While most eyes in the area will be on Cleveland High for the Rams’ annual clash with Clayton, there are two other Johnston County rivalry games with bigger-than-usual implications for playoff seeding.

We’ll have a write up on South Johnston at West Johnston a little later, as that game is likely a loser-leave-town match for playoff purposes.

The same scenario is going to be playing out across the county at Princeton, where the Bulldogs (5-4, 3-1) will be entertaining North Johnston (6-3, 3-1). It’s the JoCo Sports Game of the Week (since we can’t have every media outlet under the sun on Polenta Road), and the stakes really couldn’t be much higher.

As of this afternoon, our friends at High School OT ($) have Princeton penciled in as a wildcard with the 29th seed (out of 32) and North Johnston as the 21st seed, as the Neuse 6’s second-place auto-qualifier.

Now, based on a little research on the teams around Princeton on the bubble, I can’t say for sure that a loss would knock Princeton out of the 2A bracket, but it will make for a pretty nerve racking week waiting for the news — since we won’t know for sure until Nov. 9.

The Panthers, with six wins, should be in the postseason either way. Of course, win No. 7 might get them a home game in the first round.

That’s the off-field stuff. Now, between the lines, this game might boil down to a simple question: Is Kaleb Pone playing?

Pone, North’s junior quarterback, is the county’s most productive dual-threat quarterback not named Jackson Byrd. He’s thrown for 1,113 yards and a dozen scores while rushing for 1,010 yards and 11 more touchdowns — and he hasn’t played in a couple of weeks due to an ankle injury.

Based on what I’m hearing, I think we can safely term it a game-time decision.

Meanwhile, Princeton is finally getting healthy and the Bulldogs enter this contest on the back of a three-game winning streak. In that time, they’re scoring almost 50 points and rushing for about 350 yards per game.

North Johnston’s defense has been pretty solid this season, and last week, it kept the Panthers in the game in a 22-6 loss to Eastern Wayne.

The Massey Index has spit out a staggering Princeton -33.5, and remember that it doesn’t care if Pone plays or not.

I’ll say this: If he plays, and is near his usual offensive output, 33.5 is a ridiculous number. It’s still too high if he doesn’t play, but it will also be hard for me to imagine North scoring enough points to win in that scenario.

Kickoff is at 7, and our pregame gets underway at 6:40.