Several local teams remain in first place in this week's MPSSAA football points standings, but as the season lengthens, the more important races will be for the fourth-and-final playoff berths.

No. 1 Arundel (Class 4A East), No. 3 River Hill (3A East), No. 10 Poly (3A North), No. 15 Chesapeake-BC (2A North), No. 7 Joppatowne (Class 1A East) and Forest Park (1A South) remain atop their regional standings. Poly is just ahead of No. 9 Hereford in its region and Forest Park has a small lead over No. 13 Dunbar.

Several local teams are battling for that critical fourth-place spot.

In Class 4A East, Annapolis trails fourth-place Broadneck by less than three tenths of a point. Catonsville is half a point behind fourth-place North Harford in 3A North. City lags behind Edmondson by less than two-tenths of a point in 2A North. The same distance stands between Long Reach and Glenelg in 2A South.

In 2A West, Century is a full point behind fourth-place South Carroll, but the Knights are coming on strong, winning their last three games after starting out 0-3. In Class 1A South, two-tenths of a point separate fourth-place Carver from Maritime Industries.

After this weekend's games -- week seven in a 10-game regular season -- some of these races will only get tighter. For a look at the complete MPSSAA football point stadings, click here.