Courtesy Photo Posen’s Cole Krajniak chases down a Hale player during last year’s rainy road loss. The Vikings hope for revenge on Friday when they play in Hale on Friday to open the season.

POSEN — Week nine football games really don’t get any bigger than the one tonight in Posen.

That’s because when the 8-player Division 2 eighth ranked Vikings kickoff their home game with ninth ranked Au Gres, there’s a whole lot on the line. Perhaps most notably, the North Star League Little Dipper championship.

“To win a conference championship, that is definitely a goal,” Posen coach Greg Pietsch said. “It comes down to us and them. It is exciting and it is kind of a reason to play football to play in big games like this. It makes it exciting and we are just happy to have this opportunity in front of us.”

The Vikings enter the game 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the NSL Little Dipper. Their lone loss came in a close one to Rogers City. The Wolverines? Well, they just happen to be 7-1 overall, 3-0 in the NSL Little Dipper and their lone setback came at the hands of Rogers City.

“It is a game with huge playoff implications,” Pietsch said. “It is going to be a playoff-like atmosphere, it is homecoming, both teams are 7-1 and it is the last regular season game of the year. We are just going to have to stay focused and play our game and play tough hard-nosed football.”

The Wolverines are led by quarterback Carter Zeien, who is one of the better dual threat options in the conference. Keagan Bender is their bruising running back, but they’ll mix in some speedy threats on jet sweeps and other runs as well.

“They are an excellent team, they look like they are very well-balanced on offense, defense and special teams,” Pietsch said. “They have quite a mix of veterans and young athletes that can do a lot of damage and they are very well coached. We have a ton of respect for them and we are just excited to be able to play.”

Au Gres head coach Brian Sanchez echoes much of what Pietsch said.

“Winning the league is always a priority,” he said. “It is very important this season because a win against a 7-1 team may give us the playoff points needed to be able to host first and possibly second round playoff games.”

And Sanchez feels the similarities between the teams don’t just stop with their records.

“They run my offense (shotgun, spread) and they are very well-coached,” he said. “They are strong, fast and quick. They have the ability to make people miss.”

Au Gres was credited with a forfeit win over Hale last week, while Posen throttled Atlanta 71-38.

In that game, Jack Romel threw for 171 yards and five touchdowns and ran for 79 yards and another touchdown. Cole Krajniak broke free for 220 yards and three touchdowns on the ground and he had a touchdown reception as well. Ethan Romel added another 183 yards and a touchdown on the ground. They had plenty of others do damage as well.

“Our kids just kept playing hard,” Pietsch said. “We have a lot of kids on our team that are good football players that can hurt you and we kind of utilized all of our weapons in that game and ran away with it at the end, but Atlanta is a very solid football team.”

Of course, as good as Atlanta was, they aren’t quite the team Au Gres is this fall.

“We are going to do our best to match up with them,” Pietsch said. “It looks like it is going to be a really nice night for football and we are excited to play in a big game like this. Our kids have put in a lot of work and we will give them our best shot.”