TUBA, Benguet – Bokod and La Trinidad 1 hope to finish it outright as the top two seeds battle the last two to join the elite eight when quarterfinal actions in the Cong. Eric Go Yap  Congressional  Cup starts Saturday morning.

It will be the second seed Trinidad 1 (12-1) which starts the four-game schedule at the Tuba gym in Poblacion here as the toughest team on paper takes on late attendee Kapangan at 9 AM. It will be followed by the tussle of top seed Bokod (12-1) against the bottom feeder Mankayan.

Mankayan was one of the late additions to the quarterfinals slate as it lost three times, then escaped Kabayan last October 24 to get to the last eight.

But that needed confirmation as Atok was the dark horse when it played Kapangan in the last of the 91-game schedule.

Atok started hotly and was 11 up early in the game. But a searing second half of the host turned things around and cruised to a 91-81 lead. It was game over for Atok, but Kapangan got the seventh spot on a 6-7 win-loss card, while Mankayan took the eighth spot for a 5-9 card. Atok tied Bakun at 4-9.

The first two seeds are expected to cruise past their rivals and if not, then a rubber match is scheduled the next day.

The afternoon will see Itogon (11-2) taking on sixth seed Buguias (7-6) with the latter hoping to win and arrange the winner-take-all all rubber match on Sunday.

And the closest fight will be the last with host Tuba (10-3) facing off with the fifth seed La Trinidad 2 (9-4). Mano y mano, the teams have both the firepower to make a run in the event presented by the office of Cong. Eric Go Yap, the ACT-CIS Party List, the office of Gov. Melchor Diclas, the Media for Sports Development as well as Mark Media Solutions and the Dominican Tropa Pares.

The semifinals are slated next weekend with Saturday for the first two games and Sunday as for the rubber match. The top two squads after the eliminations have twice to beat advantages throughout unless an upset occurs and the lower seed steals that privilege, said commissioner Roderick Osis.

Meanwhile, 15 players from the 14 teams are expected to see action in the Benguet All Stars set on November 30 at the Benguet Sports Complex. Pigeon Lobien