Anchorage Daily News

First things first in the annually amazing cluster called the Cook Inlet Conference, where five football teams remain alive for two state playoff berths with just two weeks remaining in the regular season:

• League-leading South (5-0 CIC) already is a playoff lock, taking one of the conference's four berths, so no need to further pump the Wolverines' tires.

• Second-place Service (4-1) may not officially be a lock -- um, at least we think; the possible playoff permutations are beyond this liberal-arts major -- but consider the Cougars ticketed for the postseason. No way the Cougars lose both their two remaining conference clashes.

• Last-place Eagle River (0-5) is eliminated, but thanks for playing.

That leaves Dimond (3-2) and 2-3 brethren Bartlett, Chugiak, East and West to sort out which teams claim the last two playoff berths. (Full disclosure: The author once played, and not particularly well, for Bartlett, back before cable and the Interweb, so long ago players wore wrists bands -- get a load of this hilarity -- on their actual wrists).

Dimond appears to stand the best chance of securing one of the remaining two berths, if for no other reason than it must win just one of its two remaining games to reach the magic number of four conference wins. Four conference wins in the seven-game league season all but guarantees a playoff berth.

Besides, the Lynx played South tough last week before falling 29-22, and that loss came without explosive running back Gibson Scanlan (shoulder). Also, consider that Dimond faces Bartlett on Saturday, then East the following week, all of which means it won't face a team with a winning record down the stretch.

So, say, just for argument's sake, Dimond gains the third playoff berth.

That leaves four teams -- Bartlett, Chugiak, East and West -- fighting for one playoff berth. Those four have more in common than their matching 2-3 conference records -- none of them this season has beaten a team that currently owns a winning overall record.

Bartlett faces arguably the toughest road to October, because its next two opponents (Dimond, then Service) both have winning conference records.

Chugiak doesn't really have it any easier. Even if the Mustangs get past East on Saturday, they still face South on the final weekend of the regular season.

And speaking of East, holler if you can figure out the Thunderbirds. They opened the season perfectly -- perfectly awful, that is, 0-4, albeit against a schedule so tough it looks like it was planned by some arch-enemy of coach Roger Spackman. But they've won two straight. Oh, and they pancaked Bartlett's defense for more than 300 yards rushing last week to give them back-to-back 300-plus rushing games.

At least the T-birds have already faced South and Service, so they don't have to go through those meat grinders to get to October. Next up for East is Chugiak, followed by Dimond.

West's dreams realistically rest on one game -- Saturday's showdown with Service -- because we can reasonably grant the Eagles a season-ending win against Eagle River. Rest assured Service coach Jason Calderara is selling his boys on playing spoiler against West.

West is a puzzlement of sorts. The Eagles are young at key positions, but they possess a physical defense and sport enough playmakers to spook a strong opponent.

Yet they also are vulnerable to mental meltdowns -- witness three personal fouls and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in a span of 11 second-half snaps in a loss at Chugiak last week.

Anyhow, the best-case scenario for the conference's playoff payoff is every qualifier gets in without having to go to tie-breakers.

Not that there's anything wrong with the tie-breakers: 1) Head-to-head; 2) Record against other CIC teams above the tie situation; 3) Fewest defensive points allowed in head-to-head games; and 4) Fewest defensive points allowed in all conference games.

It's just that no one presumably wants a situation -- and it would take an implausible series of events for this to occur -- where a deadlock is broken by the final tie-breaker.

Yep, you guessed it -- the dreaded coin flip.

This column is the opinion of Daily News reporter Doyle Woody. Find his blog online at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.

EAGLE RIVER VS. SOUTH

RECORDS: Eagle River 1-5, South 6-0

TIME: 7 tonight

PLACE: Anchorage Football Stadium

LAST MEETING: South won 55-0 on Aug. 18 of last year

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Eagle River WR Max Harvey needs five receptions to join the elite 30-catch club. This time last year he had 40 receptions. South QB Colin Graham is 191 yards from joining Grant Stophlet as the program's only 1,000-yard passers.

THE SKINNY: This game should be a walk in the park for the second-ranked Wolverines. Since Eagle River won its first game three weeks ago against Skyview, the Wolves have been outscored 105-28. A South win would improved the Wolverines' record to 25-3 since the start of the 2006 season.

DIMOND VS. BARTLETT

RECORDS: Dimond 4-2, Bartlett 3-3

TIME: 2 p.m., Saturday

PLACE: Anchorage Football Stadium

LAST MEETING: Dimond won 16-12 on Aug. 18 of last year

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Dimond QB Ahmad Nasir looked impressive last week, passing for a career-high 198 yards and a TD against South. Bartlett RB Jamal Hale has rushed for 100 or more yards in four of six games.

THE SKINNY: Bartlett needs a win to keep its playoff hopes alive and Dimond isn't in the clear yet. Bartlett's RB trio of Marcus Mendez, Jamal Hale and Cyrus Chenault were each held to less than 100 yards last week for the first time since Week 3. The Lynx looked strong against South last week. Neither Dimond nor Bartlett has won two straight against each other in eight years. For history's sake, it's Bartlett's turn to win.

SERVICE VS. WEST

RECORDS: Service 4-2, West 2-4

TIME: 2 p.m., Saturday

PLACE: Dimond Alumi Field

LAST MEETING: Service won 31-0 on Aug. 17 of last year

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Service's Leo Aukusitino became the conference's first RB to score five TDs in a game since Remy Martin of West in 2005. West HB Josh Kaiwi leads the team with four TDs, but hasn't scored since Week 3.

THE SKINNY: A Service victory would officially eliminate West from making the playoffs and even the all-time series at 22-22. Good luck, Eagles. After Aukusitino's breakout game last week against Eagle River, Service boasts the No. 1 offense in the CIC. The Eagles, however, allow just 44.7 passing yards a game.

EAST VS. CHUGIAK

RECORDS: East 2-4, Chugiak 2-4

TIME: 3 p.m., Saturday

PLACE: Chugiak Stadium

LAST MEETING: Chugiak won 7-6 on Aug. 18 of last year

PLAYERS TO WATCH: East RB Corey Land helped the T-birds surpass their season total for rushing yards in one game, rushing for 228 of their 381 yards. Chugiak RB Jeff Schwartz rushed for a career-high 107 yards and a TD last week against West.

THE SKINNY: Chugiak and East each have a shot at the playoffs. Both have ditched their passing game. Mustangs coach Duncan Shackelford expects a lot of power football. "We mirror each other pretty well," he said. Chugiak is coming off a 17-0 win at home. "The guys are starting to come together," Shack said. The T-birds have racked up 697 rushing yards in its last two victories. "They wanted to do an offense I don't think they were ready for," Shack said.

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