The postseason has arrived for five of the eight Johnston County public schools. Let’s jump right in:

2A

Camden County (4-6) at Princeton (7-3)

The JoCo Sports Game of the Week makes the journey down U.S. 70 to Princeton for the Bulldogs’ playoff clash with Camden County.

The Massey Ratings have Princeton as a 28.5-point favorite, and a cursory glance at the Bruins’ schedule shows me why. Camden County is 0-6 against teams with winning records with an average margin of defeat of 26.7 points. See what I mean?

Still, Princeton hasn’t exactly waltzed to this position in the playoffs. Things have come easily to this bunch, but it certainly looks as if the Bulldogs are peaking at just the right time.

North Johnston (4-6) at Northeastern (10-0)

North Johnston achieved a preseason goal of earning a spot in the 2A East bracket. The Panthers’ reward? A trip to unbeaten and second-seeded Northeastern.

It’s 151.4 miles from the parking lot at NJHS to Elizabeth City, which is a higher number than the points a pretty stout Massey Ratings number would give them (+39.5).

The Eagles are perennial 2A powers, and this is going to be a tough test for the local boys. Still, it’s football, so anything can happen.

3A

South Johnston (6-4) at Currituck County (7-3)

If you thought North Johnston’s road trip was long, the Trojans are going 38 miles farther (189.4) to Barco to take on the Knights.

This is a virtual pick-em on the Massey site (SJ +3.5), since the home field is usually worth 3.5 points in a spread.

Much like last week’s clash with West Johnston, if the “good” South Johnston shows up — the team that plays opportunistic defense and takes care of the football — it has a real shot of advancing to round two.

If the “bad” Trojans show up — the team that can’t get off the field on third down on defense and treats the ball like a live hand grenade on offense — it might be a long bus ride back to JoCo.

4A

South View (7-3) at Clayton (8-2)

After falling on a last-second, desperation heave into the end zone against Cleveland last week, the Comets wound up with a tougher first-round contest in the form of South View.

The Tigers are a traditional power, but are coming off a head scratching loss to their bitter rivals, Jack Britt. The Massey Ratings are not as impressed with them as I am, pegging Clayton as 26.5-point favorite.

The Comets could go one of two ways. They can be frustrated with last week’s near miss and come out flat, or they can be angry and lay the wood to an unsuspecting visitor.

I’m leaning toward the latter.

Gray’s Creek (5-5) at Cleveland (10-0)

So, having pulled a great escape at Clayton last week, the Rams find themselves in familiar territory as a high playoff seed. The reward for that is a 5-5 Bears’ squad that, for reference, lost to South View, 62-14, last month.

The Massey spread is 38.5, so the computers agree that the Rams shouldn’t have much trouble against the visitors from Cumberland County.

It also bodes well for Cleveland that, in the MaxPreps era, it has never lost a first-round playoff game.