With one week left in the regular season, the Cook Inlet Conference's five berths to the state football playoffs have been decided -- South, Bartlett, West, Service and Chugiak are all headed to the postseason.
But the conference's seeding for the playoffs remains fluid.
The regular season closes with games Thursday and Friday. Conference-leading South (6-0 CIC) and second-place Bartlett (5-1) play Thursday. Chugiak (3-3, tied for fourth place) plays at third-place West (4-2) on Friday, when East plays at Service (3-3, tied fourth place).
The first tie-breaker in the CIC is head-to-head. The second is a team's record against teams above the tie in the standings. The third is defensive points allowed head-to-head.
Here are the unofficial possible seeding scenarios for each playoff qualifier:
South – Will be either the conference's No. 1 or No. 2 seed.
Bartlett – Can finish as high as the No. 1 seed and as low as the No. 3 seed.
West – Will be either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed. In the event of a three-way tie with Service and Chugiak for third place -- all three would finish 4-3 and 1-1 head-to-head -- West would win the tie-breaker because its 35-32 win over Bartlett on Saturday made it the only team in the three-way tie to beat a team above it in the final standings.
Service – Will be either the No. 4 or No. 5 seed.
Chugiak – Will be either the No. 4 or No. 5 seed.
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com and check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog