FAIRMONT — The parallels between Mat Mahoney and Todd Oye are a bit uncanny.

Oye competed in high school football at Luverne before the 1990 graduate returned to his alma mater’s sideline as head football coach.

Oye entered his 18th season this fall with a .658 winning percentage and five state appearances, including three runner-up showings.

Meanwhile, Mat Mahoney played prep football for the legendary Jim Simser on a field named after another coaching legend — his grandfather Thomas Mahoney — before returning to take the program’s helm in 2007.

Mat Mahoney entered his 13th season as head coach with a .680 winning percentage and four state bids, including a pair of runner-up finishes, to his credit.

Now, the two southern Minnesota coaching gurus — who also are their school’s activities directors — will battle to remain undefeated in the newly-created six-team South Central Silver District football standings when their respective Cardinals kick off at 7 p.m. Friday night in Luverne.

“It’s the first time that we’ll get to host Fairmont in a football game since 2006,” said Oye, whose gridders posted a 14-6 Week 3 win over Fairmont that year when Mahoney was an assistant coach at his alma mater.

“We haven’t had much luck at their place,” Oye continued in reference to Luverne’s 20-6 Section 3AAA semifinal loss to Fairmont at Mahoney Field in 2016 and then a 42-19 playoff defeat in the same round in 2017.

“Is this game important?” Mahoney asked rhetorically. “The answer definitely is ‘yes.’ It will have a huge impact on both the district championship and the section playoffs.”

Both Fairmont and Luverne enter Friday night’s clash with 3-1 overall records and 1-0 marks in the district. Both Cardinals trail undefeated Jackson County Central (4-0) in the Section 3AAA standings midway through the regular season.

Luverne is coming off a 38-8 district triumph over Norwood Young America during Week 4, while Fairmont is fresh off a 41-0 district victory over Tri-City United last Friday night in Montgomery.

Running back LaShad Smith generated a game-best 186 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries to pace Luverne’s 363-yard rushing total at NYA’s expense, while quarterback Bailey Cowell churned out 102 yards on nine totes. Cowell also threw for 49 more yards and one TD in the 30-point win.

“(Running the football) That’s what we try to do offensively, but we still have work to do up front,” Oye said with a chuckle. “Fairmont has good linebackers (Gavin Rodning and Michael Johnson) who pursue well and wrap up, so we’ll have to do a better job of getting out on them with our blockers.”

Cornerback Caden Baarts and safety Eli Anderson, who’s made the transition to defensive end this week, pocketed two interceptions apiece against TCU, while cornerback Cale Steuber garnered one pick last Friday night.

Mahoney and defensive coordinator Brad Johnson, however, won’t likely receive too many chances in producing five picks this week against Luverne’s strong ground game.

“Offensively, he (Oye) uses a lot of different formations, but they usually want to run the ball first,” said Mahoney. “When their quarterback (Cowell) needs to throw, he does a great job of finding space.”

While Fairmont’s defense limited TCU to 114 total yards of offense last week, sophomore quarterback Zach Jorgensen completed 7 of 12 passes for 71 yards and TDs to 6-foot-8 Wyatt Frank and Steuber, and added 38 more yards and another score to a more balanced running attack.

“Offensively, it all starts with our quarterback being able to make plays with both his arm and legs, but we also have other weapons,” said Mahoney. “So far, we have four different receivers having caught a TD pass, and last week we got our running game a little more diversified.”

Hudson Artz tallied a career-best 76 rushing yards, Rodning pounded out 55 yards, Noah Nelson delivered 54 more and one TD, while Baarts scored on both of his carries to pack punch to a ground game that amassed 254 yards on 35 totes.

Luverne linebackers Jaimie McCarthy and Nick Feit collected 7.5 and 7 tackles, respectively, in the win over NYA, while Smith pocketed an interception from part-time duty in the secondary.

So, what are the keys to exiting the Luverne gridiron with a win in hand on Friday night?

“We were ahead of Maple River and lost in overtime due to (committing) turnovers in the second half,” said Oye. “So, knock on wood, not turning the ball over is a key.”

“We’ve played well in parts of games so far, so now we need to put together four full quarters of mistake-free football,” said Mahoney.