KITSAP COUNTY — It’s the first full weekend in October, which means the weather is cooling down, but the action on the gridiron is just heating up.

As local teams move through their league schedules, the playoff picture gets a little clearer with each passing week.

That is especially true after last night’s North Kitsap victory over Bremerton, an emphatic 33-7 win that left no doubt as to the identity of the 2A Olympic League’s top team.

But there are four teams in the Kitsap Daily News coverage area with a good chance at making their respective leagues’ district playoffs.

North Kitsap (4-0, 6-0) is at the top of the league and likely will remain there. The Vikings are pretty much a lock to make the playoffs and are now focusing on getting the No. 1 seed out of the league in order to play a home game in districts. With games against the league’s bottom two teams — Kingston and North Mason — that goal seems to be within reach.

The Vikings flat-out have the best team right now. With Dax Solis already at 1,000 yards rushing for the season and several capable running backs available to give him a breather when necessary, the North Kitsap running game is relentless. The passing game is solid and can keep opposing defenses off-balance, especially with 6’3” receiver Kai Warren posing all kinds of matchup problems. And the often-overlooked defense in Poulsbo just held the Bremerton Wing-T attack to 103 rushing yards on Friday night.

Assuming North Kitsap finishes in first, it will face the No. 6 team from the 2A South Puget Sound League. It will be interesting to see how the Vikings match up in a cross-league game, but since they are currently ranked No. 3 by The Seattle Times, they are certainly expected to make it to states.

As far as the team that just lost to North Kitsap, Bremerton (2-1, 5-1) still has a wide open path to districts. The schedule softens a bit for a Knights team that has been bitten by the injury bug and can ill afford to lose many players. Star running back Sema’J Cook missed some snaps in the game against North Kitsap due to an injury, as did No. 2 rusher Ryan Sailor. The health of those two players will be pivotal moving forward.

The Knights have three league games remaining — two are on the road against Port Angeles and Kingston and the final one at home against North Mason. Bremerton matches up favorably against all three teams, and should be able to secure the No. 2 spot in the Olympic League, which receives a home game in districts.

Olympic is in a bit of a rebuilding mode with a young quarterback in Zeke Gillick and inexperience at many of its starting positions, but the Trojans have turned things around with victories over North Mason and Kingston in the past two weeks. Olympic’s final two league games are both huge — on Oct. 13, the Trojans travel to Sequim, and then, on Oct. 27, host Port Angeles. These three teams are in a logjam right now for the third and final qualifying place for districts, and all three have yet to play one another. With North Kitsap and Bremerton likely to finish No. 1 and 2, these games will be among the premier matchups over the next couple of weeks.

Finally, on to the most mercurial of the four teams, Central Kitsap (2-2, 3-3). The Cougars picked up an enormous win on Oct. 6, defeating Capital, 20-14. Central Kitsap trailed 14-0 at halftime, but got on the board thanks to a 63-yard touchdown pass from Angeles Davila to Alex Refilong. Running back Tristan Barr ended up with the game-winning score, which also likely saved the Cougars’ chances at the post-season.

After last week’s bad loss to Gig Harbor, a loss to Capital would surely have been fatal. It won’t be easy, but there is a road that leads to districts for Central Kitsap. It starts with next Thursday night’s game home against Peninsula, the top team in the 3A South Sound Conference. The Seahawks have not lost a league game yet this season, but Central Kitsap has the speed and athleticism to stay with any team, as evidenced by the close loss to Timberline, a top ten 3A school, earlier in the season. Away games at Shelton and Yelm follow in the ensuing weeks.

Four teams make districts from the SSC and Central Kitsap is currently tied with Gig Harbor for the final spot. The Cougars will have to keep a close eye on the Tides, but they can only control their own on-field performance. Every game is a big one from here on out.

A fifth team, Klahowya (1-2, 1-5), still has four league games remaining, but must finish in the top two of the Nisqually League in order to make it to districts. The Eagles are a very young team, and have only won one game so far this season, but they are mathematically still alive. The toughest part of its schedule is out of the way, but it remains to be seen if Klahowya can rip off a big winning streak late in the season.

Kingston’s (0-3, 0-6) final three games are against some of the Olympic League’s best in North Kitsap, Bremerton and Sequim, which makes it seems unlikely the Buccaneers will win enough games to get into the playoff mix.

With only three games remaining, South Kitsap (0-5, 0-6) cannot win enough games to get into the top four in the SPSL. The top four teams already have four wins.

— Mark Krulish is a reporter for Kitsap News Group. He can be reached at mkrulish@soundpublishing.com.