Stumbling after three consecutive losses, the Cass Colonels picked up a win last Friday that may help salvage a football season that had begun to spiral downward.

Now, with Cass (3-4, 3-4 Region 7-AAAA) headed to Canton to play Creekview (3-4, 3-4), the Colonels have a chance to win their fourth game of the season, a total that would eclipse last year's 3-7 record.

In order to accrue its most wins since the 2008 season, when it finished 4-6, Cass must play like it did in last week's 30-10 win over Forsyth Central.

"We challenged the kids to really play for each other and have fun," Colonels' coach Rick Casko said. "You want to keep pressing forward. ... We had a good week of practice ... and we knew we had to play physical."

"It was really a culmination of a great week," added Casko, whose team celebrated homecoming with a victory, something its seniors will remember.

The Colonels sprung an early 14-3 first-half lead behind Jay Stephens' two short touchdown runs, and responded in the third quarter when the Bulldogs got within 14-10.

That's when Cass junior quarterback Elijah Windom led a five-play drive, going 4-for-5, including a 35-yard touchdown pass to Jozell Payne to put the Colonels back up by 11 points.

"Being ahead at the time is always going to be to your advantage as opposed to coming from behind," said Casko, whose team led from start to finish against the Bulldogs. "We eliminated some mistakes we'd been making on defense ... and (we protected) the ball better than we had."

In the fourth quarter, the defense took over for Cass, first on defensive lineman Albert Catron's 45-yard interception return for a score and then on a Colonels' safety, which capped the scoring for the night.

"The defense played really well," Cass' head coach said. "We had one mishap where we thought we had an interception and they went on and scored a touchdown."

Creekview, much like Cass, endured its own three-game losing streak earlier this season before winning against Rome (51-14) and then losing to South Forsyth (38-23) last Friday.

"They're a Wing-T (offense)," Casko said. "They've got depth; they've got a lot of different (players).

"We have to play very well. ... We've got to have our kids be sound, assignment football."

The Grizzlies and Colonels both face must-win situations today, if either hopes to still have a shot to make the postseason.

Both teams are two games behind Rome (5-2, 5-2) for the fourth and final playoff spot, with Sequoyah (3-3, 3-3) and Johns Creek (3-4, 3-4) also in the mix for the Georgia High School Association state playoffs.

Creekview has perhaps the easiest schedule the rest of the way -- opponents' combined win percentage of .210 -- while Cass, Sequoyah and Johns Creek's remaining opponents have win percentages of .736, .500 and .333, respectively.

Rome has the toughest schedule out of all the teams battling for the final spot. The Wolves play each of the region's top three teams in their final three games: at South Forsyth (5-1, 5-1), vs. Lambert (5-1, 5-1) Oct. 29 and at Chattahoochee (6-0, 6-0) Nov. 5.

Casko said he isn't worried about the Colonels' remaining games, or their playoff chances for that matter.

"All our focus is on Creekview," he said. "I don't think they (Cass players) even know who they're playing next. ... (We) never talk about anybody in the future or our (playoff) status.

"They'll (GHSA) come and tell us if we're going to play later, but it's not going to matter if we don't win this week."

Casko just wants his team to duplicate last Friday's performance tonight, adding, "If we just take what we did last week and step it up a notch against Creekview, I feel real good about (what we can do)."

Cass and Creekview kick off at 7:30 p.m. today.