By last year’s 4A champion South Mecklenburg Sabres, the 24th seed — but we’re going to try anyway.

Enjoy the predictions and links to our coverage below:

Bracket superlatives

Best first-round matchups

• 4A — (21) Leesville Road at (12) Green Hope in the East is a brutal matchup for two of the more talented teams in the bracket.
• 3A — I like this East matchup between (18) White Oak, which finished the season on a tear, and (15) Carrboro, who has been under-the-radar but strong for the whole year.
• 2A — Let’s go to the West bracket where (18) Lincoln Charter is battle-tested and goes to (15) Patton.
• 1A — Going to go with (21) Wake Prep at (12) Lakewood in the East. Both have had tough conferences to grind through.

Upset alert

• 4A — There are plenty of 20-seeds who should advance, so I’ll go further. I think (24) Chapel Hill will host (25) Apex Friendship in the second round after both pick up wins.
• 3A — I’ll go with two in the East: if I’m (7) Croatan in the East, I don’t want to have to play (26) Dixon for a third time this year; if I’m (9) Southern Lee, I don’t like that (24) West Johnston just upset C.B. Aycock in the final game of the year.
• 2A — I don’t see that many on here, but let’s try (21) Manteo at (12) North Pitt. North Pitt is solid, but it’s hard to imagine a program like Manteo being one-and-done.
• 1A — Look, it’s tough to find these in 1A. But (24) Oxford Prep does have a win over the No. 1 seed, so maybe they can pull it off against (9) Voyager?

Four favorites

• 4A East — (1) Holly Springs, (2) Hoggard, (3) Wakefield, (12) Green Hope
• 4A West — (1) West Forsyth, (2) Myers Park, (5) Northwest Guilford, (10) Reagan
• 3A East — (1) First Flight, (2) Western Alamance, (5) Southern Durham, (8) Jacksonville
• 3A West — (1) Asheboro, (2) A.C. Reynolds, (5) East Lincoln, (10) Enka
• 2A East — (1) Clinton, (2) Wallace-Rose Hill, (3) Greene Central, (4) Franklin Academy
• 2A West — (1) Southwestern Randolph, (2) Brevard, (5) Owen, (6) Pine Lake Prep
• 1A East — (1) Excelsior Classical, (2) Hobbton (4) Lejeune, (9) Voyager
• 1A West — (1) Highland Tech, (2) Bradford Prep, (10) Thomas Jefferson, (12) Christ the King

Dark horse / not-as-dark horse

• 4A East — (26) Cardinal Gibbons / (11) Ashley
• 4A West — (17) Charlotte Catholic / (8) Asheville
• 3A East — (19) Swansboro / (14) Orange
• 3A West — (19) Forestview / (11) Hickory
• 2A East — (22) Graham / (13) James Kenan
• 2A West — (20) CSD / (12) Newton-Conover
• 1A East — (12) Lakewood / (6) East Wake Academy
• 1A West — (16) Gray Stone Day / (13) Mount Airy

Best XI in each bracket

4A

1. Sean O’Laughlin, Holly Springs
2. Gavin Trosch, Myers Park (D)
3. Haegen Paschold, West Forsyth
4. Jacob Colberg, Green Hope
5. Shep Goldstein, Asheville
6. Justin Lee, Northwest Guilford
7. Santiago Escobar, Cary
8. Ibra Ndiaye, Wakefield
9. Cole Freeman, Ardrey Kell (GK)
10. Riley Daniels, Rolesville
11. Owen Justice, Ragsdale

3A

1. Cam Letterlough, Asheboro
2. Braden McCourt, Hickory
3. Julius Jones, J.H. Rose
4. Tanner Farner, White Oak
5. Colin Rhodes, First Flight (GK)
6. Brandon Miranda, Enka
7. Nathan Tsonev, First Flight
8. Dominic McNerney, Western Alamance
9. Famany Zogbelamou, West Johnston
10. Diego Bustamante, Asheboro
11. Logan Thoma, Ledford (D)

2A

1. Davis Kendall, Owen
2. Jack Ramanata, Pine Lake Prep
3. Fernando Hernandez, Southwestern Randolph
4. Peter Omega, James Kenan
5. Alex Zepeda, Wallace-Rose Hill
6. Edgar Carbajal, Southeast Alamance
7. Judah Heis, Pine Lake Prep (GK)
8. Josh Osorio, Greene Central
9. Logan Hawley, Franklin Academy
10. Luke Creed, Surry Central
11. Ayden Brown, West Davidson (GK)

1A

1. Colton Risen, River Mill
2. Henry Jorge, Hobbton
3. Erick Lopez, Carver
4. Logan Grasso, Bradford Prep
5. Grant Ellis, Bradford Prep
6. Alden Grondahl, Thomas Jefferson (D)
7. Aidan Murray, Pender
8. Tyler Hinshaw, Voyager (D)
9. Cooper Willard, South Stokes
10. Dhurv Srinivasan, Union Academy
11. Joel Cayasso, Carver

Regional and Championship predictions

• 4A — Holly Springs over Ardrey Kell
  • East: Holly Springs over Hoggard
  • West: Ardrey Kell over Myers Park
• 3A — A.C. Reynolds over Western Alamance
  • East: (2) Western Alamance over (5) Southern Durham
  • West: (2) A.C. Reynolds over (5) East Lincoln
• 2A — Clinton over Pine Lake Prep
  • East: (1) Clinton over (3) Greene Central
  • West: (6) Pine Lake Prep over (5) Owen
• 1A — Bradford Prep over Hobbton
  • East: (2) Hobbton over (1) Excelsior Classical
  • West: (2) Bradford Prep over (12) Christ the King