St. Aloysius’ convincing 28-0 win over Sebastopol Friday night all but assured it of a spot in the Class 1A playoffs.

It’s the &#8220all but” part that has the Flashes still on edge, though.

St. Al hosts Pisgah in the regular-season finale this Friday and still controls its own destiny in the race for the final two playoff berths from Region 3-1A. St. Al is currently third in the region, with Pisgah and Nanih Waiya a game behind and tied for fourth.

If St. Al loses to Pisgah, however, the Flashes could go from a No. 3 seed to a playoff observer for the fourth straight season.

&#8220Next week is the one that counts. No matter what we did tonight, we had to win next week to make sure we had it,” St. Al coach Jim Taylor said after the Flashes beat Sebastopol. &#8220That’s a bad situation.”

Strangely, the very thing that vaulted St. Al into playoff contention is what could end up keeping it out.

If St. Al (7-3, 6-2) loses to Pisgah (5-5, 5-3) and Nanih Waiya (6-4, 5-3) beats Noxapater, the teams will end up in a three-way tie for two playoff spots. All three will also have split their two games against the others. The region uses a point-differential tiebreaker with a 12-point cap, and that’s where St. Al could come out on the short end.

Five of St. Al’s first seven games – including four wins – were decided by a touchdown or less, including a 34-27 victory over Nanih Waiya, which beat Pisgah 33-16. When it’s all sorted out, St. Al is at plus-7 in point differential, Nanih Waiya is plus-5 and Pisgah is minus-12.

Pisgah cannot catch Nanih Waiya on point differential. But a decisive win by 10 points or more on Friday can tie St. Al – and then beat the Flashes on a head-to-head tiebreaker, putting St. Al out.

St. Al coach Jim Taylor is hoping to avoid all of the math, though, by just beating Pisgah and letting the rest sort itself out.

&#8220What I need is to win,” Taylor said with a laugh. &#8220A three-way tie isn’t good.”

The playoff scenarios for Warren County’s other teams are far simpler. Vicksburg and Warren Central have both been eliminated, while Porters Chapel will head into the Academy-AA playoffs as the No. 2 seed from its district.