HCHS hopes ‘W’ at Winterset enough for playoff spot

 WINTERSET (Oct. 19) -- Is it as simple as win and you’re in?
 For the Harlan Community football team, the answer to that question appears to be: probably.
 The Cyclones close out the regular season Friday night (7:00 p.m.) at Winterset hoping that one more victory nets the program’s 37th playoff appearance all-time when the brackets are released sometime Saturday morning by the Iowa High School Athletic Association.
 HCHS is 6-2 overall and 3-1 in Class 3A, District 9, trailing second-ranked Lewis Central by one game in the standings. Since LC isn’t likely to lose its Week 9 home game vs. ADM, the Cyclones are basically playing for second place and a possible at-large playoff berth.
 A win over the Huskies (3-5, 2-2 District 9) would likely get that done, though HCHS head coach Curt Bladt isn’t spending a lot of time trying to figure out the hypotheticals of what else needs to happen across the state.
 “I haven’t studied that at all,” he said. “All I can do is control what I can control and that’s trying to win at Winterset, then hopefully the rest takes care of itself. But there’s a lot of teams in that same boat."
 The Huskies’ 3-5 record this fall includes a pair of one-point overtime losses vs. Bondurant-Farrar and Ballard in non-district play as well as a five-point loss to Carlisle. They own district wins at Glenwood (21-7) and vs. Creston (35-19), but lost at ADM 42-21 last Friday night.
 Offensively, Winterset lines up in anything from four-wide receiver sets to the wishbone, directed by senior quarterback Casey Kleemeier, now in his second year as the full-time starter. Kleemeier has completed 52 percent of his passes (81-of-156) for 1,273 yards and 13 touchdowns while being intercepted six times.