Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

October is here and the high school football regular season is entering the home stretch.

Only three regular season games remain and the playoff picture is beginning to take shape.

Here are five things to watch in week seven as area teams continue to push towards the postseason.

Unbeaten Trio

There are 33 remaining unbeaten teams across the state and three of them are in the Your Prep Sports area.

West High, Solon and West Branch are among a shrinking group of unbeatens and all bring unblemished 6-0 records into week seven.

Second-ranked West High joins West Des Moines Dowling and Newton as the only unbeaten teams in 4A.

Solon and West Branch are among six unbeaten teams in 3A and 1A respective.

West Branch posted a 9-0 regular season in 2015 while Solon is seeking its first perfect regular season since 2009 and West High is trying to go 9-0 for the first time since 2012.

Record Pace

Zach Jones already owns a handful of school records.

If Jones keeps up the impressive pace he has set through six weeks the senior receiver will have totally rewritten the City High receiving record book.

Through six games Jones has 59 receptions for 846 yards and seven touchdowns pushing his career totals to 100 catches for 1,415 yards.

He needs seven receptions and 308 yards to break the single season records for receptions and yards both set by his older brother Jason in 2015.

The 5-foot-11, 175-pound Jones already owns City High records for receptions in a game (16) and career (100).

Jones, currently ranks second in school history for career receiving yards and needs just 285 yards in his final three games to break the career yardage mark of 1,700 held by Mark Lumpa.

Air Bears

In case you haven’t noticed these aren’t your grandfathers’ West Branch Bears. They aren’t even your fathers’ Bears for that matter.

Long-time coach Butch Pedersen has opened up the offense behind junior quarterback Beau Cornwell and the results have been big-time offensive numbers.

Cornwell has already completed 100 passes for 1,348 yards and 15 touchdowns this season.

The 6-foot-1, 170-pound Cornwell needs 15 completes and 380 yards to set new West Branch single season school records.

Senior receiver Ben Thompson has nine touchdown grabs and will set a new school record with one more.

Bounce Back Boats

Clear Creek Amana (2-4) had its two-game winning streak end last week with a 35-6 loss to Class 3A ninth-ranked West Delaware.

After playing four out of five September games on the road the Clippers return home with a chance to bounce back against Marion (4-2).

Last season Marion handed the Clippers their first loss of the season following a 6-0 start.

Down to the Wire

If history is any guide City High and West High will both be in for down to the buzzer battles on Friday.

City High (2-4) travels to Muscatine (1-5) for a District 7 meeting with the Muskies in a series that has produced one-score games each of the last four seasons.

The Little Hawks have won back-to-back games over Muscatine by a combined total of nine points after a last-second 42-41 win in 2015 and a 36-28 win at Bates Field last year.

Muscatine won a 49-42 shootout that featured a combined 1,029 yards of total offense in 2014.

West High (6-0) hosts Cedar Rapids Kennedy (5-1) in a District 8 contest that appears to be the last major hurdle between the Trojans and an unbeaten regular season.

The last three meetings between the two Mississippi Valley Conference rivals have been decided by a total of 16 points with West High winning 24-10 last season at Kingston Stadium without quarterback Evan Flitz.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy won 34-31 in 2015 and West High won 12-9 in the 2014 season opener.