BUFFALO — The post-season playoff hopes of the Wahama White Falcons are teetering on the edge when the Bend Area football team travels to Buffalo on Friday night for its 2009 regular season grid finale.

The White Falcons are currently 7-2 on the year and hold down the ninth position among Class A schools. That ranking would seem to assure the Falcons of extending its season into the playoffs but according to WWVA.com the Mason County team controls its own destiny as far as getting into the 2009 playoffs. What that means is win the finale at Buffalo and remove all doubt while a loss to the Bison could jeopardize the WHS chances of getting into the final 16 at all. WWVA.com has nine teams already having clinched with another five controlling its own destiny.

Wahama is in the latter category along with Iaeger, Parkersburg Catholic, Moorefield, Valley Fayette and Calhoun County. Of those teams Iaeger, Moorefield and Valley Fayette are favorites which should bring the number of teams clinching up to 12 which leaves only four positions open. Wahama and Calhoun County are expected to be in a fight against Buffalo and St. Marys respectively with Parkersburg Catholic being the lone team of the squads that control its own destiny not expected to win. The Wirt County against South Harrison contest could have a great deal of bearing on the Falcons' playoff hopes as will the Calhoun County against St Marys match-up. Unfortunately it appears Wahama will be on the road for the first round of the playoffs regardless if they capture their 2009 regular season finale or not on Friday.

Buffalo is in a similar situation as when they met Wahama last year with that being the role of a spoiler. The Bison knocked Wahama from the playoffs a year ago following a 38-19 triumph and have won two straight against the White Falcons. During Wahama coach Ed Cromley's 14 year term as the Falcons head coach Buffalo has emerged with victories in eight of the past 12 meetings.

The Bison are an extremely young team this season with only three offensive starters and two defensive regulars returning to the Putnam County fold. Add that factor to an extremely difficult Buffalo schedule and you have the makings of a 3-6 record on the 2009 campaign. The Bison faced three Class AA foes this year and no less than seven teams that have been ranked at one time or another. Buffalo opened the year with a trio of losses to Gilbert (0-40) and Parkersburg Catholic (6-47) and Poca (16-56) before breaking into the win column against Sciotoville Ohio (40-14). A win over Notre Dame (20-12) was followed by a loss to Tolsia (18-24). A victory over Clay County (18-14) preceded consecutive losses to Fayetteville (12-48) and Man (12-42).

Coach Mike Sawyer is in his eighth season at Buffalo with the successful grid coach compiling a 51-32-1 record at the Putnam County school. The Bison returnees include running backs Matt Moore (5-11 175), Cameron Jones (6-3 210) and Dustin Reed (5-6 180) along with linemen Chris Harmon (5-10 200) and Daniel Carte (6-0 205). Freshman Levi Jordan and David Dunn have shared the quarterbacking duties with Jordan throwing for over 400 yards on the year and Dunn adding another 300 plus yards. Moore and Jones are the statistical leaders for Buffalo on the season.

Kickoff time for the all-important Class A grid contest is 7:30pm at Buffalo High School.