Friday Football: Red Oak faces must-win at Shenandoah

It’s a must-win scenario for the Red Oak Tigers. If they want in the playoffs, they will need to get past the Shenandoah Mustangs Friday night in Shenandoah.

However, there is one other game to keep in mind for Friday night that could have an effect on Red Oak’s playoff chances.

OA-BCIG (2-3 district) hosts 3-2 Greene County. A win for Greene County secures their playoff spot and will finish no worse than third.

However, an OA-BCIG win means that there would be three 3-3 teams fighting for the final two playoff spots and would therefore come down to tiebreaker points.

Heading into Friday, Red Oak has a -2.60 in the point difference average. They need to score a full 13 points to get back to 0 in the average.

If the score margin is 12 points or less, Red Oak would at best have a -1.66 for tiebreaker.

If Red Oak (2-3 district) has a point difference average tie with either OA-BCIG or Greene County, it will come down to head-to-head. Red Oak has the head-to-head advantage over OA-BCIG, but not over Greene County.

However, all playoff scenarios are conditional upon Red Oak defeating Shenandoah (2-3 district).

Both teams are coming off tough losses last week to schools safely in the playoffs.

Red Oak lost to top-ranked Kuemper Catholic in their home finale last week, while Shenandoah fell to Clarinda.

The Tigers have won eight of the last 10 meetings, including last season. Much like this season, last season’s game had playoff implications for both teams.

For Red Oak, sophomore running back Brock Isaacson continues to have a standout season. He’s 159 yards away from 1,000 for the season and could win the district rushing title. Isaacson currently shares the lead with Cash Wilcke of OA-BCIG.

Last week, Isaacson was the first running back to get 100 yards against Kuemper Catholic this season.

The game starts at 7 p.m. at the Shenandoah High School football stadium.

In other action, the top two playoff spots in District 8 haven’t been settled, but will be Friday night when Kuemper Catholic hosts Clarinda. Winner of the game will be the district champion.

For Clarinda, a loss could be a problem, especially if Greene County wins. Greene County holds a head-to-head tiebreaker and a win for them and a loss for Clarinda means the Cardinals would finish third and not host a home playoff game.

The only non-district game in 2A-8 features Clarinda Academy versus Nodaway Valley. Clarinda Academy is in danger of another winless season. They play a Nodaway Valley team looking to finish over .500 for the season as they’re safely in the playoffs in Class 1A District 8.