The Bow Valley Bobcats varsity boys basketball team has topped the regular Rocky View season and will be sitting out the quarterfinals when playoffs begin on Feb. 28.

The Bobcats went 5-1 on the season with their only loss coming at the hands of the cross-town Cochrane Cobras.

The Bobcats will be hosting a semifinal game on Mar. 2, and league finals will be in Chestermere on Mar. 4.

The Cochrane Cobras won their last game of the regular season, 89-87, against the Bert Church Chargers to finish the season with a 4-2 record and fourth overall. They'll be hosting a rematch with the Chargers in the quarterfinals on Feb. 28.

There's close competition between the top four teams, with the Chestermere Lakers matching the 5-1 record of the Bobcats. The Bobcats beat the Lakers 67-54 in the opening game of the season to secure the top spot.  The W. H. Croxford Cavaliers were also 4-2 and finished third.

With the start of Rocky View playoffs 12 days away, neither the Bobcats nor Cobras are sitting idle. Both have a full schedule of tournaments as they build momentum to the division, zone, and possibly the 3A provincial championship. The Cobras are the defending champions.

Both the Cobras and Bobcats competed in the Cochrane Classic last week, which featured plenty of talented squads.

"It's a lot of fun getting to see all of these different teams, whether they're from the zone or out of the zone," says Cobras head coach Patrick Court. "It's great to see the provincial-ranked teams just to see where we stand, and what we need to do to get to the next level." 

"It's a great way to kick off a really tough schedule for us," says Bobcats coach Kris Nielson. "We go again [this] weekend and then we have another tough tournament after that before we go into playoffs. So, we started off with some easy tournaments and we're now gearing up to get ready for playoffs."

Bobcats vs WetaskiwinThe Bobcats beat Wetaskiwin in their opening game of the Cochrane Classic. Bobcat Stirling King is pictured above. (photo/Mackenzie Williams)