Looking ahead past this week's 111th Battle of the Ax to the bi-district round, everything is set between Districts 9-4A and 10-4A -- except for one possible outcome.

All four games are set for Friday, Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m. Denison will face Richardson Pearce at Frisco's Pizza Hut Park, and Sherman will meet Carrollton Newman Smith at either one of the Plano ISD stadiums or Wylie's Pirate Stadium.

Over in 10-4A, Highland Park is set as the top Division I team and Rockwall-Heath is set as the top Division II seed. But their opponents in 9-4A depend on the outcome of this weekend's regular-season finales.

Frisco Liberty is in the playoffs no matter what and will play either Highland Park or Rockwall-Heath on Nov. 13. But here is the rub. The Redhawks would draw the Division I seed -- and a second meeting with Highland Park, which drubbed them 42-14 back on Sept. 4 -- by winning at McKinney this Friday night. Or they could dodge the Scots by losing to the Lions and go into Division II, hoping for a better draw.

It sounds complicated, but it really isn't. McKinney is in with a win and out with a loss. And if McKinney beats Liberty, the Lions are guaranteed a big-school berth because of their enrollment. That would bump Liberty to Division II and would also bump Frisco Wakeland totally out of the picture. The only way Wakeland gets in is if Liberty beats McKinney.

The question is, would Liberty lose to McKinney on purpose in order to draw an easier playoff game against Heath? And how would Wakeland feel about that?

Every team wants to end the regular season with a win, and I'm sure the Redhawks would not blatantly tank a game this Friday night, which would mess over their school district bunkmates.

But with the playoff picture in mind, I'm not sure there's a lot of incentive for Liberty coaches or players to try their hardest this Friday night, with the reward for winning being a likely one-way ticket home with a Scottish stamp in their passports.

It's a can of worms that the University Interscholastic League should look at addressing for future playoffs.