Cedar Rapids Washington football coach Tony Lombardi has studied the brackets for the Class 4A playoffs and has two thoughts.

No. 1, the top half of the bracket for the eastern side of the state is loaded with many of the top teams from the Mississippi Valley Conference.

"It's Linn-Mar, Wash, City High, Cedar Falls," he noted. "Are you kidding me?"

No. 2, the bottom half of the bracket features Bettendorf, North Scott, Iowa City West and Pleasant Valley. Iowa City West is from the Valley but the others are from the Mississippi Athletic Conference, which has been weaker than the MVC in recent years.

"That bottom bracket would be a nice place to be," Lombardi said. "It's a whole different bracket."

Washington (6-3) drew the No. 9 seed in the east and will face eighth-seeded Davenport Assumption (7-2) at Brady Street Stadium in Davenport Wednesday night.

Just about everybody's bracket projections were foiled Friday night when Iowa City West upset top-ranked Cedar Falls. If Cedar Falls had won that game, the Tigers would have been the No. 2 seed and placed in the lower half of the bracket - away from Linn-Mar, Iowa City High, Washington and Kennedy.

The victory by Iowa City West changed everything. Cedar Falls, Bettendorf and North Scott all finished with 8-1 records for the regular season, but Bettendorf was seeded No. 2, North Scott was seeded No. 3 and Cedar Falls was seeded No. 4.

That put Cedar Falls in the top half of the bracket with the other stout MVC schools, and made Bettendorf and North Scott the teams to beat in the lower half of the bracket.

"In my opinion, that top half of the bracket is tough," Lombardi said.

Cedar Falls was ranked No. 2 in the state last week, but that will change with the loss to Iowa City West. Iowa City High was ranked No. 2 in the state a few weeks ago, but dropped after losing to Washington. Linn-Mar was No. 3 last week, but probably will climb to No. 2 this week (behind West Des Moines Valley).

Linn-Mar did not lose Friday night, but it suffered a big loss when tailback Mitch Wantock broke his right ankle. The Lions drew the No. 1 seed in the east, but are not at full strength.

"I don't know how it will play out, but I know this: Linn-Mar will be a different team," Lombardi said. "I don't know how, but they'll have to find a way to compensate."

Linn-Mar opens with Clinton (3-6) Wednesday night and would play Washington or Davenport Assumption in the second round next Monday night. The Lions drilled the Warriors, 56-7, on Oct. 7, but Lombardi would like a rematch now that Washington tailback Will Griffin is approaching full strength.

"The best team is Linn-Mar. There's no doubt," Lombardi said. "That's not coach-speak. They're good. But hopefully we'll get a chance to play them again.

"We did not play like we're capable of playing, so I'm hoping we'll get a shot to play them again."

If the favorites prevail, No. 1 seed Linn-Mar would play No. 4 seed Cedar Falls in the quarterfinals of the state tournament. As recently as last week, Linn-Mar vs. Cedar Falls appeared to be a likely meeting of undefeated teams in the semifinals.

The picture has changed dramatically. Cedar Falls lost, and Linn-Mar lost Wantock. Now there might be more parity in the eastern half of the bracket.

"We're all pretty good," Lombardi said. "And on a given night, especially with short preparation time, you never know."

Washington played Thursday night and had an easy game with winless Waterloo West. Meanwhile, all the other playoff teams from the east had games Friday night. That gives the Warriors an extra day of rest prior to Wednesday's games.

Washington practiced Saturday morning, then rested for 32 hours until its next practice Sunday night at Kingston Stadium. All the other teams had less time to recover from Friday's aches and pains before getting ready for the playoffs.

"I think it does make a difference," Lombardi said.

The western part of the 32-team bracket features West Des Moines Valley (9-0) and Ankeny (8-1) as the first and second seeds. Thirteen of the 16 playoff teams in the west are from the CIML, with the other three teams from the five-team Missouri River Conference.

Seven of the 16 playoff teams in the west have losing records with Ottumwa (3-6), Johnston (4-5), Ames (4-5), Des Moines East (4-5), Sioux City North (4-6), Sioux City East (4-5) and Fort Dodge (3-6). Only two teams from the east have losing records with Clinton (3-6) and Davenport Central (4-5), both from the MAC.

The pairings were determined by playoff points, a mathematical formula employed by the IHSAA. Among the criteria used to break ties were head-to-head meetings and strength of schedule.

Now everybody starts with an 0-0 record Wednesday night.

"It's so hard to win a state championship," Lombardi said. "I'm thankful we're going to get an opportunity.

"The bracket we're in will give us an opportunity to play the very best, and that's what you want."