Sleepy Eye St. Mary's at Cleveland
7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 13

Sleepy Eye St. Mary's first season in 9-Man was going well until a 30-20 loss to Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart last week. Now the Knights find themselves tied for second in the District 9 South Central subdistrict standings but still control their fate.

Sleepy Eye St. Mary (5-1, 4-1) ends the season with games against the teams it trails in the standings, including this week when it travels to Cleveland. A victory on Friday and another next Wednesday against Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons, would secure the No. 10-ranked Knights a share of the title.

The No. 9 Clippers (5-1, 5-0) don't want to squander their position atop the league standings and are intent on winning their final two games of the regular season to bring home a league championship.

Cleveland has followed last year's runner-up finish in state with an impressive campaign thanks to Carter Kopet, who has amassed 1,539 yards and 32 TDs this year.

The Clippers senior quarterback holds several all-time state passing records and leads the state in passing touchdowns (29) this year.

The Knights may enter Friday as underdogs, but they are catching Kopet coming off a "down" week in which he was limited to 219 yards and two touchdowns in a 19-0 win over Nicollet.