We’ve reached the playoffs in high school football, and three of our area schools will be looking to get past the first round under the lights Friday night and take the first step to a state championship.

The 10-1 Orange Panthers, coming off that 27-23 heartbreaking loss to Southern Durham last week, will welcome 9-2 Lee County to Hillsborough.

Meanwhile, 9-2 Northwood will hit the road to take on 10-1 Northern Guilford in head coach Bill Hall’s final postseason before stepping aside as the Charger chief.

And right here in Chapel Hill, the 8-3 Tigers will host West Brunswick in their opening round contest. All three playoff games are slated for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

As always, your Friday night will kick off with ‘The Grid with Matt & Matt’, WCHL’s exclusive high school football pregame show hosted by Matt Oakes and Matt Paul.

At 6 p.m., the stage will be set with interviews from all the area head coaches, analysis and predictions from the night’s biggest games, the selection of The Grid Great of the Week, as well as the unveiling of the WCHL/Chapelboro.com Super Six rankings.