If 14 years as a head coach has taught Mike O'Brien anything, it's that anything can happen.

The Woodstock coach is midway through his seventh season with the program and the Wolverines are off to there best start to date. But that doesn't mean O'Brien is counting his playoff berth before it is clinched.

"We're just trying to be as good as we can and take it one game at a time," he said. "Hopefully, each game will take care of itself."

The Wolverines (5-1, 4-1) defeated Harrison a week ago to take sole possession of second place in Region 5AAAAA, one game behind McEachern. The victory did little to solidify Woodstock's position with four games remaining, but O'Brien said he is breathing a bit easier as his team prepares to face Kennesaw Mountain (1-5, 1-4) tonight.

"We helped our case (in the region) by beating Harrison, who we were tied with," O'Brien said. "But there is still a lot of football left to play."

Kennesaw Mountain - which earned its lone victory by beating Harrison - isn't a team to take lightly. In each of the past three weeks, the Mustangs have scored an increasing number of points and coach Scott Jones is just waiting for his defense to step up and stun another team.

"We prepare hard against every opponent we play," Jones said. "Woodstock's got a heck of a football team and they really get after it. It's hard to simulate what Woodstock does, but we are doing the best we can. Hopefully, (tonight) we're ready."

Woodstock's assets include the strength of its line and the speed of its running backs. That makes the Wolverines a particular challenge for the undersized Mustangs.

"We might be a little outmatched in certain areas," Jones said. "But we just keep working hard. The kids are believing in one another and that's just kind of the approach we are taking."

After playing Harrison, O'Brien said he has an idea of the talent that must be present at Kennesaw Mountain, if the team was able to steal a victory.

"It scares us to death, because we don't know what team we are going to get," O'Brien said. "(Kennesaw Mountain) had been just floundering around, but then they stepped up and beat Harrison. You don't do that without having talent, so we are concerned with how they are going to play. We feel like we have to play our best to be able to compete with them."

In the victory over Harrison, the Wolverines showcased a few more players on the field, showing that they aren't dependent on a few players. Zach Hitt and Corey Carmichael joined Tanner Skogen in the backfield for several series. Meanwhile, quarterback Kevin Bolak was on target with five competitions for 53 yards on eight attempts.

A year ago, Woodstock slipped into the playoffs as the fourth seed from Region 5AAAAA after beating East Paulding in the regular-season finale. O'Brien said it may come down to that again this year, but he is trying to position his team as well as he can.

"(East Paulding) is going to be in the mix, so hopefully we can get some wins before then to kind of solidify our chances of being in the playoffs," he said. "We hope it doesn't come down to the last ball game, but if it does, it does. We are just going to do the best we can."