QuickTake:

The Spartans have been the subject of national attention over the last month, and continue to challenge on the field for a state playoff spot.

Two weeks remain in the high school football regular season, and the postseason landscape is beginning to take shape for Lane County programs.

Several teams still have league and state title ambitions, and the means to get there. That battle continues this week with a menu of matchups ranging from decisive to tune-up. Multiple mid-major schools, including Creswell, Madras and Oakridge, need wins while 6A programs Sheldon and Willamette can stay on track for an enormous battle next Friday.

All games kick off Friday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m., unless otherwise noted. Team rankings are based on Oregon School Activities Association ratings among divisions.

Murray’s pick: No. 17 Marist Catholic (3-4, 2-2 league) vs. No. 27 South Umpqua (3-4, 1-1 league)

This would be a notable game even without the news circling Marist’s program over the last two weeks. The Spartans are a historical power in the state fallen close to the wayside for the second-straight season. They’ve been up-and-down this year, with blowout wins — three of them — and four losses by margins ranging from 39 points to just one last week in a 41-40 defeat at North Bend.

But that’s just half the story at Marist, which has faced turmoil and emotion off the field. Following one of those blowout wins — the Oct. 9 game in which the Spartans led Cottage Grove 63-0 at halftime and administrators from both schools and the league decided to end the game without playing the second half — three-year head coach Zach Loboy was fired.

Marist replaced Loboy with interim head coach Jake Lowther, a first-year staff member previously from 4A Cascade High School whom Loboy told Lookout Eugene-Springfield in a preseason interview was assigned to the offensive line as well as duties as an assistant head coach. Marist officials declined an interview request for Lowther.

Before any of that happened, Sweet Home High School junior varsity athlete Mason Flores died following an injury suffered in the Sept. 28 game against Marist’s junior varsity team. Marist held a moment of silence before both its varsity and junior varsity games following Flores’ death and was one of many schools to put No. 8 stickers on its helmets, Loboy told Lookout Eugene-Springfield via text Oct. 10 before news broke about his firing.

On the field, a Marist offense, which has scored at least 34 in all four of its league games, and at least 28 in its nonleague matchups, is led by senior quarterback Brody Gilliam alongside wideout Grady Hazen. Gilliam missed most of last season after an early injury curtailed his chance to remain the starter, and is now leading the charge for a playoff spot.

That attack, though, meets a sizable force in a South Umpqua defense which hasn’t allowed more than 21 points in a league game this year. The Lancers’ one league win came against still-winless Cottage Grove, but they played No. 6 Junction City close last Friday night in a 21-14 loss and held No. 13 North Bend to the same number in a 21-16 loss. If Gilliam can dissect this defense, the Spartans could roll. If not, the season could get tougher.

Friday’s game kicks off at 7 p.m. at Marist Catholic High School.

Other home games in a sentence

  • No. 14 Churchill (4-3, 4-1 league) vs. No. 30 Eagle Point (2-4, 0-4 league): The Lancers, who don’t play the final week, can wrap up a successful league campaign at home with their state berth already secure.
  • No. 32 North Eugene (0-6, 0-4 league) vs. No. 10 Springfield (5-2, 2-2 league): The Millers continue to battle for an at-large state bid, while the Highlanders look for their first wi
  • No. 6 Junction City (5-2, 4-1 league) vs. No. 16 North Valley (3-4, 3-2 league): Junction City has a nonleague matchup to tune up ahead of a final-week showdown with Marist Catholic.
  • No. 24 Elmira (1-6, 0-3 league) vs. No. 15 Pleasant Hill (5-2, 3-0 league): Undefeated-in-league Pleasant Hill gets a local matchup with one-win Elmira before a league-decider next week.
  • No. 10 Mohawk (5-3, 2-2 league) vs. No. 11 Camas Valley (5-2, 1-2 league): Mohawk needs to claim a win against a Camas Valley team which needs to do the same.

Away game pick: No. 8 Siuslaw-Mapleton (5-2, 1-1 league) at No. 12 Brookings-Harbor (4-3, 1-1 league)

Special District 4 is still anyone’s game. With two games left, three of the five teams sit at 1-1 in league play. Top-ranked Sutherlin can wrap up the title conversation this week, but the second automatic bid spot would still be up for grabs. 

That spot, should two of the 1-1 teams between Siuslaw-Mapleton, Douglas and Brookings-Harbor finish with the same record, will be decided on head-to-head comparison. Siuslaw-Mapleton lost to Sutherlin 34-22 off a bye week last Friday, but the Vikings secured a vital 21-20 win over Douglas Oct. 2.

This game, then, will define the league picture. The winner has the inside track to an auto-bid, and while Sutherlin heads on the road to Douglas to set up the other half of the final-week drama, Siuslaw-Mapleton at Brookings-Harbor would be a great place to check out the action.

Other away games in a sentence

  • No. 4 Sheldon (6-1, 2-0 league) at No. 19 North Medford (3-4, 0-2 league): The Irish can secure their postseason place on the road at North Medford and set up next week’s game as a league title decider.
  • No. 6 Willamette (5-2, 3-0 league) at 5A No. 3 Summit (4-2, 4-0 league) (7:15 p.m.): Special District 5’s current best team heads to a nonleague battle against a Summit team which played Sheldon close earlier this season in a 21-14 loss and hasn’t been blown out.
  • No. 30 Cottage Grove (1-6, 0-5 league) at No. 20 Marshfield (2-5, 1-3 league): The Lions are out of the postseason picture, but can get a first league win against Marshfield.
  • No. 20 Creswell (2-5, 1-2 league) at No. 23 Madras (2-5, 1-2 league): Creswell needs a win to stay in the conversation for an auto-qualifying spot in Special District 3 — but so does Madras. 
  • No. 3 Lowell (7-0, 3-0 league) at No. 15 Waldport (5-2, 3-0 league): Still undefeated, Lowell could book its ticket to the postseason this week, but will have to go through second-place Waldport to do it.
  • No. 25 Oakridge (3-4, 1-2 league) at No. 8 Toledo (4-3, 1-2 league): Another playoff decider in the same league, Oakridge needs to win out.
  • No. 7 Crow (5-2, 2-2 league) at No. 5 Days Creek (5-2, 4-1 league) (3 p.m.): In another league with four teams between 4-0 and 2-2, the Cougars roll into the first of two consecutive games against foes ranked in the top 10.