Alcona (8-1) will travel to Indian River Inland Lakes (8-1) at 7 p.m. Friday in a Division I, Region 2 eight-player matchup.

Posen (8-0) will host Powers North Central (7-2) at 3 p.m. Saturday in a Division II, Region 1 eight-player matchup.

The Alcona Tigers went 5-4 in 2021 in their debut eight-player season and improved to 7-2 last fall. With 12 returning players from last year’s squad, Alcona saw only one loss this season: to St. Ignace on Sept. 8.

Making the playoffs “was a goal of the kids back in August, so seeing them reach that goal and get in the playoffs is a really a great thing,” Alcona coach Jason Somers said Monday.

Courtesy Photo The 2023 Alcona High School football team includes, from left to right, in the back row, Aiden Reno, Evan Woods, Jayson Lincoln, Jordan Benac, Evan Borsvold, William Liebler, Jacob Renchenski, Collin Walker, Nathan Nardi, and Nathaneal Henderson, and, in the front row, Jacob June, Sawyer Seminoff, Travis Walker, Richard Schott, Jeremiah Bullis, William O’Neill, Garrett Somers, Zean Monnier, Sam Johnston, and Kelvin Travis. Not pictured is Jesse Sheldon.

Alcona last faced Inland Lakes on Sept. 30, 2022. Alcona won 50-40.

“We know they’re a really good team,” Somers said. “I think it’ll be a really, really good game, and I can’t hardly wait to get it on.”

Posen last year pushed an impressive 7-3 season before losing the playoff opener to Marion, a team that advanced to the semifinals. Posen lost five players from that team but returned 13, including five seniors who helped propel the Vikings to an undefeated regular season.

Posen has never played North Central, which saw its only losses come in close contests against Lake Linden-Hubbell and Norway.

Posen coach Greg Pietsch could not be reached for comment on this story.