The only Central Coast Athletic Association (CCAA) football team in the highest division of the CIF Central Section playoffs will be an underdog Friday night.

No. 6 St. Joseph (8-2) will play at No. 3 Fresno Clovis West (7-3) in a Division 1AA first-round game at 7 p.m.

The game is the Times high school football Game of the Week.

Two of Clovis West’s three losses have been against the top two football teams in the Central Section, 46-39 in overtime against No. 1 Fresno Central East and 28-17 against No. 2 Clovis.

The St. Joseph-Clovis West game matches two good sophomore quarterbacks, Jack Heaslet for St. Joseph and JJ Howard for Clovis West, against each other. Howard has completed 132 of his 246 passes for 1,935 yards, with 31 touchdown passes and nine interceptions.

Heaslet is the No. 2 passer in the CCAA. He has completed 133 of his 203 attempts for 2,150 yards, with 18 touchdowns and four interceptions.

Several four-year schools made offers to Heaslet before Heaslet’s freshman year of high school though Heaslet has committed to no one.

Heaslet’s leading receiver is Dominick Rucobo, who is among the top handful of CCAA receivers. Rucobo averages 75.5 yards a game in receptions yardage.

Sign up to receive headlines in your inbox!

Breaking News | Local Sports | Daily Headlines | Local Obituaries | Weather | Local Offers

Clovis West receivers Rolando Jefferson, Dominic Tafoya and Aaron Weight have combined for 19 touchdown catches between them. Jefferson is the top Golden Eagles receiver. Jefferson averages 72.6 reception yards a game.

Jefferson has caught 28 passes this year. Tafoya leads the Golden Eagles in receptions with 33.

Clovis West averages a modest 87.8 yards a game rushing. St. Joseph sophomore Grayson Gaines easily eclipses that himself. Gaines averages 145.4 yards a game rushing and has ran for 13 touchdowns this year.

Both defenses have shown well for the most part. The Golden Eagles yield just 17 points a game. The Knights’ defensive unit has posted four shutouts this season.

Brandon Smith ran for 259 yards and five Central East touchdowns, and Jelani Dippel threw for 372 yards and two Bengals scores in the Clovis West loss to Central East. Clovis quarterback Deagan Rose threw for 260 yards and two touchdowns against the Golden Eagles.

Meanwhile, the Arroyo Grande running game flattened the St. Joseph defense in a 30-7 rout for the Eagles. Caleb Clark ran for 155 yards against the Knights, and Zack Tayman rushed for 114. Clark ran for two touchdowns.

Clovis West has played against three different Edison teams. The Golden Eagles opened with a loss against Edison of Huntington Beach then defeated Edison of Stockton and Edison of Fresno.