MANSFIELD — First the good news: Nearly half of the football-playing schools in the Richland Source’s coverage area qualified for the playoffs.

Now for the bad news: Because of a change in policy by the Ohio High School Athletic Association, all six of the playoff-qualifying teams will be in action on Friday.

Citing declining attendance for Saturday night games among other factors, the OHSAA decided to play the first four rounds of the playoffs on Friday nights this year. State championship games will still be played over three days from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2.

In the past, playoff games were split so three divisions played on Fridays and the remaining four divisions played on Saturdays. Ambitious fans could get to two games per weekend.

Unfortunately, double-weekends have gone the way of the dinosaur.

But don’t worry. Your friendly neighborhood journalists at the Richland Source are here to help.

We will be covering five of the six playoff games this Friday and we’re still hammering out a plan to get photos and results from the sixth game.

We will have reporters at Clear Fork, Shelby and Lucas (those three schools will host first-round games). We will also deploy members of our team to Bay Village to cover Mansfield Senior and Columbus Mifflin to see Ashland.

Before Friday, we wanted to offer a playoff primer. Here are the things you should know about the area’s six playoff qualifiers:

Division II, Region 7

Ashland: The Arrows (8-2) slipped to the No. 6 seed after last week’s loss to Wooster and will be at No. 3 Mifflin (8-2). The Punchers are making their fifth playoff appearance but first since 2012. Ashland is in the postseason for the 11th time overall and 10th time since 2003. The Arrows boast the area’s most prolific passing attack with quarterback Keagan Armitage pulling the trigger and senior receivers Manny Langston (6-foot-6) and Kamrin Knowlton-Goings (6-foot-5) doing most of the damage. Ashland’s defense has struggled the past two weeks, allowing a combined 82 points. That could be bad news against a Mifflin team that has scored 38 or more points in six of its eight wins.

Division III, Region 10

Mansfield Senior: The seventh-seeded Tygers (8-2) will head for the shores of Lake Erie to tangle with No. 2 Bay Village Bay (10-0). The Rockets are one of two undefeated teams in the region and won their first outright Great Lakes Conference championship after sharing the crown each of the past two years. It’s the first undefeated regular season for Bay since 1954. Mansfield Senior’s Jornell Manns, a Minnesota recruit, has had arguably the greatest offensive single-season campaign in program history and should at least be included in the conversation for Mr. Football. Manns rushed for 1,251 yards and 27 touchdowns on 152 carries, caught 42 passes for 545 yards and seven scores and returned an interception for a TD for good measure.

Division IV, Region 14

Clear Fork: The Colts were the surprise of north central Ohio this fall, going 10-0 to win the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference title and earned the No. 1 seed. Undefeated for the first time since 1965, Clear Fork will host No. 8 Lorain Clearview (9-1). The Colts have lived a charmed life this fall, winning two game in overtime and a third on a field goal as time expired. Quarterback Blake Dinsmore has had a huge year as both a runner and a passer. Clearview’s only loss came in the season opener at Division II Amherst. The Clippers have scored 40 or more points in five of their nine wins.

Shelby: The second-seeded Whippets are undefeated for the first time since 1998 and will host No. 7 Wauseon (8-2). Shelby’s high-octane offense, led by University of Minnesota-bound quarterback Brennan Armstrong, averaged more than 50 points a game. The defense surrenders less than six points a game. Wauseon’s two losses were by a combined four points and one of those setbacks came in overtime. The Indians haven’t scored fewer than 28 points in any of their eight wins.

Division VI, Region 22

Hillsdale: The sixth-seeded Falcons (7-3) are in the playoffs for the sixth time in program history, all since 2009 and will visit No. 3 Seneca East (8-1). Hillsdale tied for third in the rugged Wayne County Athletic League, with two losses coming against playoff qualifiers Dalton (Division VII) and Norwayne (Division VI). Hillsdale’s defense, led by defensive end Michael Garn (10 sacks, 82 tackles), safety Alex Becker (90 tackles, 5 interceptions) and linebacker Briar Funk (100 tackles, 10 tackles for loss) should keep them in the game against the Tigers, runners-up in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference. Seneca East boasts one of the best running backs in the N10 in Brock Martin.

Division VII, Region 27

Lucas: The fourth-seeded Cubs (8-2) are in the playoffs for a fourth straight year and will host No. 5 Glouster Trimble (8-2). The Tomcats haven’t surrendered a point in the past three weeks, outscoring opponents 121-0 during that stretch. Trimble played in the state finals in 2013 and reached the Final Four in 2014. Lucas running backs Jackson Hauger and Jeb Grover carry the load offensively. The Cubs average almost 40 points a game and are coming off a season-high 54-point outburst in a Week 10 win over Conotton Valley.