Ross Armey is one of a host of Warsaw players questionable due to injury for Friday night’s regular-season finale at home versus Concord (File photo by Mike Deak)

The prep football regular season comes to a close Friday night.

That means one more chance for area teams to move up or down in the final conference standings and prepare for postseason play next week.

First-round sectional games take place Oct. 24. Warsaw will host Carroll, Wawasee will entertain Leo, Whitko plays at Bellmont, Tippecanoe Valley travels to Culver Academy and Triton goes on the road to South Central.

Here’s a quick look at match ups for week nine first before we take a look at sectional action next week.

Concord (6-2, 4-2) at Warsaw (4-4, 3-3), 7:30 p.m.

A couple of weeks ago both of these teams were still in the conversation for a league title.

Now, both are looking to snap losing streaks going into the postseason.

A beat up Warsaw team will host a Minutemen team that rose to No. 1 in Class 5-A two weeks ago. Concord, now No. 9, then got drubbed by NLC foes Plymouth (48-20) and Northridge (35-0) the last two weeks.

The Tigers sit at 4-4 after back-to-back NLC losses at Wawasee and NorthWood.

The bigger issue for the hosts is that Warsaw has 18 players who are either out or questionable for Friday night due to injuries, including 10 starters.

“We still have to be prepared to play Friday night and get the next guy ready at each position,” said Warsaw coach Phil Jensen Wednesday prior to practice. “You can’t call Concord and cancel the game. It’s a combination of things right now and it’s tough with sectional next week.”

Concord, which beat Warsaw 28-0 a year ago for their fourth straight win and seventh in the last eight games versus the Tigers, still pose an athletic threat.

“You can throw out their last two games because that’s the best two teams they have played this year,” Jensen said. “They still have the ability to score a lot of points and I know their coaches want to right the ship.

“We just have to sustain drives, finish drives and score points. We have to do what we do well, but still not get into a shootout with them.”

Concord has scored 235 points this season, while Warsaw has 162.

Warsaw senior quarterback Jake Mangas broke the program’s single-season completions record last week in a loss at NorthWood. Mangas now has 135 completions this season, topping the old standard of 131. He needs just four attempts and 46 yards Friday night to establish new school single-season records for both attempts and yards too. Mangas is 135-263 on the season for 1,733 yards with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Riley Rhoades is the top receiver for the Tigers with 38 catches for 566 yards. He missed last week’s game due to a concussion and is also out this week.

Goshen (0-8, 0-6) at Wawasee (5-3, 3-3), 7:30 p.m.

Wawasee has a lot of reasons to be ready to go Friday night.

Even if a rematch looms with Leo next week and Goshen is winless this season and has now lost 21 games in a row on the field.

“This is a rivalry game, it’s Homecoming and we’ve challenged our kids this week to up the ante,” said Wawasee coach Josh Ekovich. “We are focused on this performance to get momentum going into the sectional.”

Wawasee beat Goshen by just a 17-14 count a year ago. The Redskins have scored just 74 points this fall.

“Last week, we played not to lose and I want to see intensity and enthusiasm this week,” Ekovich said. “We’ve upped our intensity in practice.”

Warsaw quarterback Gage Reinhard will play for the second straight week after a shoulder injury two weeks ago versus Warsaw.

“Gage is doing good and will play like any other Friday,” said Ekovich.

Whitko (5-3, 5-1) at Tippecanoe Valley (1-7, 1-5), 7 p.m.

Whitko still has an outside chance to share the TRC title.

Valley has its Senior Night and Homecoming to play for in what has been a tough year.

The Wildcats come off a 56-14 loss at Rochester a week ago. The Zebras are 6-0 in the TRC and play at one-win North Miami Friday night in a bid to claim the conference title.

“It was a tough loss to Rochester,” said Whitko coach Josh Mohr.  “After watching the film, we didn’t make the plays needed and they did.  The guys were disappointed, but have bounced back after a couple of days and understand that it is a new week with a new opponent.

“Valley has had some bad breaks.  They are much better than their record shows.  Garrett Bell runs the ball hard and Alec Craig is an explosive athlete.  As a team they play hard from start to finish.

“I want to see our effort level stay consistent and for us to eliminate costly mistakes in all phases of the game.  This is a rivalry game, it’s about pride and heart now.”

Tanner Hughes, the all-time leading rusher in school history, leads the Wildcats with over 1,100 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Valley coach Scott Bibler wants to start a new chapter Friday night.

“I just want to finish strong and see our kids keep battling,” said Bibler. “I want to see us play with passion and heart and excitement and be up for the challenge.

“Their fullback (Hughes) is the toughest in the TRC and a load.”

Whitko topped the Vikings 34-21 a year ago to earn a share of the league title with Rochester.

Triton (2-6, 1-5) at Jimtown (5-3, 5-1), 7 p.m.

The Trojans are another team with plenty of pains to try and deal with.

Triton, already low on numbers, is trying to patch things together for their final game in the Northern State Conference against perennial power Jimtown.

“It’s been a tough week with some injuries and trying to fill some spot,” said Triton coach John Johns.

“Our kids know we have a monster challenge. Jimtown is a storied program. This is the perfect opportunity for us to play a full game versus a quality opponent. I just want to see us put together a complete game, play as hard as we can and let the chips fall where they may.”

Triton posted a 35-15 win over Knox last week as Jeremy Jones had a huge game with 223 yards rushing and three long touchdown runs.

Jimtown, which beat Bremen 33-6 last week, topped the Trojans 56-0 last season.