Five Times News area teams have qualified for the District 11 football playoffs, which will begin on Friday.

Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Marian, Northwestern and Tamaqua will all be in action over the weekend, hoping to make a run at a championship.

Two of the teams — Northwestern and Tamaqua — will have home games, while the others will be on the road.

The Blue Raiders, who posted a 9-1 record during the regular season and shared the Schuylkill League Division 1 title with Thorpe and North Schuylkill, are seeded second in Class 3A and will host Notre Dame on Friday.

“(Notre Dame’s) someone we haven’t seen that throws the ball all over the place,” said Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner after this past Friday’s night win against Marian. “It’s going to be a long week of practice. They run a lot of empty backfield, deuces, trips, trips spread, quads. It’s going to be different than what we’ve seen the last nine weeks.

“It was a big year for the kids. We hope to do more, obviously, going on to districts.”

The other semifinal game in the Class 3A field will feature Jim Thorpe at North Schuylkill.

The Olympians, seeded fourth, will look to gain some revenge against the Spartans, who handed Mark Rosenberger’s team its only loss on Sept. 28. Thorpe, which is making its third straight appearance in the district playoffs, lost that contest by an 8-6 score.

The only other Friday playoff game involving a Times News area squad will have Marian traveling to top-seeded Williams Valley in Class 1A.

The Colts, after dropping their first five games of the season, rebounded with four straight wins before falling to powerful Tamaqua in their regular season finale.

This is the fifth straight season Marian, seeded fourth, is in the district playoffs, and the third straight year it will be facing Williams Valley. The Vikings, the No. 1 seed, defeated the Colts in last year’s semifinals by a 56-21 score.

“Now we look ahead,” said Marian head coach Pat Morgans on Friday. “It’s the second season. We’re 0-0, everybody has an 0-0 record now.”

Northwestern and Lehighton are both in Class 4A and will be in action on Saturday.

The Tigers, who are returning to the district playoffs after missing out the past two years, are the No. 3 seed and will face Allentown Central Catholic.

Northwestern posted an 8-2 record this year and have won six of its last seven games. The Tigers last won a district title in 2014.

The Vikings only posted a 3-7 mark, but compete in the highly competitive Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. In fact, eight of their 10 opponents this year have reached the district playoffs, including the top seeds in both 4A (Bethlehem Catholic) and 6A (Freedom).

Lehighton, meanwhile, is the seventh seed in the eight-team 4A field. The Indians (4-6) will be traveling to face No. 2 seed Saucon Valley.

Tom McCarroll’s club enters the postseason on a four-game losing streak, but Lehighton will be making its sixth consecutive trip to the D-11 playoffs. That is the longest streak among all area schools.

CLASS 1A

Semifinals

Friday, Nov. 2

No. 4 Marian (4-6) at No. 1 Williams Valley (8-2), 7 p.m.

No. 3 Nativity (7-3) at No. 2 Tri-Valley (7-3), 7 p.m.

CLASS 2A

Semifinals

Saturday, Nov. 3

No. 4 Mahanoy Area (5-5) vs. No. 1 West Catholic (8-2) at South Philadelphia Supersite, 6 p.m.

No. 3 Schuylkill Haven (7-3) vs. No. 2 Bishop McDevitt (7-3) at South Philadelphia Supersite, 12 p.m.

CLASS 3A

Semifinals

Friday, Nov. 2

No. 4 Jim Thorpe (9-1) at No. 1 North Schuylkill, 7 p.m.

No. 3 Notre Dame-GP (9-1) at No. 2 Tamaqua, 7 p.m.

CLASS 4A

Quarterfinals

Saturday, Nov. 3

No. 8 Blue Mountain (3-7) at No. 1 Bethlehem Catholic (7-3), 1 p.m.

No. 5 Bangor (6-4) vs. No. 4 Pottsville (6-4), 7 p.m.

No. 6 Allentown Central Catholic (3-7) at No. 3 Northwestern, 7 p.m.

No. 7 Lehighton (4-6) at No. 2 Saucon Valley (8-2), 7 p.m.

CLASS 5A

Semifinals

Friday, Nov. 2

No. 4 PM East (5-5) at No. 1 ES South (7-3), 7 p.m.

No. 3 Southern Lehigh (7-3) at No. 2 Wallenpaupack (7-3), 7 p.m.

CLASS 6A

Quarterfinals

Friday, Nov. 3

No. 8 Liberty (5-5) at No. 1 Freedom, 7 p.m.

No. 5 Parkland (6-4) at No. 4 Stroudsburg (8-2), 7 p.m.

No. 6 Northampton (7-3) at No. 3 Easton (7-3), 7 p.m.

No. 7 Nazareth (5-5) at No. 2 Emmaus (9-1), 7 p.m.