By Ray Hamill — The South Fork Cubs will kick off the North Coast Section football playoffs after a three-week layover when they host Laytonville on Friday night.

The Cubs are seeded No. 3 in the six-team eight-person bracket, and will go into the game as the favorite having already beaten the No. 6 Warriors twice this season.

Laytonville made a game of it for the first half of the most recent meeting, before the Cubs pulled away in the second half for a 38-22 win.

The long layover, however, hasn’t helped South Fork.

“Practice has been okay. It’s been a long three weeks, its hard to everybody interested,” head coach Karl Terrell said. “But I think they’re hungry enough to play a good game.”

Terrell will be missing key senior Ian Burton, who has played a big role for the team over the second half of the season and is sidelined with a shoulder injury.

The winner of Friday’s game will advance to play No. 2 seed Branson next weekend.

Game time on Friday is 7 p.m.