It’s safe to say the Shippensburg football team is playing its best at the right time.

That will be put to the test Friday in the first round of the District 3 Class 5A Playoffs when Ship hosts Northeastern. Kickoff is set for 7.

The Greyhounds (9-1 and ranked No. 3 in the playoffs) are riding a five-game winning streak and have outscored their opponents 157-49 during the streak. But the Bobcats (5-5, ranked 14th) have something Ship doesn’t: a win over Mifflin County.

Shippensburg’s only loss of the season was to Mifflin County, a 26-21 defeat in late September. Northeastern beat the Huskies, 21-19, in early September.

“I’m not really taking anything away from that,” Ship coach Eric Foust said. “We were such a different team then. We’ve established an identity over the last several weeks, and it’s working for us.”

Since the victory over West Perry, Ship has changed its offense to a smash-mouth attack, and its defense has become as stingy as ever, allowing just 14 points over its last three games.

“Our goal is to play good defense every game and be physical on offense. And we are going to keep going with that until someone can stop it.”

Adam Houser broke a pair of Shippensburg records last week with a 21 carry, 266-yard performance in a 53-14 win over Big Spring. He is now the single-season leader in rushing yards, as well as the career rushing yards record. He has 21 carries for 1,779 yards on the season.

Jacob Loy, running predominately fullback dives behind the center, is averaging over five yards per carry with 75 carries and 407 yards. Quarterback Zack Manning has thrown for 712 yards and seven touchdowns while completing 39 of 84 passes, and Nick Gustafson leads the Ship receivers with 16 carries for 284 yards.

Northeastern brings a balanced attack of its own, led by running back Manny Capo, who has 161 carries for 862 yards. Quarterback Zech Sanderson is 82-for-174 for 1,207 yards and nine touchdowns, while also rushing 36 times for 143 yards. Frank Brown has added 73 carries for 364 yards.

“They have some big bodies and some good athletes, but we just have to come out, be physical and be ready to play. We’ve been able to play our style of football, and I expect us to be able to keep that up on Friday.”

One of the Bobcats’ five wins may be against the team that handed Shippensburg its only loss of the season, but the Greyhounds are running at full speed and show no signs of slowing down.