Football Wednesday: White Bear Lake at East Ridge

High school football teams gearing up to play Wednesday night can mean only one thing: The end of the regular season is here, and the start of the playoffs is just around the corner.

Some teams' playoff fate—good or bad—is already sealed at this point, and they are just playing out the schedule. For other teams, Wednesday's contests could go a long way toward determining whether this season is looked back on as a success or failure.

White Bear Lake (5-2 Suburban East Conference) edged Hastings 7-3; (2-5 SEC) .

Dayo Ogundepo (East Ridge, running back)

Ogundepo, in his first featured role in the backfield, carried 21 times for 143 yards against Park.

Joe Nasvik (White Bear Lake, running back)

Nasvik scored the game's only touchdown in the Bears' win over Hastings.

If everything breaks perfectly for the Raptors, they could still climb to third in the Section 4AAAAA seedings. Worst-case scenario, they wind up sixth. Most likely they will be the No. 5 seed and travel to Hastings in the first round.

The Bears are currently in fourth in the Section 2AAAAA points system, but even a win might not be enough to keep them there. If both the Bears and Irondale win this week, the No. 4 spot will come down to how each of those teams' previous seven opponents do in their Week 8 games, with White Bear Lake holding a razor thin edge. Either way, those two teams seem destined to meet in the first round.

• Site:
• Time: 7 p.m. Wednesday
• Weather Forecast: 44 and partly cloudy
• Last Season: East Ridge 35, White Bear Lake 7

EAST RIDGE SCHEDULE

Sept. 2: CRETIN-DERHAM HALL 27, East Ridge 6

Sept. 9: EAST RIDGE 28, Forest Lake 10

Sept. 16: Mounds View 17, EAST RIDGE 0

Sept. 23: WOODBURY 35, East Ridge 34 (2OT)

Sept. 30 Hastings 9, EAST RIDGE 0

Oct. 7: STILLWATER 33, East Ridge 6

Oct. 14: East Ridge 20, PARK 14

Wednesday, Oct. 19 vs. White Bear Lake, 7 p.m.

WHITE BEAR LAKE SCHEDULE

Sept. 2: White Bear Lake 28, ROSEVILLE 13

Sept. 9: Stillwater 17, WHITE BEAR LAKE 14

Sept. 16: WHITE BEAR LAKE 35, Forest Lake 26

Sept. 23: White Bear Lake 48, PARK 7

Sept. 30: WHITE BEAR LAKE 24, Woodbury 21

Oct. 7: Mounds View 28, WHITE BEAR LAKE 6

Oct. 14: White Bear Lake 7, HASTINGS 3

Wednesday, Oct. 19 at East Ridge, 7 p.m.