Though it’s only Week 6 of the regular season, Friday night’s District 8 game between ADM and Creston in Adel is about close as you can get to a must-min scenario for the Tigers.

ADM (3-2) fell to 1-2 in district play with last week’s disappointing loss to Winterset, putting pressure on the Tigers to beat some tough competition the rest of the way in order to secure a spot in the playoffs.

A win against the Panthers (3-2, 1-1) and ADM is back in the thick of the playoff race. A loss and the Tigers are staring at the need for a win against an upstart Glenwood team and the always daunting task of beating the Harlan Cyclones in Harlan, something ADM has never done.

“Every game we have left in the playoff race, as was last week,” said Tigers head coach Mike Whisner. “You’ve just got to come prepared to focus on this game and do everything you can to get in the win column.”

Prepararing for the Panthers in large part centers around stopping Creston’s physical run game and junior running back Chase Schiltz.

Creston frequently uses Shiltz in the Wildcat, which means he takes a direct snap and runs rather than taking a handoff.

The result has been 828 yards rushing, 6.4 yards per carry and 16 rushing touchdowns for Shiltz, and 1,227 yards for the Panthers as a team, second-best in the district.

“They’re very good at running that offense and it’s tough to slow down, but that’s what we’ve got to do to be successful in this game,” Whisner said. “We’ve been working all week on how to slow that offense down and also get our offense in the end zone.”

ADM, meanwhile, will look to get its offense on track. As Whisner alluded to, ADM failed to score a touchdown last week in what’s been a one week on, one week off trend for the offense.

Our pregame coverage from Adel begins at 7 p.m. with kickoff to follow at 7:30 on K107 and raccoonvalleyradio.com/listen-live