—Photo by Rick Thompson

As the regular season dwindles down for some, the smaller classes have one last shot at securing state playoff spots.

Teams in Class 2A, 1A, A and eight-player finish on Friday, while 5A, 4A and 3A will play their regular season finales next Friday.

The top four teams in 2A, 1A and A will advance to the playoffs. In eight-player the top three squads and two wild cards will have postseason contests.

In 5A the 16 qualifiers are based on RPI. In 4A and 3A, the district champion and runner-up from each of the six districts will earn automatic spots. The RPI will determine the next four spots.

Nine Messenger-area squads have earned playoff berths and two are on the outside looking in at possible shots.

Top-ranked Humboldt (7-0, 3-0) is in and with a win over sixth-ranked Nevada (6-1, 3-0) is in the driver’s seat for the district title. They’ll finish the season against Algona.

The Bulldogs, who are sitting 14th in Class 3A’s RPI, have a chance to get one of the two at large bids.

Clarion-Goldfield/Dows (5-2, 2-2) travels to OABCIG (6-1, 3-1). Both teams are in along with Spirit Lake and Estherville-Lincoln Central.

Greene County will win the 2A-8 district crown with a win and Emmetsburg (4-3, 3-1) will be the 1A-1 district runner up with a victory over Western Christian (5-2, 3-1).

Both South Hamilton and Woodward-Granger are in. Eagle Grove and South Central Calhoun are in and would advance if Manson Northwest Webster wins with better RPI’s.

In Class 1A-8, East Sac County (1-6, 1-4) is in with a win over West Monona (0-7, 0-4). MVAOCOU (1-6, 1-3) could advance with an upset over Treynor (4-3, 2-2), depending on the scoring difference.

North Union (5-2, 3-2) is in with a victory. With a loss and a North Butler victory, they are likely in on RPI rankings.

Newell-Fonda will advance as the district runner up as they will receive a forfeit victory against Ar-We-Va, who had to cancel the rest of their season.

West Bend-Mallard (5-2, 5-1) has also earned a playoff spot.

Humboldt (7-0, 3-0) at Nevada (6-1, 3-0)

The top-ranked Wildcats will inch closer to the district championship with a ranked win over the Cubs.

Humboldt is coming off a 31-6 victory over Gilbert and Nevada topped Algona 38-14.

Last week Will Orness was 6-for-7 passing for 135 yards and a touchdown pass to Trever Beach. Orness also ran for 151 and a score. Lance Coon had two rushing touchdowns.

In the win over Algona, Noah Mills had 104 yards passing and two touchdown strikes to Drew Robinson. Cason Stevenson ran for 144 yards and three touchdowns.

Coon will have the chance to go over 1,000 yards rushing, as he sits at 901 and 12 touchdowns. Orness has thrown for 392 and four touchdowns. BOth Beach (232) and Corey Dettmann (163) have 14 catches and two touchdowns.

Trever Beach is 20-for-22 on PATs and 6-for-6 on field goal attempts with a long of 42.

Mills has thrown for 1,089 yards and 10 touchdowns, while rushing for 567 and seven scores. Robinson has five receiving touchdowns and Kyle Kingsburgy has four.

Clarion-Goldfield/Dows (5-2, 2-2) at No. 5 OABCIG (6-1, 3-1)

Both the Cowboys and Falcons have locked up playoff spots and OABCIG will be the district runner up with a victory.

Quarterback Beckett DeJean has been the main cog for the Falcons, throwing for 1,495 yards and 18 touchdowns. Gabe Winterrowd (521 yards) and Treyten Kolar (385) have been the main targets with six touchdowns each.

On the ground, DeJean has run for seven touchdowns as has Kelton Ladwig.

For the Cowboys, it’s been a solid rushing attack that has carried them. They have run for 1,712 yards, led by Preston Gardner (846) and Nevan Foss (621). Gardner has nine trips to the end zone and Foss has 11.

Emmetsburg (4-3, 3-1) at Western Christian (5-2, 3-1)

The winner of the E-Hawks and the Wolfpack assures themselves as the Class 1A, District 1 runner up.

Emmetsburg is coming off a 27-0 shutout over Ridge View and Western Christian blanked Sioux Central 42-0.

The E-Hawks ran for 261 yards, led by Cade Shirk who ran for 114 yards and a score.

Emmetsburg has run for 2,105 yards on the season, led by Shirk, who has 920 yards and 10 touchdowns. Ryan Brennan has six rushing touchdowns and Jace Nelson-Brown has four trips to the end zone.

Western Christian’s Kaden VanRegenmorter has thrown for 1,054 yards and nine scores. Karsten Moret has four touchdown catches. The Wolfpack’s groundhog is Tyler Mantel (665 yards) with eight touchdowns. Ashtin Vant Hul has five trips to the end zone.

Other area games: Storm Lake (0-7, 0-3) at Webster City (4-3, 2-1); Algona (4-3, 1-2) at Ballard (1-6, 0-3); Spirit Lake (7-0, 4-0) at Southeast Valley (3-4, 1-3); Estherville-LC (3-4, 2-2) at Pocahontas Area (3-4, 0-4); Clarke (5-2, 2-2) at Greene County (6-1, 4-0); South Central Calhoun (3-4, 2-2) at Belmond-Klemme (0-7, 0-4); South Hamilton (6-1, 4-0) at Eagle Grove (3-4, 2-2); Manson NW (1-6, 1-3) at Woodward-Granger (4-3, 3-1); West Monona (0-7, 0-4) at East Sac County (1-6, 1-3); North Union (5-2, 3-2) at Mason City Newman (6-1, 4-1); West Bend-Mallard (5-2) at River Valley (0-7); Newell-Fonda won by forfeit.