League play begins for high school football teams this week, and both Tracy and West will start with games whose winners could be on track to take their league championships.

Tracy travels to Stockton on Friday to play Lincoln, last year’s San Joaquin Athletic Association champion, which has beat Tracy in SJAA matchups for at least five years.

This year, Tracy is 5-0 for the season and Lincoln is 4-1. The Trojans’ only loss was to St. Mary’s, the defending Sac-Joaquin Section champions.

Tracy has an advantage with its running game, with junior quarterback Casey Wichman averaging 87.6 yards per game, followed by Jordan Strong, 85.5, and Depray Celestine, 72.8, while seniors Ricky Diaz and Jordan Williams also carry the ball. It adds up to an average of 333.6 yards per game, compared with Lincoln’s 207.7 for its first three games of the year.

Lincoln’s advantage is its passing game, as quarterback Brandon Gildea threw for 198 yards per game on average in his first three games, with Brandin Cooks averaging 97 receiving and three other receivers who average more than 30 yards per game. Tracy’s Wichman averages 98 yards per game passing, usually to Celestine, Anthony Wills and Williams.

Friday’s game is at Lincoln High, with sophomores at 5 p.m. and varsity at 7:30 p.m.

West has faced playoff-level teams throughout the preseason, and the Wolf Pack’s first league game against St. Mary’s will show if those pre-league tests have paid off.

The Rams averaged nearly 400 yards on offense in every game so far, with Maurice Howze leading the running game with 101.4 yards per game, quarterback Marcus McDade passing for 217 yards on average, and three receivers who average more than 50 yards per game.

West’s Dexter Alcala averages 148.8 yards per game, while West quarterback Jake Peterson has passed for 77.8 yards per game. Desean Watson, Kyle Lambert and Alcala are his key receivers.

West plays at home: sophomores at 5 p.m. at Steve Lopez Stadium, and the varsity at 7:15 p.m.

The Millennium Falcons also start their league season Friday against Stone Ridge Christian of Merced. Stone Ridge was third in the Harvest Christian League last year, just ahead of fourth-place Millennium. Their game is at 7 p.m. at Golden Valley High in Merced.

The Kimball High sophomores will take a week off, while the freshmen travel to Atwater High on Thursday for a 6 p.m. game.