For the Juanita High football team, the road to the No. 1 playoff seed runs through the newest addition to KingCo’s Class 3A division.

Bellevue has a two-year postseason ban, and Class 2A schools Liberty and Sammamish aren’t in the running for the trio of Class 3A playoff positions.

That means Redmond, which moved down from the Class 4A division this year, is the team to beat.

The Rebels are scheduled to play Redmond at 7 p.m. on Friday at Bergh Field in Kirkland, with hopes of ending Redmond’s stretch of miracles.

The Mustangs (2-0 KingCo, 3-3) beat Lake Washington 28-27 in double overtime on Sept. 30, and knocked down a Hail Mary attempt to beat Mercer Island 28-25 on Oct. 7. Redmond receiver Devin La Pierre caught the game-winning conversion against the Kangs and scored three touchdowns in the win over Mercer Island.

Juanita beat Mercer Island 51-6 last year.

Kangs

For Lake Washington (0-2, 2-4), the conversation is entirely different. The Kangs have lost three games in succession, two of which were within a touchdown or less at halftime.

The Kangs are one of five teams fighting for three playoff spots, making this week’s game against Interlake and next week’s game against Mercer Island must-win contests.

Interlake (0-2, 4-2) won handily in the first four games, but lost to Mercer Island and Bellevue in the first two conference games.

Lake Washington beat Interlake 46-7 last season.

This week’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14 at Lake Washington High’s Mac Field.