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No. 1 Pueblo Central (11-0) at No. 9 Delta (9-2)

Steamboat Springs — How they got here: Pueblo beat Palisade, 34-0, and Delta beat D’Evelyn, 14-6.

The essentials: Delta created seven turnovers in its first-round win against D’Evelyn. Delta is making its first playoff appearance since 1999, and Pueblo County went undefeated for the first time since 1961.

X factor: The game is in Delta, so that’s 250 miles and five hours in a bus for Pueblo Central, making it the longest the Wildcats have had to travel this year.

No. 5 Windsor (9-2) at No. 4 Steamboat (11-0)

How they got here: Windsor beat Pueblo County, 33-20, and Steamboat beat Berthoud, 24-13.

The essentials: Steamboat’s gained 1,000 more yards than it has given up. Windsor is just 2-2 on the road and has three starters out of its secondary. The Wizards, however, average more than 250 yards rushing a game.

X factor: This is the second straight Tri-Valley opponent Steamboat has seen. How much of Berthoud’s game plan against Steamboat was relayed to Windsor remains to be seen. But no doubt, Berthoud’s defense put up the best showing to date against the dangerous Steamboat offense.

No. 6 Falcon (10-1) at No. 3 Mountain View (11-0)

How they got here: Falcon beat Conifer, 12-7, and Mountain View erased Pueblo Centennial, 40-7.

The essentials: The Mountain View defense has been stingy all year, giving up just 11 points per game. Falcon’s lone loss on the season was a 28-20 contest against top-seeded Pueblo Central in Week 4.

X factor: Falcon’s offense struggled in the opening game, gaining just 104 yards. The team needed a blocked kick returned for a touchdown to get out of the first round.

No. 7 Glenwood (7-4) at No. 2 Valor Christian (11-0)

How they got here: Glenwood beat Elizabeth, 24-3, and Valor beat Cañon City, 45-13.

The essentials: Glenwood gave up just 100 yards and six first downs against Elizabeth. Valor averages nearly 40 points per game.

X factor: Valor coach Brent Vieselmeyer was the defensive coordinator at Orange Lutheran in California for eight years. In 2006, his last season there, the team finished the season ranked No. 1 in California and No. 7 in the country.

Western Slope League teams still alive and well

By any stretch of the imagination, it would have been a little crazy to expect Delta and Glenwood Springs to be where the two football teams are now.

Plain and simple, before the 2009 season, they were two teams that looked like they would be building for the future.

The Delta Panthers have been a mat at the door of the Western Slope League’s best for the past decade. The team hadn’t made the playoffs since 1999, had gone through multiple coaches and always seemed to finish in the bottom half of the league.

Glenwood, after winning a state championship in 2008, lost 20-some seniors and had to fill in multiple positions, including quarterback and reigning 3A Player of the Year Dakota Stonehouse.

But today, each team has a chance to make it to the Class 3A semifinals.

Ninth-seeded Delta plays at home against top-seeded Pueblo Central, and No. 6 Glenwood travels to No. 2 Valor Christian.

For each team, the path has been different but equally rewarding.

Glenwood started the season 0-2 before winning seven of its next nine games. The Demons seem to be playing their best football of late. In the first-round win against Elizabeth, Glenwood’s defense was tenacious. The Demons limited the Cardinals to 100 yards of offense, including just 27 on the ground.

“Our defense played great,” Demons coach Rocky Whitworth said. “We’ve hung our hat on those guys all year. Hopefully, they just continue that strong play. We have to play as good as we possibly can this week.”

That’s the truth. In Valor, Glenwood encounters a team in just its second year of varsity play, but at a school that’s serious about its sports. Valor averages nearly 40 points a game and gives up just 11.

“They’re probably the most talented team we’ve seen this year,” Whitworth said. “They’ve got just a real top-notch program developing.”

Delta’s always been a school with good athletes, but continuity inside the program was a wreck. The team seemed to have a new coach every year and could never quite find an identity.

That hasn’t been a problem this season. Insert first-year coach Ben Johnson, and the Panthers are back to where they feel they should be.

Delta started the year 1-2 with losses to Steamboat and Glenwood. Since then, the team has won eight straight, with three of those wins coming by margins of 10 points or fewer.

Johnson, who won a state championship last season as the defensive coordinator for Olathe, said the change in his team started early in the season.

The Panthers did the same drills day in and day out.

“That led to some real consistency,” Johnson said.

But the turning point came in Week 6, when Delta delivered a 10-6 win against Palisade. From there, Johnson said, the team really started to come together.

“They’re playing very confident,” he said. “I don’t want to say they’re shocked, but they know if they prepare hard every week, they’ll be in every game.”

Jeff Caspersen, of the Glen­wood Springs Post Independent, contributed to this story.