GREEN COVE SPRINGS - In the final tally of the much-ballyhooed Maxpreps/FHSAA rankings for playoff spots in high school football, Clay and Oakleaf both emerged as eighth seeds in their respective classes - 4A and 5A - with both having the daunting tasks of facing off against No. 1 seeds.

For Clay, in an astounding reversal from a 2-8 season under first year coach Jeff Gierke last year, reversed the numbers to an 8-2 campaign.

Clay will play at Columbia at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, while Oakleaf will travel to Mandarin at 6:30 p.m.

Clay finished with a 24th spot in the Class 4A rankings with the strong North Florida presence, including No. 2 Columbia (10-0), No. 7 St. Augustine (9-1) and No. 9 Ed White (8-2) all in the mix for Region 1.

Clay's second loss was to St. Augustine in Game 6 on Sept. 24 in a game that Clay gave the Yellow Jackets two first quarter gifts to fall back 14-0 in less than five minutes on a sack and bad punt snap and a fumble recovery that led to touchdowns.

"We learned the hard way that you can't give away 14 points to a team like St. Augustine," said Gierke. "We hung in with them, I think, and showed that we could run the ball on them."

Senior quarterback Landon Martin finished with 140 rush yards and two scores against St. Augustine while running backs Kamari Davis and Connor Beck rushed for 67 and 35 yards apiece.

Clay regrouped and rolled to four impressive wins to finish the season with a final 25-8 win over Fleming Island to secure its playoff spot amidst the game being played in two halves on two separate dates.

Columbia, 10-0 and with former coach Brian Allen returning to the sideline, ran the table with impressive wins week after week starting with a 20-19 opener over Bolles (7-2, 2A playoffs) and followed by a 27-13 over Madison County (5-5, 1A playoffs), a 27-20 over Trinity Christian (6-4, 1A playoffs), a 51-28 over Manatee (6-4, 5A playoffs) and a 42-22 over White (8-2, 4A playoffs). All listed Columbia opponents have won multiple state titles.

"Columbia likes to run the ball more than most people think and do the physical stuff," said Gierke, noting Columbia won a 21-0 game last year against Clay. "I don't think it's going to be like throwing the ball on every down against what we do."

Columbia is led by junior quarterback Amari Green with 1,934 passing yards and 28 touchdowns with just four interceptions. Green's main targets were Zion Walker with 34 catches and six touchdowns, Kyren Caldwell with 32 catches and 10 touchdowns and Antonio Days with 29 catches and six touchdowns. Columbia's running game is led by junior Jerome Horne with 798 yards and six touchdowns.

"They (Columbia) do a good job on mixing it up," said Gierke. "That quarterback is probably the best player we've played. He's kind of a magician back there. People have him dead to rights and he still makes a play."

Gierke knew that keeping Green in the pocket was going to be one of the objectives for his defensive front four.

"We have to do a good job of bottling him up and not let him get to the edge," said Gierke. "We are going to need our guys up front; Reimey Johnson, Adam Whigham and Wyatt Rapoza to keep him contained. They will probably avoid Jayshawn McCloud."

The winner of the Clay-Columbia game will face the winner of Choctawhatchee (7-2)-Mosley, with St. Augustine (9-1) hosting Lincoln (4-6) and Ed White (8-2) entertaining  Rickards (5-5) in the bottom half of the bracket.

In Class 5A, Oakleaf coach Chris Foy's mantra for the season has been play 15 games, and his Knights have survived a topsy-turvy season to get to Number 11 with a visit to one of Foy's best nemesis in Mandarin coach Toby Bullock.

Oakleaf, a tough 5-5 regular season record still made the playoffs with the playoffs with a schedule against Raines, Bolles, Ed White and Buchholz.

The Knights' running game has not been as explosive as in past seasons with Foy going with quarterback Jaidan Delaune as the top rusher. The team also has the likes of Fareed Coleman, Chris Foy II and Keyshawn King to strike the fear in enemy defenses.

For his part, Foy has two juniors - London Carswell and Jordan Battles - handling the duties of lugging the ball with nearly 300 yards apiece. Delaune has 613 yards rushing.

"Jaidan has been our biggest playmaker all season in kind of a new wide open style offense that we have this season," said Foy. "But, this game may become just a brawl at the 50, and that may bring our linebacker, CJ Moses, back into the backfield. He did some damage last time we played Mandarin, but he has been a blessing as a linebacker for us."

Where Delaune has found some respite in the second half of the season is with senior athlete Michael Conner, who has skyrocketed his value in the second half of the season. Connor has been all over the field as a quarterback, a jet sweep back, a defensive back, a wide receiver and a kick returner. Connor and wingman Syncere Murphy have been huge lately, with Connor going for four scores on just seven catches in season finale against First Coast, and finishing with 63 catches and 11 touchdowns for the season. Murphy has kept the same pace with 52 catches and six scores for more than 700 yards. Murphy also has three interceptions.

The key will be keeping Delaun vertical against the Mandarin defense, a chore that has been hampered all season by penalty flags.

Mandarin features the recent University of Miami commit Bryan Wright at wide receiver (46 catches and 11 TDs), the onus will be on defensive end Mason Thomas (93 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks) to pressure quarterback Knox Annis (2,087 passing yards, 20 TDs) while Murphy or Conner clamp down Wright. Oakleaf safety Quassim Swain will be key to manning the secondary when Annis tries to find Wright. Oakleaf's secondary has an amazing 92 pass defenses on record, led by Emmanuel Souffrant with 17 and Landon Nichols with 14.

"They also have a great running back in their No. 5, Shaunqueze Foster, who is probably the best all around running back in the area," said Foy. "They have so many weapons and we are going to have to have a perfect game like I always say. Coach Toby Bullock is a great tactician over there."

In the Region 1-5A bracket, the winner of the Oakleaf-Mandarin game will face with the winner of Orlando Evans-Bartram Trail with bottom half of the bracket featuring Buchholz-Ponte Vedra and Nease-Pace.