The playoffs are here, time for teams to go to another level. But David La Vaque, 18-11 this season, has been there all year. Jim Paulsen (15-14), meanwhile, has one foot on the edge of a cliff and the other on a banana peel.
Class 5A, Section 6
Fridley (3-5) at Park Center (4-4), 5 p.m.
Jim says: Both teams have deficiencies in the trenches. It's Park Center's skill players — Adam Buirge, Lawrence Ogunti, Amani Hooker — who set the Pirates apart.
Pick: Park Center 33, Fridley 20
David says: Those sky-high Pirates, who started the season 3-0, came back down with four consecutive losses. That said, Park Center won last week and has the potential for making a solid postseason run.
Pick: Park Center 27, Fridley 14
Class 5A, Section 2
Waconia (4-4) at Chaska (6-2), 7 p.m.
Jim says: During its current five-game winning streak, Chaska has looked much more like the team I expected in August. Dual-threat QB Justin Arnold has been terrific, with almost 2,000 yards of total offense.
Pick: Chaska 34, Waconia 13
David says: Waconia is tough and tested, but Chaska played a different brand of football in the Metro West Conference. The Hawks were a one-point loss from going undefeated against Minnesota teams.
Pick: Chaska 28, Waconia 20
Class 5A, Section 2
New Prague (4-4) at Chanhassen (6-2), 7 p.m.
Jim says: I'm still not convinced the Storm has the defense needed to make a long playoff run, but it has enough to win this game. New Prague is improved, but the Trojans haven't beaten a team above .500.
Pick: Chanhassen 30, New Prague 14.
David says: New Prague struggled early in the Wright County Conference, then went blow-for-blow last week in a close loss to Orono. The feeling here is the Trojans put a full game together and pull the upset.
Pick: New Prague 24,
Chanhassen 21