Siuslaw laid a 35-point licking on Hidden Valley in a nonleague 4A football game in Florence last season.

But to hear Vikings coach Tim Dodson talk, the Vikings may have been lucky to escape with the 49-14 win.

"Every football game comes down to a few plays, and in that game we made the few plays," Dodson said.

The Mustangs are plotting to return the favor when they host the Vikings at 7 p.m. Friday in Grants Pass.

"We're on the road, so that means making those plays becomes even more difficult to do," Dodson said. "So it's going to be very important that we do that, and obviously handling four hours of travel is going to be a big deal."

Both teams are 2-0 in nonleague play, with Hidden Valley ranked No. 4 among 4A schools by the Oregon School Activities Association. Siuslaw is ranked No. 20, with wins over Newport (29-6) and Pleasant Hill (24-6).

"We don't worry about the polls," Dodson said. "It is what it is. We've been lucky enough to be a No. 1 seed, and we've been lucky enough to be No. 4 when we shouldn't have made it.

"I've looked at the system and it seems like we've always come out OK. And since we've always come out OK, I can't complain."

Siuslaw and Hidden Valley are among 40 schools in the state classified 4A, and 24 make the playoffs. Teams qualifying are placed in three eight-school groups.

Group A includes automatic qualifiers for the first round of playoffs the weekend of Nov. 6-7. Those teams include the seven league champions and the top league runnerup, based on the rankings.

The 4A leagues include the Far West, Cowapa, Tri-Valley, Oregon West, Sky-Em, Skyline and Greater Oregon. The Skyline League currently has three top 10 teams in the OSAA rankings, including No. 1 Phoenix, No. 4 Hidden Valley and No. 10 Mazama, which eliminated Siuslaw in the first round of the 2014 playoffs.

Sixteen schools will qualify for the play-in round the weekend of Oct. 30-31 as either Group B (host) or Group C (visitor). Each league is guaranteed a play-in home game, with those teams hosting the next eight best teams, based on the rankings.

Siuslaw finished the 2014 regular season as a Group C qualifier, going 3-0 in nonleague games and 2-3 in the Far West League. The Vikings shut out Marshfield, 14-0, in Coos Bay in the play-in game, then lost to Mazama, 42-12, at Klamath Falls.

For answers to frequently asked questions about the OSAA ranking system, go to http://www.osaa.org/help/rankings.

The Vikings will play three of their five league games at home, Sept. 25 vs. South Umpqua, Oct. 9 vs. Marshfield and Oct. 16 vs. Douglas. They play at North Bend/Oregon Coast Technology on Oct. 2 and at Brookings-Harbor on Oct. 23.

The game between the Hidden Valley junior varsity and Siuslaw's freshman-sophomore team was cancelled, Vikings athletic director Jeromy Graybill announced Tuesday.

HOW THEY FARED
How Siuslaw's 2015 opponents fared on Friday night, Sept. 11

• Newport (0-2) lost at Tillamook, 29-8. Next: vs. Marshfield.
• Pleasant Hill (0-2) lost at Siuslaw, 24-6. Next: vs. Cascade Christian.
• Hidden Valley (2-0) beat Douglas, 34-18, at Winston. Next: vs. Siuslaw, 7:30 p.m. Friday, at Grants Pass.
• South Umpqua (1-1) beat North Valley, 58-6, at Grants Pass. Next: vs. Banks at Myrtle Creek.
• North Bend/Oregon Coast Technology (1-1) lost to Astoria, 22-20, at North Bend. Next: at Marist in Eugene.
• Marshfield (2-0) beat Sutherlin, 53-6, at Coos Bay. Next: at Newport.
• Douglas (1-1) lost to Hidden Valley, 34-18, at Winston: Next: at Mazama in Klamath Falls.
• Brookings-Harbor (1-1) beat Illinois Valley, 40-14, at Brookings. Next: vs. Yreka (Calif.) at Brookings.

GOING THE DISTANCE

The three-hour trip from Florence to Grants Pass is only the second-longest trip of the season (by time) for the Siuslaw Vikings football team, according to figures from distancecalculator.net.

Siuslaw's scheduled 2015 road trips (one way):

• Sept. 4 to Newport (50 miles), 1 hour, 12 minutes
• Sept. 18 to Grants Pass (163 miles), 2 hours, 52 minutes
• Oct. 2 to North Bend (46 miles), 58 minutes
• Oct. 23 to Brookings (156 miles), 3 hours, 11 minutes