I’m punching an all-local-team ticket in the high school football playoffs this week.

Yes, the Scoopster is picking football games along party lines — a Butler County area grid winning party, that is.

There are only six area teams standing, and five are playing this week.

Slippery Rock, fresh off a region championship, gets a bye.

If the Rockets were playing, I’d pick them, too.

I went 7-2 last week and have an 84-24 record this season.

Not bad. But, I can do better.

On to the picks:

Seneca Valley 30, Mt. Lebanon 28 — The Raiders keep on rolling.

Seneca Valley had little trouble slashing its way through Hempfield.

Mt. Lebo, though, faced little resistance against a depleted and banged up Butler team.

Both will find the going much tougher this week.

The Blue Devils love to sling the ball around. So do the Raiders. The difference is Seneca Valley has a running back in Forrest Barnes who can be the difference maker.

I vote for SV.

Mars 25, West Mifflin 21 — Josh Schultheis is a beast.

The Mars sophomore had gained more than 1,600 yards on the ground this season and has found the end zone 27 times.

Unlike the Seneca Valley-Mt. Lebanon clash that might see 70 passes, this one may see 80 running plays.

In a game like that, I go with Schultheis and the Planets.

Karns City 30, St. Marys 20 — These two teams played all the way back on Aug. 31 with the Gremlins winning at St. Marys 38-25.

Since then, the Gremlins have gone through about 38 fullbacks and about 25 tailbacks, but got a bonus when speedy sophomore Tristian Rhoades was cleared to play despite what looked like a season-ending leg injury.

Since a disappointing loss to Oil City, Karns City has turned in two solid performances. And it’s at Karns City. And Ed Conto is still the coach.

Easy decision: I cast my vote for the Gremlins.

Union 26, Elk County Catholic 19 — The Golden Knights get to host their first-ever playoff game. That should be good enough for a few points in the polls.

The fact that Union is 9-1 and its only loss came against undefeated Clarion, it seems like the Knights are a pretty safe bet to give a victory speech Friday night.

Grove City 25, North East 19 — The Eagles get a tough draw against the Grapepickers in the first round, but get a break in that the game is at Slippery Rock University.

Like the Gremlins, the Eagles have had their fair share of injury woes this season, but are getting healthy at playoff time.

Grove City also is coming off a bye week, which the Eagles spent sharpening up a few things.

These two teams are similar in that throwing the ball is like a pledge to raise taxes — they just don’t want to do it even though they know they just might have to.

I’ll take Eagles’ sophomore quarterback Jared Graham if I need a clutch completion, thus, I am picking Grove City.

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