By Ryan Murken 
Your Prep Sports

The final week of the prep football season always brings intrigue and this year is no exception.

Have of the teams in the Your Prep Sports area have secured their playoff spots and seeding while the other half will determine their postseason fate on Friday.

West High, Clear Creek Amana and West Branch are all still alive to reach the playoffs if things go right on Friday.

All three have a different path and varying degrees of help from games across the state.

Here is a quick look at each district featuring area teams as week 9 approaches.

Class 4A
District 7
Standings: Bettendorf 4-0, City High 3-1.

Friday’s Key Games: City High at Davenport North.

Breakdown: District 7 was settled last week at Bate Field. Bettendorf is the top seed and will host a first round playoff game while City High is the runner-up and will go on the road in the opening round.

District 8
Standings: Cedar Rapids Prairie 4-0, Cedar Rapids Kennedy 3-1, West High 3-1.
 
Friday’s Key Games: Cedar Rapids Prairie at Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Ottumwa at West High.

Breakdown: District leading Prairie is in the playoffs but everything else will be sorted out on Friday. First the easy part, Prairie secures the district title with a win at Kennedy. If Prairie wins West High is runner-up assuming it handles winless Ottumwa at home. If Kennedy wins it gets more complicated. As long as West High defeats Ottumwa by 17 or more points, Kennedy would need to beat Prairie by 12 or more to overtake the Trojans in point-differential tie breaker and earn the second spot.

Class 3A
District 4
Standings: West Delaware 5-1, Davenport Assumption 5-1, Clear Creek Amana 4-2, Marion 4-2.

Friday’s Key Games: West Delaware at Maquoketa, Central DeWitt at Clear Creek Amana, Davenport Assumption at Marion.

Breakdown: There is plenty left to settle in District 3 with four teams still in play for a playoff berths. West Delaware is a big favorite to win the district title, needing a win at 1-7 Maquoketa to seal the deal. With a West Delaware win the second spot goes to the winner of Davenport Assumption and Marion. Clear Creek Amana needs a win over Central DeWitt (2-6) and some help but is alive in the at large discussion. A 17-point win on Friday would give Clear Creek Amana a 9.0 point differential average which would have the Clippers in the conversation for a wild card berth.

District 5
Standings: Solon 6-0, Oskaloosa 5-1.

Friday’s Key Games: Solon at Fairfield.

Breakdown: District 5 is already set in stone. Solon secured the district title and a home playoff game last week while Oskaloosa locked up the runner-up spot.

Class 1A
District 3
Standings: Bellevue 6-0, West Branch 5-1, Clayton Ridge 5-1.

Friday’s Key Games: Clayton Ridge at West Branch.

Breakdown: Bellevue is the district champion and gets a home playoff game. The second spot will go to the winner of Friday’s showdown at the Little Rose Bowl between West Branch and Clayton Ridge.
The simple way for West Branch to make its ninth straight playoff appearance is to win on Friday against the Eagles, though West Branch would still be in line for a possible at-large berth with a loss. The road to an at-large berth is complicated but West Branch goes into week nine with the highest point differential tiebreaker in 1A among teams not leading or holding a share of the district lead.

District 4
Standings: Regina 6-0, Sigourney-Keota 5-1, Wilton 5-1.

Friday’s Key Games: Louisa-Muscatine at Regina, Wilton at Sigourney-Keota.

Breakdown: Six-time defending state champion Regina has already secured the top spot and a hoe playoff game. The drama this week comes in who gets the second spot. Sigourney-Keota hosts Wilton with the winner earning the runner-up spot in District 4.