Woodstock is alone at second place in Region 5AAAAA and appears to be in a good situation.

The Wolverines (5-1, 4-1) have a favorable schedule ahead and could qualify for the playoffs as soon as next week if they can beat last-place Kennesaw Mountain and if Harrison falls to East Paulding.

If Woodstock beats the Mustangs (1-5, 1-4) next week, Harrison falls to East Paulding and Etowah loses to Marietta, it would give both Etowah and Harrison three region losses.

Woodstock has three games in a row against teams with losing records - Kennesaw Mountain, Cherokee and South Cobb - before closing the regular season by hosting East Paulding.

Most of the bumps may already be behind Woodstock. The Wolverines are coming off a 27-15 win over Harrison last Friday and defeated Etowah, 17-10, two weeks ago.

At the same time, Woodstock knows it still needs to take care of business.

"Right now, being at No. 2, we have a good chance to be in the playoffs, but if we lose those four games, we probably won't be in playoffs," Wolverines coach Mike O'Brien said. "We still have to maintain our composure and intensity to get there. However the schedule falls, if other teams lose and we can win, that helps us out. But we can't just sit back because we can destroy the whole thing ourselves."

Etowah may be in the best situation of the three 5AAAAA teams tied for third. The Eagles have two region losses on the year, but they came against the two top teams in McEachern (6-0, 5-0) and Woodstock.

The Eagles will host Marietta and South Cobb, and travel to North Cobb, before ending their regular season at East Paulding. Each of Etowah's next three opponents have four region losses.

Cherokee (2-4) is on a two-game winning streak after losing its previous 15 and is still mathematically in the hunt with a 2 2-3 region record. A playoff berth, however, doesn't look favorable for the Warriors.

One of their region losses came to Marietta in a game Cherokee could have won. Another negative for the Warriors? They still have to play Woodstock and McEachern.

Like Woodstock, chances of Sequoyah making it to the state playoffs for the second straight year are favorable. Still, every game is critical for the Chiefs, who don't have much room for error in Region 7AAAA (A).

The Chiefs, who have yet to give up more than 21 points in a game this year, will host last-place Cass (0-6, 0-3) on Friday before welcoming first-place Northwest Whitfield (4-2, 3-0) for a pivotal game a week later.

Creekview sits fourth in Region 7AAA (A) behind Chestatee, North Hall and Gilmer with a difficult schedule ahead as it vies for one of the subregion's two playoff spots. The Grizzlies have already lost to North Hall and have yet to face Gilmer and Chestatee.

Creekview, however, will have an opportunity to move up in the standings if they can prevail over Gilmer (4-2, 3-1) at Friday at the Grizzly Den. They will then go on the road to Pickens and Lumpkin County before Chestatee (4-2, 3-0) visits Nov. 6 in the final game of the regular season.