With the 2006 regular season of high school football officially drawing to a close Friday night, two area teams have clinched a playoff spot and another still has its hopes riding on the season finale. Here’s a look at all the possibilities.
    
Statesboro
    Statesboro is 9-0 and 8-0 in region 3-AAAA. All that means right now is that the No. 2 Blue Devils will be home for at least the first round of the playoffs. What seed they’ll be and who they’ll play is still up in the air.
    If the second-ranked team in the state stumbles Friday in Waycross against the Gators of Ware County, SHS will finish at 8-1 in region play in a tie with Ware. The tiebreaker would go to WCHS and the Gators would be crowned region champions. If the Blue Devils take care of business, they’ll be the region champs.
    The Devils’ opponent no matter what the finish will come out of region 2-AAAA, which is about as jumbled a region as you can find. Five teams are competed for the final three spots, and SHS will get the three or four seed, depending on Statesboro’s finish.
    Woodward Academy (5-3), Whitewater (5-2), Northgate (4-3) and Starr’s Mill (4-3) all have a chance at coming to Womack Field on Nov. 17. Woodward is off this week, Whitewater plays Northgate and Starr’s Mill plays 1-6 Fayette County.

Portal
    The Panthers have locked a playoff spot coming out of region 3-A. Not bad considering PHS got off to an 0-5 start. Portal still faces Jenkins County in Friday’s season finale, but will be the three seed whether they win or lose, meaning a road trip next week to any number of schools.
    Portal will face the two seed out of region 2-A, which is divided into sub-regions. That means on Friday the top eight teams of region 2-A will be playing a region playoff to qualify for the state playoffs. Johnson County (4-0), Turner County (4-0) and Telfair County (3-1) are the top three teams at the moment, meaning Panther fans should begin to make travel plans to one of these schools (barring an upset).

Screven County
    The situation for the Gamecocks is four-fold. According to SCHS head coach Pat Collins, the Gamecocks will miss the playoffs with a loss Friday night in Brooklet to Southeast Bulloch or a loss by Jefferson County to Westside.
    Screven can claim a playoff spot with a win over SEB and two possible scenarios: a Jefferson County win over Westside and a Laney win over Josey, or a win, a Westside loss and a Laney loss. If the second scenario takes place, the three teams will all finish at 4-3 in region play and will meet at a site designated by the Georgia High School Association for a three-team mini-playoff on Monday.
    If Screven gets through all that, they’ll take to the road to face one of the top two seeds out of region 2-AA, Charlton County or McIntosh County Academy.
    
Claxton
    After a rocky season, the Tigers won’t be making the playoffs after all this year. After a 2-0 start in 3-A, CHS has lost four in a row and missed an opportunity to make the playoffs last week to Bryan County, losing 57-35 in Pembroke.
    The win for BCHS (2-3) means the Redskins will claim the four seed out of the region, even if they lose at Calvary Day Friday night. Finishing region play at 2-4 would still give them a tiebreaker over Claxton. Finishing at 3-3, coupled with a Portal loss at Jenkins County, would tie BC with the Panthers, but BCHS would lose that tiebreaker, having lost to Portal during the season.
   
Region 3-A championship
    Another game that may be of interest to area fans is Friday’s contest between No. 1 Emanuel County Institute and the No. 9 ranked Hornets of Savannah Country Day in Twin City. Both squads come into the game at 5-0 in the region and ranked in the Top 10 in the state. The Bulldogs have won nine in a row while SCD has reeled off five straight victories.