What's the best way to deal with being on the bubble heading toward the end of the football season?

According to Warrensburg-Latham coach Dave Hanson, stick to the old coaching standby - one game at a time.

"We're not even thinking about the "p" word right now," said Hanson, whose team fell to 3-2 with last week's loss to Tuscola - a major hit to the Cardinals' playoff chances. "We just discuss the upcoming week and the next opponent. (The playoffs) are always in the back of their minds. But we talk that they have four more games guaranteed, so they better play their best right now"

Hanson's avoidance of even mentioning the word playoffs - he also dodged saying it during preseason - borders on superstitious. But it's hard to blame him. Warrensburg last made the playoffs in 2002 - three years before Hanson started coaching the Cardinals. And this season is the first in which they started 3-1 since then.

"This is really the first time since I've been at Warrensburg that we've been in this situation," said Hanson, who's in his fourth season at Warrensburg. "This program hasn't been in for a long time, and it's OK for the guys to be excited about it. But they have to direct their energies into not taking a step back like we did against Tuscola."

The Tuscola loss was a patch of ice on Warrensburg's road to the playoffs. Now the Cardinals will have to beat either Meridian (3-2), Central A&M (4-1) or Maroa-Forsyth (4-1) - all teams likely favored to beat Warrensburg - to post five wins.

Hanson said he likes his chances against tonight's opponent - Meridian. The Hawks depend heavily on quarterback Dakota Getz, who leads the area in both passing and rushing yards.

"They're not a one-man show, but it's pretty close," Hanson said. "Dakota might be the best athlete in the conference. We'll have to keep him from playing his best game. If we do that, we definitely have an opportunity to win this game."

Though Meridian has the same record as Warrensburg, it has reason to be optimistic it can close its season with four wins and head into the postseason 7-2. The Hawks have a win over perennial power Tolono Unity and played well in losses to state-ranked St. Teresa and Maroa-Forsyth.

But a loss to Warrensburg would slam the brakes on that momentum and suddenly make a second straight playoff appearance a question mark. Which is why Hawks coach Eric Hurelbrink is taking a similar stance to Hanson.

"We're not a team that's used to being where we're at, so we prefer to keep the subject of the playoffs as far from the kids as we can," Hurelbrink said. "We've talked to the kids, especially this week, about not looking ahead to anything. Because my big fear is that they'll look too far down the road, then in four weeks we'll be having conversations of, `What happened?' "

That's a conversation Warrensburg quarterback Kirk Neibuhr doesn't even want to consider having with his teammates when the season is over.

"I really don't want to think about that," Neibuhr said. "We're a close group, and it would mean everything if we made the playoffs. As long as we play the way we can play, we won't have to worry about that."

Here is a look at some other area teams on the playoff bubble:

Argenta-Oreana (2-3)

Just to be in the playoff discussion is a feather in the cap of a team that didn't win a game last year. But the Bombers would have to pull upsets in three of their last four games - all against teams with winning records.

Clinton (2-3)

The Maroons' loss to Warrensburg in Week 2 is casting a pall on their playoff hopes. Though winnable games against Shelbyville and Sullivan should push Clinton to the four-win mark, it'll have to beat either St. Teresa (5-0) or Tolono Unity (3-2) to become eligible.

Little Okaw teams

Four teams in the conference have either two or three wins. Arcola (3-2) has three of its final four games against teams with losing records, with its week 7 matchup with Villa Grove (5-0) likely for the conference title.

Cerro Gordo (3-2) and Arthur-Lovington (3-2) also have three of their last four games against teams with losing records and should both head into the postseason with five or six wins.

But that may leave South Piatt (2-3) - which has a schedule that includes Arthur, Arcola and Cerro Gordo in its final three games - out of the picture. The Wildcats would have to knock off two of those three teams to give themselves a shot.

jconn@herald-review.com|421-7971