The 2015 high school football season is quickly drawing to a close.
Friday night, Baker School and Crestview High School play their last district games. A week from Friday, the Gators travel to Liberty County to close out the regular season; the Bulldogs will be at Gulf Breeze.
Baker already is assured of a spot in the playoffs. If the Gators beat Northview on Friday, they win their third straight District 1-1A championship.
The Gators open the playoffs Nov. 13. A Gator win against Northview, and Baker hosts the District 2-1A runner up in the playoffs' opening round. A loss against Northview, and Baker travels to the District 2-1A champion for the playoffs' first round.
Crestview’s playoff picture isn’t nearly as clear. If the Bulldogs beat Niceville on Friday, and Fort Walton Beach upsets Choctawhatchee, Crestview is the District 3-6A champion and Niceville is the runner up.
After that, it gets really confusing. There will be a three-way tie for first and second places if Crestview and Choctaw win, with the Vikings being eliminated.
If Crestview and Choctaw lose, there will be a three-way tie for second place between the Bulldogs, Vikings and Indians, and Niceville will win the district.
If there's a three-way tie for first or second place, the teams involved will have a shootout Monday, Nov. 2 at a site yet to be determined (probably Niceville or Choctaw).
The shootout format would have Team A play Team B, with Team C getting the winner. If it is a second-place shootout, the first quarter's loser is eliminated and the second quarter's winner is the district runner up.
If the shootout is to determine first and second places, the first quarter's winner also wins the second quarter against Team C, and that team is the district champion, with the two losing teams playing for the runner up. Team C would play the first quarter's loser to determine the runner up.
If Team C wins the third second quarter, it would be the district champion and the first quarter's winner would be runner up.
There might be a better way to determine a district champion in football. But since football is the one sport that lacks the luxury of having a district tournament, the shootout is probably the best format to determine who makes the playoffs.
If all a district's teams played the same number of games against teams from other districts in the same classification, a solution would be best overall record against 6A teams or 1A teams, as the case might be.
So there is a lot to play for Friday night. Two years ago, Crestview upset Niceville. It might be tough to repeat that upset Friday night, but anything is possible.
The Gators are playing for home field advantage for at least the playoffs' first two rounds.
Friday should be a great night for high school football.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: DICKSON: A big Friday night looming