Of all the teams fighting, actually scrapping, for a playoff opportunity, North Schuylkill's situation is most dire.
After dropping their past two games, something they haven't done since any of the current players have been on the varsity roster, the Spartans are on the outside looking in at the District 11 Class AA playoffs.
If the season ended before tonight's contests, North Schuylkill would probably be the odds-on-favorite to win the Eastern Conference championship - a sign that it had a competitive season, but not good enough to play more than two weeks.
Even those games are only promised to the Spartans if they can win out.
Ahead of North Schuylkill in the District 11 standings are Catasauqua (7-0), Tamaqua (7-0), Pen Argyl (5-2), Northern Lehigh (5-2) and Palisades (5-2).
The push to make the district playoff race interesting from their point of view starts tonight for North Schuylkill.
"We need help to make districts," North Schuylkill Rick Geist said. "We'll go anywhere to play, but first we have to win three games. We have to Friday night and go from there. A lot of those teams have still have to play each other, yet."
The Spartans will board the busses and head to Mahanoy Area for a game against the Golden Bears.
Last year, this was the matchup that was supposed to derail the Spartans, and North Schuylkill won by just a point. This year, the Golden Bears have another new head coach in Dave Holman and their wins have come against Nativity and Carson Long, both out of the All-American Conference.
Holman, an assistant under former coach Wally Hall, runs the same offense, but does not have the same athletes this year.
Austin Forte is the only returning skill position player from a team that one the previous two Eastern Conference Class A championships.
Forte leads the team in rushing with 492 yards on 86 carries, a 5.72 yard per carry average, and three touchdowns.
Fellow junior Greg Merchlinsky runs the offense, but the Bears aren't the most dangerous passing team around. Merchlinsky has completed 10-of-24 passes for 118 yards and one touchdown.
The Bears also use Dylan Mahmod, another junior, in a variety of ways. Thus far, Mahmod has carried the ball 39 times for 285 yards and seven touchdowns and has caught five passes for 53 yards and one touchdown.