My one Friday night completely off from football — and I decide to sit at home and write about other fall sports.

It's all good, though. Football and volleyball receive the lion's share of the stories in the fall.

But one of the more individually-based fall sports — badminton — began its state tournament today and is chock full of Northwest Valley standouts.

Others — golf and swimming — have less local flavor but are also nearing their state finals. Let's give each a look, starting with a bevy of badminton stars.

Visit Independence High School Saturday

The state's best individual badminton players are a short drive away tomorrow. And three of the remaining individual players and three of the doubles teams left standing in the quarterfinals are from Northwest Valley schools.

The final three rounds in the Division I and II singles and doubles tournament start at 10 a.m. Saturday at Independence, 6602 N. 75th Ave. in Glendale, and continue until state champions are crowned.

Here's a list of local players in the quarterfinals tomorrow:

Division I singles

#7 Sonia Velu (Phoenix Desert Vista) vs. #2 MacKenzie Whitten (Mountain Ridge)

Division I doubles

#8 Allison Price/Hannah Kirby (Mountain Ridge) vs. #1 Kiana Valentova-Macdonald/Emily Woodrow (Phoenix Xavier Prep)