Gore hosts Savanna in a crucial District A-6 contest Thursday night that will determine the two final playoff spots in the league.

Kickoff at K.G. Horn Stadium is slated for 7:30 p.m.

Both teams won defensive battles last week on wet fields to clinch postseason berths.

Gore (7-2 overall and 6-2 in the league) blanked Haileyville 7-0 while Savanna (7-2 and 6-2) edged Quinton 10-6.

Fourth-ranked Talihina has won the district with an 8-0 mark and No. 11 Central is 7-1 and in second because of its earlier wins over the Pirates and the Bulldogs.

“The winner of this game is third in the district and the loser is fourth,” Gore head coach Brandon Ellis said. “Our players know the scenario. The fourth-place team will go to Stroud in the first round of the playoffs, and they’re quite a load.”

Stroud is 9-0 and ranked second in Class A.

The third-place team in District A-6 will play at Stratford, Wayne or Wynnewood in the first round of the playoffs.

Some of Savanna’s key offensive players are running back Zac Doyle (5-foot-6, 150 pound-sophomore), quarterback Landon Walker (5-10, 160, junior), receiver Reedis James (5-7, 145, senior) and linemen Shaq Kinchion (5-8, 175, senior) and Cory Caldwell (6-1, 170, sophomore).

“They run a lot of stuff like they did last year,” said Ellis. “They’re small and quick and kind of scary. They like to spread it out and throw the ball quite a bit. Out of the shotgun they like to run quarterback darts and counter treys.

“Our defensive line has to play well and they have to do a good job. We’re quite a bit bigger, but they’ll swarm you. If our defensive line plays well we can get more guys in the secondary to defend the pass.”

Defensive leaders for the Bulldogs are linebackers Jeremy Smedley (5-8, 165, senior), James and Doyle, defensive end Matt Murdaugh (5-7, 160, senior) and defensive linemen Josh Wilson (5-9, 165) and Kinchion.

“On defense they’ll run a 3-5-3, and they’ll blitz some and play cover-3,” remarked Ellis. “They want to take away your outside running game.

“We need to limit our turnovers on offense, and we’ve got to sustain drives and put drives together. We also need to execute our blocking a lot better this week.”