Unlike Oxford (4-2), who have consistently found themselves in the playoff mix most of past decade, Bainbridge-Guilford (5-1) has gone a few seasons without a playoff berth – since 1999 in fact.
“It’s obviously a huge game for us – and for Oxford,” said B-G head coach Tim Mattingly, who was in just his second season as offensive assistant coach to Steve Rice in the last playoff season. “It’s been a while since we’ve played for something like this, and the kids are pretty focused.”
While division games still remain on the ledger for both clubs, it’s a situation this week where the loser will simply play out the regular season and hope for a better result next year. Each club has one division loss and is tied with Delhi, who also has one division loss. Walton, winners over the Bulldogs last weekend, are a solo act on top of the standings, and have a date with B-G next weekend. Meanwhile, Oxford still has Delhi to play to finish its schedule.
“Oxford’s a really good football team, and we know they have some really good skill position kids,” Mattingly noted. “We have to contain (Scott) Shackelton in the running game, and (Steve) Locke has a good arm and throws it well. We have to put pressure on him, and offensively, we need to control the line of scrimmage.”
B-G offensive stars, running backs Willie McGinnis and Chad Cornish, along with quarterback Chris McGinnis, have soaked up most of the ink in coverage this season. An improving offensive line; however, is largely responsible for those players’ successes.
Ray Neubauer spearheads that interior line at center, Tyler Thompson and Tim Feyerabend play at guard, while Cody Ruff, Steve Buchanan, and Justin Dickey have occupied the tackle spots. Junior tight end Dylan Whittaker, the club’s leading pass receiver, has proven a capable blocker as well. “The key to our play the last few weeks has been the way our line has jelled,” Mattingly said. “We are much improved over the start of the season, and controlling the line of scrimmage will be a big key in this game. We have to keep our team’s offense on the field as much as possible, and that means we need to be successful running the ball.”
Since a 1-2 start, Oxford has won three in a row by a combined 106-18 count, or over a 29-point-per-game margin. Shackelton has rushed for at least two touchdowns in all six of Oxford’s games, and Locke leads area passers with nearly 600 yards passing and a better-than-50 percent completion percentage. In the three-game win streak, he has TD passes in all three, and his 9-for-11 effort (146 yards) against Hancock last week may have been his most efficient in three years as a starter.
B-G’s Chris McGinnis is already leaps and bounds ahead of last year’s B-G passing offense. He threw three TD passes last week, which is the sum total of passing TDs the past two seasons combined. Whittaker’s six catches leads the team.
Game time is 7 p.m.

UV-Edmeston (1-5) at Greene (5-1), Friday at 7 p.m.
This could easily be a “trap” game for the Trojans, who have a one-week vacation in their rigorous division schedule, and face a UV-Edmeston team that averages less than 150 yards of offense a game.
“This is our senior recognition game and the last home game this year, so we’re looking to finish on the right foot,” said Greene coach Tim Paske. “UV-Edmeston is a big football team across the board, and they have two good backs who run the hard. They put together some sustained drives when we saw them against Moravia. They are definitely a team that has improved throughout the season.”
The Storm would be hard-pressed to match Greene in a scoring fest. While UV has just two games this season where it scored two touchdowns in a contest, the Trojans have scored at least 20 points in every game. “Our theme this week is to not have a letdown,” Paske said. “We control our own destiny as far as making the postseason, and UV is the next hurdle.”

V-V-S (3-3) at Sherburne-Earlville (0-6), Friday, 7 p.m.
The Marauders conclude their division schedule against a team that is coming off a 41-7 victory over A-P-W last week. Zach Jensen and Chas Asfur had long TD runs, and the Red Devils made several big plays in special teams. “They blocked three punts last week, and two led directly to scores,” said S-E coach Mick James. “A-P-W moved the ball up and down the field against them until their quarterback got hurt. After that, their offense went bye bye.”
S-E had its second player rush for over 100 yards in a game this season when Nate Kline did so last week against Cazenovia. Kline spelled an injured Billy Northey, who had a 100-yard game against Holland Patent. The duo, both of whom will return next year, make their first start together in the backfield tonight.
“Both are about the same size and both have good speed and vision,” James said. “We just need to take care of the football and cut down on our mistakes. If we do our jobs and execute, I think we can stay with them.”

Chenango Forks (5-1) at Norwich (3-3), Friday, 7 p.m.
Perhaps an M.I.T. mathematician could formulate a scenario or two in which Norwich could make the Class B playoffs, but for all intents and purposes, last week’s loss to Chenango Valley – the Tornado’s second division defeat – knocked it out of the playoff hunt. What awaits the Purple, who play their third straight home game, is a team – Chenango Forks – who has won every contest this decade against NHS. That includes playoff victories over Norwich each of the previous four seasons.
This, however, is not your typical powerhouse Blue Devils team that was blowing teams away in years past. Forks narrowly escaped with a win over Maine-Endwell in week one, was shutout by Corning East, 14-0, and was outplayed statistically by Chenango Valley two weeks ago, but scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to win by five points.
Bryan Lance leads Forks with 311 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Joe Aston has a team-high six touchdowns, and Dylan Warner has 209 yards rushing to complete a balanced backfield.
What has remained a constant for Forks, who will clinch at least a tie for the Division III title with a victory, is a stingy defense that allows less than 10 points per game.
Norwich has truly found itself in a seesaw game of wins and losses: All three wins this season have been followed by losses.