Prior to Saturday’s release of the Class 2A first round Iowa high school football playoff pairings, Greene County head coach Caden Duncan knew his team would be playing its first round game in Jefferson on Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. What he didn’t know before 10 a.m. Saturday was that the first round opponent would be the Knights of Union High School in La Porte City, south of Waterloo and 137 miles from Jefferson.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association pits fourth place teams from one district playing on the road at the home field of another district’s first place team in the 2A first round. Union was fourth in District 4, which extends to Iowa’s northeast corner. Greene County is the champion of District 8, which goes to the very southwest corner of the state.

The Knights are 2-6 and 34th in 2A by the Power Ranking while the Rams are 7-1 and number five in those same rankings. Friday’s game can be heard on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com. Coverage begins at 6:20 p.m. with kickoff at 7 p.m. The IHSAA will release pairings for the round of 16 and the quarterfinals in four team pods. That release is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Oct. 22 on the IHSAA website.