Each Wednesday, between now and the end of the regular season, we'll take a look at the week's Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Administration football playoff standings, which post on the MPSSAA's site each Tuesday.

A quick primer: Schools are divided into classifications by population size and the classifications are divided by regions. Football is one of the few sports where every school doesn't automatically qualify for the playoffs. Instead, schools advance by way of a scoring system, which awards more points for wins over teams with larger populations. The four teams in each region with the highest points advance to the playoffs.

For now, one of the best races in the state is shaping up in the 2A North region, consisting exclusively of schools from the city and Baltimore County. Five teams, Poly (5-0), Eastern Tech (5-0), Randallstown (5-0), defending champion Edmondson and City, both 3-2, are bunched in tight for four slots in that order.

Three intra-regional games figure to decide not only who gets in, but who gets the higher seeds, and thus, home field when the playoffs start next month. The first of them, Friday's Randallstown-Eastern Tech match at CCBC-Essex, will likely determine which of these teams draws the top seed. Poly, meanwhile, will play at Edmondson on Nov. 2, then finish the regular season the following week against City at M&T Bank Stadium in a game that may very well determine if one of them advances to the playoffs.

More later.