Orcas Island (0-2, 2-4) at La Conner (0-2, 0-6), 5:30 p.m. Friday
The Braves, who turned in a competitive game against Concrete last week, will now face a big, talented Orcas Island squad in the Northwest 2B League game.

“They’ve got some size, some physical kids and they’re going to run a lot of power football at us,” La Conner coach Patrick Brown said.

Brown said the Braves have played well of late.

“We’ve matured. We had a lot of young guys at the start of the season who had never started a game, and now they’ve got six games under their belt,” he said. “I Feel good about where we’ve come as a team.”

Brown said the team has been working on being more effective in the red zone.

“We worked on finishing drives inside the 20,” Brown said.

Squalicum (2-1, 3-3, 3-3) at Anacortes (0-4, 0-4, 0-6), 7 p.m. Friday
The injury-hampered Seahawks will try for their first victory of the season against a physical Northwest Conference opponent on Anacortes’ homecoming weekend.

“They’re big and strong — that’s their characteristic,” Anacortes coach Charlie Bell said. “They run power football and use play-action passes, they run a lot of screen passes and curls.”

Bell said the Seahawks will have to play well on the line and prevent long plays by the Storm.

“For us to be successful, we’ve got to control the line of scrimmage and not give them the home run ball, the big play,” he said. “We’ve got to be more productive with our own offensive.”

Concrete Lions (2-0, 5-1) at Darrington Loggers (2-0, 5-1), 7 p.m. Friday
First place is on the line when these two Northwest 2B League rivals clash. The winner has the inside track on the all-important No. 1 seed.

“It’s obviously a step up,” Concrete coach Ron Rood said. “If you’re 3-0 and nobody else is, everyone is chasing you. You have a little more room to make a mistake. Whoever takes that first loss, really, their back is against the wall.”

The Loggers have a tough offense, one that will test a Lions defense coming off three straight shutouts. Darrington is averaging 32 points per game on the season and almost 40 points per game the past four weeks.

Concrete is getting healthier at just the right time.

“We do get some kids back this week,” Rood said. “We’ve kind of had some guys injured, though some of them are coming back not at 100 percent, and some of them are our fast kids.”

Meadowdale (1-1, 3-2) at Mount Vernon (0-0, 2-2, 2-4) 7 p.m. Friday
The Bulldogs will try to straighten out their offense in a non-conference game against the Mavericks.

“We struggled early in the season defensively, and now we’re getting our defense coming around and lost our offense,” Mount Vernon coach Jaxon Schweikert said. “We’ve got to go back to what we were doing early: getting the ball out on time, catching it well and running the ball.”

The Bulldogs will face a Wildcats team that has a tenacious running attack led by Naji Moore-Taylor, whose season was highlighted by a 260-yard, five touchdown performance against first-year school Glacier Peak.

“They’ve got an exceptional running back — he’s as good as we’ll see this year,” Schweikert said.  “They’re pretty big up front ... they’re athletic and good on special teams. They’re a darn good team.”

Ferndale (0-0, 4-0, 6-0) at Sedro-Woolley (0-0, 2-2, 3-3), 7 p.m. Friday
The Cubs will face a tough Northwest Conference and Class 3A test with the Golden Eagles, who are undefeated and coming off a 41-7 victory over Everett.

“They’re fast and they make few mistakes, and if you make a mistake they take advantage of it,” Sedro-Woolley coach Bryan Alexander said. “We’re going to have to control the football. What a lot of teams have tried to do ... is try to keep (Ferndale’s) offense off the field. Defensively, we have to corral their speed.”

Ferndale’s offensive leaders are expected to include quarterback Casey Locker, who was 8-of-12 for 151 yards last week, and running back Jordan Finkbonner, who had 103 yards on 16 carries against the Seagulls.

But Alexander notes that Ferndale has plenty of weapons.

“The full compliment of guys who touch the ball are pretty good,” he said.

Burlington-Edison (4-0, 6-0, 6-0) at Blaine (2-2, 2-3, 3-3), 7 p.m. Friday
The Tigers, who have a host of injuries on offense, will try to stay undefeated against a young Borderites team in a Northwest Conference game.

“They’re a young team, and ... they’re very athletic,” Burlington-Edison coach Bruce Shearer said. “They’re not big and bulky like a lot of teams are, but they’re like us — they’re lean and they rally to the ball. They do a great job.”

Shearer said the Tigers have had to make several changes to the lineup due to injuries.

“We made some wholesale changes in our offense,” he said. “This is probably the first time we’ve really been beat up. Mount Vernon was a pretty physical game.”

Shearer said running back Jeff Adams, who has been out because of a foot injury, will likely be out for a few more weeks.

Stanwood (2-2, 2-3) at Snohomish (2-1, 4-2), 7 p.m. Friday
The Spartans, who have put together a two-game winning streak after losing their first three, will face a Panthers squad, in a Western Conference North Division game, that is riding a three-game winning streak.

Stanwood coach Dick Abrams said the Spartans have played better lately.

“Our guys have steadily improved throughout the year, and we played good competition in the beginning, and that’s paying off now,” he said. “The kids are getting the feel now of what they can do, what they can accomplish. That’s a good feeling for us.”

Abrams said that the Spartans will have to blunt the Panthers’ ground game.

“We need to stop their running game. That’s the key for us,” he said. “The kids will have to play to top of ability to stop the Snohomish running game.”

Arlington (1-2, 4-2) at Oak Harbor (1-2, 2-4), 7 p.m. Friday
Oak Harbor will be looking to snap a two-game losing streak by stepping up its offense, which has been held to 17 points in the last two games against Western Conference North Division opponents.
“We’re trying to improve offensively and get a few more points on the board. We’ve got to control the ball a little bit,” Wildcats coach Jay Turner said.

To that, the Wildcats will face an Arlington squad that is coming off a 21-14 win over Monroe.

“They’re very balanced between throwing the ball and running the ball,” Turner said. “They’ll run an I-formation, then run shotgun. They’ll go no huddle. They mix it up.”

Turner said the Wildcats will have to slow down quarterback Jake Parduhn.

“Their quarterback throws the ball well and runs it well,” he said.