowing the Lions, who rallied in the final minute to beat ALA QC 16-14 on a 40-yard field goal by Brandon Gallegos.

ALA QC has to face Highland next, so that might have huge Open implications.

Stay tuned. It's going to be a wild Arizona high school finish to the end with this year's Open looking more wide-open than ever before.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: East Valley Region making its imprint in Arizona high school football