Forest Hills Central beat Forest Hills Northern 28-13 back in late September, the Huskies have not lost since.
"We moved a couple guys around up front and that mad a huge difference for us offensively and we just felt like things started to gel a little bit," FHN head coach Eddie Ostipow said. "We put a lot on our seniors and I think they have responded well."
After dropping their first two games, Northern (4-2) has won four games in a row heading into the rematch with Central (5-1) this Friday night in the division 2 state playoff opener.
"You won't have a perfect game or anything, but that's the goal," senior slot receiver and inside linebacker Eoghan Mullett said. "So until we do have a perfect game then I guess we are not satisfied."
The Rangers shared the OK White championship with Byron Center, won their last three games and are feeling pretty good too.
"I think we are finally just coming together as a unit offensively, defensively and special teams, it has just taken that long," FHC head coach Tim Rogers said. "We are finishing up game six going into game seven and generally you have a much longer summer, you got seven on seven's all that kind of stuff so I just feel like we have the pieces in the right places right now and we are just starting to hit our stride at the end of the season."
"We are starting to click really well on offense and on defense, we are just playing hard and together," senior wide receiver and safety Jonah Spates said. "I just think we have a really close bond on this team and every time we go out we play for each other rather than ourselves."
This will mark the first ever meeting between the schools in a playoff game.
"This is huge for our school, this is huge for our team," FHN senior quarterback Trinidad Chambliss said. "It would be great for our senior year and our seniors to get this dub, especially because we lost earlier in the season so it's a big game."
Central has won the last seven times in the series.
"I feel like everyone is excited to play them again," FHC junior quarterback Hunter Robinson said. "Northern is probably our biggest rival and they are a solid team so we are definitely excited to play them."
Friday's winner will advance to the district semifinal to play the Mona Shores/Wyoming winner.
