Weatherford (5-3, 3-1) @ Elk City (4-3, 2-1)

It might not be quite as big a battle as we thought heading into the season after both teams lost to Clinton, but the stakes are very high Friday night when Weatherford comes west on I-40 to Big Elk Stadium. Second place in the district which earns the winner a first round home playoff game is the prize for a win Friday night. Weatherford’s coming off a road win at Cache last week, but at what cost. QB Stone Chism suffered what appears to be a season ending injury in the first half. Enter backup Quarterback Tyson McSperitt. He throws a great ball and has multiple weapons at his disposal. CJ Nickson and Nick Jett headline the guys on the outside that can make any play from any spot on the field. Weatherford also features a fantastic defense that’s held opponents to just over 11 points a game in district games. On the Elk City side, the last two weeks have looked different than the 5 before. The smash mouth identity Coach Maynard has been looking for all season has arrived. The Elks are coming off a road win at Chickasha that produced 42 points and over 400 yards on the ground. Weatherford’s historically owned this series winning 17 of the last 24, but Elk City has claimed the previous two. The matchups in this one are fascinating. Elk City’s run offense against the stingy Weatherford run defense. Weatherford’s excellent skill players on the outside versus a pass defense for the Brown and White that’s had some holes at times this season. It’ll be intense. It’ll be physical. It’ll be everything expected from these two I-40 rivals. Watch out for Nick Jett changing the game with a special teams play. I just believe the loss of Chism is too much for the Eagles to overcome. Give me the Big Elks 28-21 over Weatherford.

Chickasha (3-4, 2-2) @ Clinton (4-2, 3-0)

The Clinton Red Tornadoes are close enough to a 4A-1 title they can taste it. Clinton cleared the first two major hurdles in the district with wins over Elk City and Weatherford. Now Chickasha comes rolling down I-40 to the Tornado Bowl with their own playoff aspirations on the line. A Clinton win basically guarantees no worse than second in the district and at least one home playoff game. If the Chicks can pull off an upset, they take a major step toward claiming the 4th and final playoff spot with two weeks left in the regular season. The recend history in the series show a huge advantage to Clinton. They’ve won 5 of the 6 meetings since Chickasha joined district 1 back in 2016. The Chicks will make some plays with the explosive offense led by Cade Rayburn, but it won’t be nearly enough to derail Clinton’s district title hopes. Clinton runs away win a 35-14 win that puts them in complete control of the district with two weeks left.