The clock is ticking.

This weekend marks the beginning of high school football’s second half, and Warren County teams have some ground to make up to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Key region and league games this week include Slippery Rock at Warren, Eisenhower at Union City, Youngsville at Iroquois, and Cameron County at Sheffield.

Here’s a look at how the Dragons, Knights, Eagles, and Wolverines match up in Week 6:

Slippery Rock (5-0) at Warren (1-4), War Memorial Field, 7 p.m., Friday

Warren knows first hand just how explosive Slippery Rock can be. The Dragons and Rockets competed against each other in Region 5 from 2012-2013 as Class AAA teams before both dropped down to Class AA Region 3 this enrollment cycle. As expected, Slippery Rock has flourished in the new league with a 5-0 start that includes wins over powerhouse programs Greenville and Hickory.

The Rockets return nearly all of their District 10 Class AAA semifinal team from last season, including quarterback Jake Whitmer along with skill players Travis Lauster, Ryan Lauster, Jared McDowell, and Brandon McKnight back to lead coach Brendan Hathaway’s run-heavy offense.

The Dragons got a boost last week with the return of starting quarterback D.J. Fehlman and running back Kyle Kulka. Fehlman completed 13-of-28 passes for 123 yards while Kulka led the rushing game with 111 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. Solomon Gross added two touchdowns and 68 yards on 18 carries, and Ryan Shattuck grabbed six passes for 58 yards.

“We’ve had a great week of practice and must continue to play as a team with each athlete executing their one-eleventh every single play,” said Dragons’ coach Greg Latimer. “Continue to reduce costly mistakes – both as players and coaches, turnovers have set us back several times this year and our new division has been a learning curve for all of us. Our tempo, formations, and play selections that were successful in past years must be altered to fit the ‘new’ caliber of football played in the (Class) AA D-10 South.”

Eisenhower (2-3) at Union City (0-5), Union City High School, 7 p.m., Friday

Region games are always important, but after losing back-to-back games to Iroquois and Cambridge Springs early in the season, it’s must win territory for the young Eisenhower Knights from here on out. Ike bounced back with a thrilling 21-14 win over Saegertown last week and has a chance to get back over .500 in Region 2 against the struggling Union City Bears this Friday.

Union City has had a dismal start to the season, losing all but one game by a margin of 40 or more points. Emmett Murphy was the leading rusher in last week’s loss to Youngsville with 68 yards on five carries including a 50-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Cameron Kessering added 51 yards on six carries, and quarterback Daulton Kerns completed three passes for 28 yards.

Eisenhower quarterback Louie Head is closing in on 1,000 yards passing with 830 and five touchdowns through the first five games. His favorite target has been Jarrett Johnson, who has 23 catches for 506 yards and three scores. Head is also the team’s leading rusher with 208 yards and four touchdowns on the ground.

“We still have a lot of work to do before I can say we have turned a corner, but we have to keep getting better and limiting our mistakes,” said Knights’ coach Jim Penley. “They work as hard as any team I have had, but with 12 of the 22 starters under the age of 15 there will be bumps in the road. They are a really close team and we hope it pays off in the coming weeks. We have a brutal schedule of teams to finish off with, so all we can focus on is doing our best this week.”

Youngsville (1-4) at Iroquois (3-2), Iroquois High School, 7 p.m., Friday

The Eagles didn’t just win their first game in over two years last week – they thrashed Union City, 57-14, in a Region 2 matchup on homecoming at Mike Shine Field. Next up is Iroquois, which coincidentally is the last team Youngsville beat on Sept. 7, 2012 before going on to lose 21 straight games.

The Braves are 3-1 and tied for second place in Region 2. Nathaniel Kightlinger has carried the ball 69 times for 523 yards and three touchdowns, while Brandon Roda has found the end zone nine times with 430 yards on 71 touches. Dylan Carpin has completed 27-of-44 passes for 558 yards and six touchdowns, and Kyle Laniewicz has 11 receptions for 201 yards.

Youngsville’s Jake Lauffenburger was an efficient 6-of-9 for 163 yards and four touchdowns with another score coming on the ground in the Eagles’ win over Union City. Freshman Noah Myers moved from receiver to running back to fill in after an injury to Solomon Clark, and finished with a team-high 89 yards on seven carries. Myers also added two catches for 48 yards while Sam Bubbenmoyer caught three passes for 67 yards and two touchdowns.

“Last week’s win gave us a much needed boost in the team confidence level,” said Youngsville coach John Victor. “Injuries happen in football. Hayden (Victor) stepped in nicely at linebacker and Curtis (Hoffner) ran the ball well at running back. The key to this week’s game is controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.”

Cameron County (1-4) at Sheffield (0-5), Sheffield High School, 1:30 p.m., Saturday

It’s been a brutal first half of the season for the AML North, and Sheffield’s 0-5 start is no exception. The Wolverines hope to turn things around with a homecoming win against Cameron County, which is coming off its first win of the year last week against Port Allegany.

The Red Raiders turned to the backfield duo of Caleb Burnside and Rusty Setzer in their win over the Gators. Burnside carried the ball 11 times for 140 yards and two touchdowns while Setzer gained 120 yards on 12 carries with three touches finding paydirt.

Cameron County did have a little trouble defending the pass, and that could prove to be good news for the Wolverines. Adam Higby threw for 273 yards and four touchdowns in Sheffield’s 33-32 loss to Smethport last week. To date, Higby is Warren County’s leader with 942 yards (3rd in District 9) and nine touchdowns. Marquis Clark leads the team with 16 catches for 434 yards and five touchdowns – three of which came in Week 5 – while Logan Connelly has 15 grabs for 211 yards and two scores.

“The loss last week hurt in one sense, but it also gave us a few positives to build on the rest of the season,” said Wolverines’ coach Dave Fitch. “We were able to battle back after going down 14 and scored four unanswered touchdowns. We were able to get our running game moving and showed we have some big play abilities… This week, Cameron County is coming off a win and we will need to play a 48 minute game in order to come away with a victory. Last week was the first week all year the kids showed emotion after a defeat, that tells me they are hungry to get their first win this week.”