Messenger-area teams will jockey for playoff positioning on Friday and teams from Class 2A on down will make their final push.

Class 5A, 4A and 3A have two regular season weeks remaining, while the smaller classes will have one more regular season contest and then begin the postseason.

The playoff teams in Class 3A, District 2 are decided, but the four qualifiers will complete a gauntlet against each other to wind down the season.

Algona will travel to face Webster City, while Humboldt will entertain second-ranked Clear Lake. In the final week, Humboldt will travel to Webster City and Algona will host Hampton-Dumont/CAL.

Heading into the final week, the area looks to have nine playoff qualifiers. Southeast Valley will come down to the point system if Greene County wins in 2A.

Emmetsburg and Manson Northwest Webster are in. Pocahontas Area is in with a win in 1A.

In Class A, South Central Calhoun is in and North Union is likely in on the points system.

Bishop Garrigan and West Bend-Mallard will be eight-man postseason qualifiers.

Algona, Webster City and Humboldt (after this Friday) will have taken a shot at second-ranked Clear Lake.

The three North Central Conference teams will likely fight for the district runner up spot if Clear Lake remains unbeaten.

Last week, the Bulldogs (5-2, 2-1) beat Humboldt (34-17) and Webster City (5-2, 2-1) rolled past Charles City (49-13).

In the win over Humboldt, Alex Manske turned in another top notch performance with 133 yards rushing and three touchdowns. He also threw for 112 yards. Evan Allie and Jayden Erpelding both had rushing touchdowns.

Webster City ran for 445 yards against the Comets, led by Cael Nixon and Luke Estlund. Nixon had 188 and Estlund scampered for 168. Nixon had four endzone trips, and Estlund had a 55-yard score. Keegan Hisler also had two.

The Lynx will welcome the likely return of All-Stater Jaxon Cherry, who missed last week’s contest.

Cherry is second in Class 3A rushing with 1,047 yards and second in touchdowns with 14.

Manske leads 3A in total touchdowns with 25. He has thrown for 1,410 yards 14 touchdowns and ran for 11. He is tops in the class with 2,132 offensive yards and his quarterback rating is best in 3A (165.8).

Algona has won the last two matchups and Webster City has won seven of the last 10 since 2008.

Clear Lake (7-0, 3-0) at Humboldt (4-3, 2-1)

This will be the first meeting since 2013 for the two clubs when Clear Lake won 35-25.

The Lions are coming off a tight 21-6 victory over Hampton-Dumont/CAL where they ran for 306 yards behind a pair of 100-yard rushers.

Titan Schmitt went for 181 and a two-yard touchdown. Sam Dodge had 111 yards and a 46-yard score. Aidan Hartl scored from seven out.

Coen Matson threw for 180 yards and a four-yard touchdown pass to Jackson Dodd. Lance Coon had a three-yard touchdown run. Nolan Gustafson kicked a 20-yard field goal.

Schmitt enters as the groundhog for the Lions, rushing for 1,020 yards and 12 scores. Quarterback Cael Stephany has thrown for 708 yards and seven touchdowns.

In his three games, Coon has gone for 354 and six scores. Matson has 393 on the ground and has thrown for 853 with six combined touchdowns.

Manson Northwest Webster (3-4, 3-1) at Emmetsburg (5-2, 4-0)

A year removed from winning one game, the Manson Northwest Webster football team will play for a district championship against Emmetsburg.

The Cougars will head to Duane Twaitt Field to face the E-Hawks, who have won five straight games after dropping their first two.

MNW earned a playoff spot last week with an 8-0 win over East Sac County. Emmetsburg rolled past Eagle Grove, 49-8.

Gavin Swanson had a big day for the E-Hawks scored from three different aspects, rushing for two scores, returning an interception for 37 yards and a kickoff 80 yards.

Jace Nelson-Brown, led the E-Hawks with 88 yards and a score. Tyce Jenness and Owen Householder had one each.

On the season Swanson has seven rushing touchdowns and one passing. Neson-Brown has run for 793 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Logan Moline leads the Cougars offensively with 1,006 yards passing and seven touchdowns to go along with four on the ground. Kamden Birkey has run for 500 yards and four trips to the endzone.

Harris-Lake Park (5-2, 4-1) at Bishop Garrigan (6-1, 5-0)

It’s a simple equation for Bishop Garrigan — win and they’re district champions. With a loss and a West Bend-Mallard win there will be a three-way tie in the top tier of the district standings.

The Golden Bears will likely still be crowned champions with the points system.

Bishop Garrigan has lit up the scoreboard in their six game-win streak, averaging 54 points. Last week in their 48-20 win over GTRA, they ran for 229 yards. Caden Roethler had 153 yards and three scores, while quarterback Tate Foertsch had two rushing touchdowns and one through the air. Ethan Marson also had a score on the ground and Wyatt Rosemeyer had a TD catch.

This season Foertsch has thrown for 948 yards and 16 scores and has five on the ground. Sam Plathe has caught six touchdowns, while Drew Lappe has four receiving scores.

On the ground Roethler has 537 yards and a dozen touchdowns.

Harris-Lake Park beat North Iowa 49-8 last week, led by 217 passing yards and five touchdowns from Lucas Ahrenstorff, who also rushed for one. Devin Meyer had three receiving touchdowns.

Ahrenstorff has thrown for 937 yards and 12 touchdowns and ran for seven. Meyer has logged five touchdowns, while Landon Wittrock (four) and Caleb Hemphill (three) are the other main targets.

On the groundHemphill has 409 yards and nine touchdowns.

Earlham (4-3, 3-2) at South Central Calhoun (5-2, 4-1)

With a win over Earlham, South Central Calhoun will finish as the Class A, District 7 runner up behind ACGC.

The Titans jumped back into the win column with a 39-13 win over Panorama in which Brock Nattress ran for 112 yards and three touchdowns. Gavin Batta threw for 112 yards and a score and had a rushing touchdown.

Cole Higgins had a rushing touchdown and Keegan Soard scored from 49 yards out.

For Earlham, they beat Riverside 49-35 behind a 257-yard performance from groundhog Caleb Smith. The senior had four touchdowns and averaged 9.2 yards per carry with a long score of 54 yards. Ty Forcht and Blake Reynolds also had rushing scores., while Walker Hale had a receiving touchdown.

On the year South Central Calhoun has four backs that have run over 250 yards. Mattress leads the group with 538 and six scores. Zach Trott (287) and Gavin Batta (275) have five and four touchdowns respectively, while Higgins has 252 and three.

Batta has thrown for 1,306 yards and 10 touchdowns. Soard is the leading receiver with 27 snags, 540 yards and eight touchdowns.

For Earlham, Smith has been a load on the ground, rushing for 935 yards and 17 touchdowns. Ryan Stiles has 408 yards and six scores.

West Bend-Mallard (5-2, 3-1) at Rockford (0-7, 0-4)

With a win and a Bishop Garrigan loss, the district champion and runner up will be on points.

If the Golden Bears lose it will be a three-way tie and the team with the higher +/- ratio will be the champion and the district runner up will be on head-to-head.

Heading into Friday night, Bishop Garrigan stands at 14.60. West Bend-Mallard (12.60) and Harris-LP (6.40) are next in line.

The Wolverines have won five straight and are coming off a 60-7 thrashing of Northwood-Kensett.

WB-Mallard ran for 401 yards, led by Landon Montag, who had 223 and six touchdowns. Cole Fehr had 134 and a score and Logan Grimm added a TD.

In seven games West Bend-Mallard has run for 2,024 yards and 38 touchdowns. Montag has 1,005 yards and 18 scores, while Fehr has 670 and 12 touchdowns. Grimm has six scores.

For Rockford, Marshawn Taylor has three touchdowns and 318 yards.

Other area games: Spirit Lake (6-1, 4-0) at Clarion-Goldfield/Dows (3-4, 2-2); Southeast Valley (5-2, 2-2) at Carroll Kuemper (5-2, 4-0); Greene County (3-4, 1-3) at Des Moines Christian (3-4, 2-2); Pocahontas Area (3-4, 2-2) at Eagle Grove (0-7, 0-4); Sioux Central (3-4, 2-2) at East Sac County (3-4, 1-3); North Union (4-3) at Sibley-Ocheyedan (2-5); Siouxland Christian (0-7, 0-5) at Newell-Fonda (2-5, 2-3).