The Avon-Brownsburg high school football rivalry is always intense. Friday night, the teams play at Avon for the Class 5A Sectional 6 championship.

Avon leads the series 6-5 this decade, but the dominant team has been the one playing on the road; the visitor has won nine of the past 10 meetings. That includes this year, when Brownsburg beat Avon 21-17 after trailing 17-7 in the second half.

Said Avon coach Dave Shelbourne : “Just the fact that both teams are playing for the sectional title is a terrific thing for both programs.”

Avon owns five sectional banners, but just one this decade (2005). Brownsburg has won four sectional championships, but none since 1985.

Brownsburg is 8-3 and coming off a 20-14 win at Zionsville. Avon (5-6) has won two straight after concluding a disappointing regular season, beating No. 6 Pike 10-7 last week.

Facing a big challenge

Plainfield coach Brian Woodard knows what his 8-3 Quakers are facing Friday, when they play host to Class 4A No. 1 Cathedral (10-1) for the Sectional 14 championship.

“If you were to go down the roster, man-for-man, I don’t think we have too many football players better than the guys we’re going to see on Friday night,’’ Woodard said.

Still . . .

“One of the things that makes football a great game is that it’s a team sport, and it’s going to take a combination of all 11 guys on every segment of the game to have success,” Woodard said. “We’re not good enough to go out and have seven or eight guys playing really well, but the other three or four not playing very well. It’s going to take a true team effort. Because the simple fact of the matter is Cathedral is a fantastic group of football players. You just can’t deny that fact.”

The Quakers are aiming for just their second sectional title, and first since 2000. This will be their fourth straight sectional final.

Monrovia goes for title

Class 2A No. 2 Monrovia (11-0) knows what’s at stake this Friday as the Bulldogs travel to No. 8 North Putnam (9-2) for the Sectional 30 championship.

Not only will it be the third straight time the Bulldogs play for a sectional title, but it will be another chance for Monrovia to claim only its second sectional in school history (the first came in 1989).

The Bulldogs beat South Putnam 6-3 in overtime last week’s mudfest. Before that, North Putnam was the only opponent to come within 17 of Monrovia (in a 22-16 victory Oct. 2).

Online extra

Check out “Indy Football Weekly” as Star reporters Patrick Dorsey and Kyle Neddenriep break down the football sectional final matchups at IndyStar.com/hsfb.

On Friday, join Star reporters covering the area’s big games in an online chat. Read their thoughts and chime in with your own at IndyStar.com.