By DOUG DONNELLY

OTTAWA LAKE – When Whiteford takes on Lucas Friday night, the Bobcats might feel like they are looking in the mirror.

That’s no accident.

After Whiteford had used its Double Wing offense to reach their first state championship game in 2016, Lucas coaches spent part of the off-season with the Whiteford coaching staff learning details about the offense that they had in place but wanted to refine.

Three years later, Lucas was in the state finals themselves under then head coach Scott Spitler.

“They have a good football program,” Whiteford coach Todd Thieken said. “They look very similar to us offensively.”

Lucas brings a 5-4 record into the matchup with the Bobcats, who are coming off their biggest victory of the season, a 30-16 win over previously unbeaten White Pigeon.

In an era where there have been a lot of big wins and success, the Bobcats win over White Pigeon could be rated right up there among the biggest regular season wins in school history. They went on the road, facing a top 10 ranked team who was 7-0 and came out a victor.

“Our offense played with some confidence,” Thieken said. “All year we’ve talked about in each game there has been three or four plays where we watch film and there is one guy who does something that breaks down a play or we have a penalty or turnover. It sounds cliché, but we tried to really to focus on continuing to play at a high level for four quarters. That’s a good football team we played.”

The White Pigeon offense had games of 52, 65, 48, 66 and 40 this season before running into the Bobcat defense.

“Our defensive line really played well,” Thieken said. “I have to give credit to those guys for what they did against a pretty good offensive line.”

Trenton Eitniear had 15 tackles and DeBarr 11.

The Bobcats are 4-4 and seem to have solidified a playoff spot heading into Week 9’s road trip to Lucas, Ohio.

“We want to go there and take care of business and gain some momentum going into the playoffs,” Thieken said. “That’s our mindset now. Every game should be like a playoff game.”