Pinecrest Academy at St. Francis

When, where: Friday, 7:30 p.m. at Peter Carriulo Field in Alpharetta

Records, rankings: Pinecrest is 5-3, 4-2 in Region 6-A, Div. B and unranked; St. Francis is 1-7, 0-6 in Region 6-A, Div. B and unranked

Series history: Pinecrest leads 2-0

Last meeting: Pinecrest won 49-13 in 2015

What to know: It’s been a muddier road for Pinecrest than it was last season, but head coach Todd Winter has to be just fine with that. After all, the Paladins have been in one of the toughest leagues in Class A, sharing a sub-region with Fellowship, Mount Paran and Mount Pisgah, which are ranked No. 4, No. 9 and No. 18 in the Class A power rankings, respectively. The Paladins are sitting in the mix at No. 13, comfortably within the cutoff of 24 teams that will play in the newly-expanded playoffs.

The Paladins’ concern will be building momentum down the stretch. After a 41-0 drubbing of Whitefield last week, Pinecrest should have another comfortable win on its hands with St. Francis, which comes in 35th out of 36 teams in Class A-Private, only in front of winless North Cobb Christian. St. Francis beat NCC 23-21 in its only win of the year, and it hasn’t scored more than a touchdown in any other contest this season.