The many loyal fans of Siuslaw Vikings football can thank the fortuitous flip of a coin for a play-in game Friday at Junction City instead of the eight-hour-plus journey to Baker.

A Junction City administrator confirmed that the Tigers won a flip of the coin with the Cottage Grove Lions for the No. 2 Sky-Em League seeding, thus assuring a home game.

Had Cottage Grove won the flip, and the right to a home game, the Lions would have hosted Gladstone on Friday, while Junction City would have been heading to Prineville to play Crook County.

The Lions finished the season one notch ahead of Baker in the final Oregon School Activities Association ratings.

Cottage Grove was No. 16 and Baker No. 17, which would have assured the two schools the bottom two seedings among schools hosting games Friday.

Siuslaw finished rated No. 15 and received the top seed of all visiting teams playing Friday. Junction City was No. 20, and was pegged to travel had the Tigers lost the flip.

Teams qualify in three groups.

Group A includes the seven league champions and the top-rated league No. 2 team. Those teams draw byes into the first round.

Group B includes the six remaining league No. 2 teams and the top two league No. 3 teams (No. 9 Astoria and No. 14 Stayton). Those teams host play-in games.

Group C includes the remaining qualifiers, based on OSAA ratings, and play on the road. Siuslaw was the top-rated No. 3 team in Group C, missing out on a home play-in game by one notch to Stayton.

The play-in round pairings:

    •    OSAA No. 23 Klamath Union (C8) at No. 5 Cascade (B1)
    •    No. 24 North Marion (C7) at No. 7 Phoenix (B2)
    •    No. 22 Sweet Home (C6) at No. 8 Marshfield (B3)
    •    No. 21 South Umpqua (C5) at No. 9 Astoria (B4)
    •    No. 19 Henley (C4) at No. 13 Crook County (B5)
    •    No. 18 Gladstone (C3) at No. 14 Stayton (B6)
    •    No. 16 Cottage Grove (C2) at No. 17 Baker (B7)
    •    No. 15 Siuslaw (C1) at No. 20 Junction City (B8)

Teams drawing byes were:

    •    OSAA No. 1 Philomath (A1), the Oregon West champion
    •    No. 2 Sisters (A2), the Sky-Em champion
    •    No. 3 Scappoose (A3), the Cowapa champion
    •    No. 4 Banks (A4), the Cowapa runner-up
    •    No. 6 Mazama (A5), the Skyline champion
    •    No. 10 Molalla (A6), the Tri-Valley champion
    •    No. 11 North Bend (A7), the Far West champion
    •    No. 12 LaGrande (A8), the Greater Oregon champion  

Should Siuslaw be the only Group C team to survive Friday night, the Vikings likely would play a first-round game Nov. 6 at top-seeded Philomath.

Should Siuslaw be one of two Group C teams to win Friday, the Vikings would be at Sisters; if one of three, they'd be at Scappoose, etc.

The OSAA attempts to keep teams from the same league from playing each other in the first round, so that would have an impact on projected pairings.