As the playoff push continues in high school football, regular season games gain added importance.
Here are four North Division games to keep an eye on this weekend:
Portland (4-1) at Bangor (1-4), Friday, 7 p.m.
Portland is the only team in the six-team Class A North bracket with a winning record and is sitting atop the Crabtree standings. Bangor is one of three 1-4 teams seeking one of the four playoff spots.
Portland is coming off a 55-0 win over Edward Little of Auburn. Aidan McGowan carried the ball nine times for 160 yards and two touchdowns and Louis Thurston completed 85.7 percent of his passes for 97 yards and three TDs.
McGowan has rushed for 393 yards on the season in 50 carries for a 7.9 yards per carry average.
The Bulldogs had beaten Lewiston 56-0 the previous weekend.
Bangor is coming off a 34-18 loss at Windham in which the Rams were done in by four turnovers, including three interceptions, and touchdown runs of 78 and 80 yards.
Bangor racked up 457 total yards compared to Windham’s 325.
The loss dropped the Rams to fifth, one spot out of a playoff spot, and they are desperate for a win.
Workhorse junior quarterback Kyle Johnson is Bangor’s offensive catalyst.
The teams did not play last season.
Hermon (3-2) at Brewer (1-4), Friday, 6 p.m.
The Hawks dealt the Witches a rude welcome to Class C North a year ago with a season-opening 54-16 victory over the previous Class B competitors.
Brewer is coming off its first win of the season, a 34-0 triumph over Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield.
Running back Morgan Judkins and quarterback Ethan Leavitt keyed the win.
The Hawks are coming off a 17-0 loss to Class D unbeaten and defending three-time D North titlist Foxcroft Academy of Dover-Foxcroft.
The score was misleading because it was a 7-0 game with five minutes left.
The Hawks will be looking to get their offense untracked after being held to just 134 total yards by the Ponies.
Brothers Max and Sam Hopkins lead the Hawks.
Oceanside (4-1) at Hampden Academy (2-3), Friday, 7 p.m.
The Hampden Academy Broncos haven’t allowed more than 22 points in a game this season but they will be severely tested by an Oceanside offense which is averaging 35.4 points per game and has racked up at least 330 rushing yards in each of its last three games.
This is a Class C North matchup.
Zeb Foster has rushed for 577 yards in Oceanside’s last two games and has already eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing milestone for the season with 1,086. He has scored 16 touchdowns.
Two of Hampden Academy’s losses have been by five points or less.
In last weekend’s 20-15 loss to Nokomis of Newport, Aiden Kochendoerfer rushed for 113 yards on 10 carries and caught three passes for 81 yards. He also had a team-high nine tackles.
Gavin Monyok completed eight of 12 passes for 122 yards and a TD.
Oceanside beat Hampden Academy 40-0 a year ago.
Nokomis (2-3) at Foxcroft Academy (5-0), Friday, 7 p.m.
Foxcroft Academy has won 28 of its last 29 regular season games over the last three and a half seasons.
Coach Danny White’s Foxcroft Academy Ponies have a nice one-two punch at quarterback featuring passer Griffin Caruso and runner Aiden Harvey.
Caruso completed eight of 12 passes for 107 yards in the 17-0 win over Hermon last Friday night before Harvey came on in the fourth quarter and finished with 71 rushing yards and a TD on only six carries.
Finn Holmes gives them a bruising running back.
Seth Bowden played a major role in Nokomis’ 20-15 win over Hampden Academy with 114 rushing yards on 20 carries and two TDs.
That win snapped a two-game losing streak in which the Class C North Warriors were beaten by a total of eight points.
