EAST SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- It's already week six of the high school football season, and so far for the Friday Night Matchups Live on Spectrum News, we've seen some intense and exciting contests. We saw Liverpool stun 2-time reigning section champ C-NS and we've seen Solvay beat Marcellus for the first time in over a decade.

This week, it's ESM's turn to try to pull off an upset over 5th ranked Carthage under the lights and cameras of the production crew. Not only are they looking to steal a win, they're looking to take a big step towards securing a playoff spot.

Here's the situation going into week six when it comes to Class "A": there's just six teams. The reason is because a handful of squads left the class and moved to the Development league. With just six teams in the mix, that means just four make the playoffs, so a team with a winning record could not make the cut come week nine. 

"From top to bottom, I don't think Class "A" has been this strong ever." ESM Coach Kevin DeParde said at practice on Wednesday. "There's going to be some good teams that don't make the playoffs this year."

Over at Carthage, new coach Jason Coffman had a similar opinion.

"By having only four teams in, you can't slip up. You slip up and you get left out. That's just the way it goes." 

Both Carthage and ESM have some momentum heading into this week. The Comets are coming off a huge upset win over Indian River, holding the Warriors, who were averaging about 60 points a game to just eight points. 

As Trish said, Fombo Azah was killing it for Carthage. The senior has been dominating teams all season, putting up 14 touchdowns in five games. I asked DeParde the formula to slow Fombo down.

"We've got to hit him. We've got to tackle him," Azah said. "You can't give a kid like that space." 

On the other side, ESM is coming off a big 40-13 win over Central Square. They're led by sophomore Tyler Bell, who's been doing a really great job according to his coach. The big reason ESM has been more successful this year than last is because their team chemistry.

In the offseason, they focused on doing a lot of team building dinners and events to come together. So far, it's been working because they're 4-1 at this point in the season. The lone loss for Carthage has come at the hands of "AA" power Utica Proctor. 

Whoever wins this game will be on the fast track to a postseason berth. Tune in to Spectrum News at 7 to watch and see which team comes out on top.