Playoff brackets were released Monday and first-round games begin as soon as Wednesday in boys soccer.

Some interesting tidbits going into it …

Ralston Valley, for one, wasn’t atop the Class 5A rankings until the final days of the regular season. The Mustangs’ win over No. 26 Arvada West on Tuesday, coupled with Northfield’s late-season loss to No. 5 Denver East and Cherry Creek’s lower qualify of win against Grandview, was enough to send them to No. 1 in the bracket.

In the other classes, Mullen grabbed 4A’s top seed, beating No. 3 Battle Mountain 5-0 on Saturday to hold off No. 2 Silver Creek in the seedings. Colorado Academy won the 3A/2A Metro League and earned No. 1 in 3A, while Bruce Randolph kept 2A’s first seed despite drawing its last two games of the season (though one was against 3A No. 3 Steamboat Springs).

The first round for 5A and 3A is Wednesday, 4A is Thursday, and 2A is Saturday. The 5A-3A brackets are made up of 32 teams, while 2A is of 24.

Let’s take a look at favorites and potential dark horses in each classification.

Class 5A

Favorite(s): Defending champ Cherry Creek did everything it could to nab the top seed in the classification, finishing 15-0 this fall. But the rankings formula did the No. 2 Bruins no favors.

Despite it, nobody has been better than them in 2025, where they’ve won every game by two or more goals but one — a 3-2 win over ThunderRidge on Sept. 9. Cooper Arledge has led the way with 23 goals, 5A’s most this season.

If anyone had a case to make for the top spot over Cherry Creek, it probably was No. 1 Ralston Valley. The Mustangs won 13 straight to end the season, 14-0-1.

Among the Mustangs’ wins were to No. 8 Fairview, 5-1, and No. 9 Boulder, 4-0. The Knights were co-champions of the 5A Granite Peaks League with No. 4 Legacy and the Panthers won the 5A/4A Rocky Mountain League by a combined 21-0 margin.

Their draw came to No. 6 Regis Jesuit on Aug. 26.

Sleeper(s): No. 4 Legacy wasn’t in the running for 5A’s top spot despite an undefeated campaign (12-0-3), where it outscored teams 30-5.

Among wins, the Lightning beat No. 9 Boulder, No. 13 Broomfield, No. 18 Rock Canyon, 4A No. 2 Silver Creek and 3A No. 1 Colorado Academy.

No. 5 Denver East, meanwhile, redeemed a three-goal loss to No. 3 Northfield earlier in the season with a 2-1 win over the then-No. 1 Nighthawks on Saturday. This season, the Angels have wins against No. 7 Pine Creek, No. 13 Broomfield and No. 15 Fossil Ridge, to name a few.

No. 6 Regis Jesuit went undefeated at 13-0-2, drawing No. 1 Ralston Valley and No. 17 Heritage. Through the first two rounds, the Raiders are guaranteed to be at home, where they’ve gone 7-0 this fall.

Long-shot bet: No. 17 Heritage has lost just once since its 0-3-1 start to the season. Since Sept. 11, the Eagles have beaten No. 18 Rock Canyon and No. 21 Columbine, and have tied No. 6 Regis Jesuit and No. 20 Legend.

Along with that, they’ve proven to be stingy, allowing two or less goals in 14 of 15 games this season, which is always crucial in the 5A postseason. The outlier was a 3-2 loss to No. 24 ThunderRidge Oct. 8.

Class 4A

Favorite(s): No. 1 Mullen plays a 5A schedule out of the 5A/4A Centennial League, and it fared well in it.

The Mustangs’ only loss of the season came against 5A No. 2 Cherry Creek, which finished 15-0. On Saturday, they finished the season with a commanding, 5-0 win over No. 3 Battle Mountain.

No. 2 Silver Creek’s only loss this season came against 5A No. 4 Legacy.

The Raptors dominated the 4A/3A Granite Peaks League, getting wins over No. 7 Centaurus, No. 9 Niwot and 3A defending champ Holy Family.

Sleeper(s): No. 7 Centaurus and No. 9 Niwot finished behind No. 2 Silver Creek in the GPL, but both teams own quality wins this fall.

The Warriors beat the Cougars as well as 4A Pikes Peak champ Cheyenne Mountain and 5A No. 16 Erie. The Cougars beat Cheyenne Mountain and 3A No. 3 Steamboat Springs.

No. 8 Golden finished the regular season 10-2-3 and hasn’t lost a game since the middle of September.

The Demons won the 4A/3A Jefferson County League, outscoring teams 34-1.

Long-shot bet: Out of the 5A/4A Southwestern League, No. 22 Durango split with No. 4 Montrose and swept its two games against No. 30 Palisade.

The Demons’ only other losses (outside of Montrose) came to 5A and -out-of-state competition.

Class 3A

Favorite(s): No. 1 Colorado Academy hasn’t lost to a 3A team this season, winning the always-stacked 3A/2A Metro League with a 6-0-3 league record.

The Mustangs’ best win came against No. 2 Jefferson Academy, 6-2, on Sept. 25. In the six 3A/2A games since then, they’ve outscored teams 11-0.

Sleeper(s): No. 2 Jefferson Academy is hoping its four-goal loss to Colorado Academy was merely a rough day. Because besides that, the Jaguars’ only other loss this fall came to 4A No. 11 D’Evelyn on Sept. 15.

They ended the regular season with three straight wins over teams inside 3A’s top 11. Troy Brown leads them and 3A with 27 goals.

No. 4 Kent Denver beat No. 5 Peak to Peak 2-0 to close the regular season. The Sun Devils’ only loss since Sept. 18 came to No. 2 Jefferson Academy, 2-1, on Oct. 16. Among other results during the year, they tied No. 1 Colorado Academy and 4A No. 5 Lutheran, and they lost to 4A No. 1 Mullen by just one goal.

Long-shot bet: No. 12 Timnath tied the likes of No. 5 Peak to Peak, No. 16 Roaring Fork and 5A No. 6 Greeley Central en route to a 9-1-5 campaign.

The Cubs’ lone loss came to 4A No. 26 Northridge on Saturday as they squandered a 2-1 halftime lead. Seb Chavarria leads them with 16 goals this season.

Class 2A

Favorite(s): No. 1 Bruce Randolph sounds like an action hero, and for the most part in 2025, it has played like it.

The Bears lost just once during the season — to 3A No. 13 DSST: Conservatory Green — and finished the season with a 2-2 draw against 3A No. 3 Steamboat Springs on Saturday. They have four players with double-digit goals, led by senior Alejandro Rodriguez with 19.

But really, No. 2 Salida, No. 3 Crested Butte, No. 4 Forge Christian and No. 5 Denver Christian could all be considered a favorite as well.

Forge Christian beat Salida in last year’s final. The Fury and Denver Christian are battle-tested out of the 3A/2A Metro League. The Thunder beat Forge Christian, 2-1, earlier in the month.

Salida, meanwhile, went 14-1 after finishing 2024 as runner-up. But its loss this fall came to Crested Butte, 5-2, on Sept. 8. The Titans won it all in 2023 and are looking for their fifth 2A title (2023, ’21, ’20, ’18) since 2018.

Long-shot bet: No. 14 Dawson is led by 2A’s top scorer, Finn Almond. He has 29 goals and 68 points this fall.

The Mustangs beat their first-round opponent, Denver Jewish Day, 4-1 last month. And their offense has been at its best of late, scoring 31 goals over its last three games.