Didn’t we just do this?

That’s what Columbia Falls coach Jaxon Schweikert and Polson coach Scott Wilson must have thought when the pairings came out for the Class A football playoffs.

Those two teams met back on Oct. 16 in Columbia Falls with the Wildcats claiming a hard-fought 35-26 victory.

Today they meet again, and back in Columbia Falls, in first-round action.

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

“We jumped on them early, but they kept plugging away,” Wilson said of the first meeting with the Wildcats.

“I think they wore us down as the game went on and controlled the line of scrimmage up front.”

Columbia Falls scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to pull out the win.

“It’s tough,” Wilson said of having to play the same team again so soon.

“But we’re happy we made it to the playoffs.

“It will be different to turnaround and play them again. That’s just the way the league is going to be now.”

Schweikert said this will be also challenging on a lot of fronts.

“Well, it might be more difficult (in preparing for them this time).” he said.

“ You have to decide, because we’ve seen them, will they change game plans. Things like that make it difficult for us.”

Whitefish topped Northwestern A going 3-0 in league play. The Bulldogs finished 8-1 overall and have a first-round playoff bye.

Columbia Falls (4-3, 2-1) was second in the league. Polson (3-5, 1-2) was third advanceing to the postseason as a wildcard.

Wilson said the victory over Butte Central and strength of schedule is what placed Polson in the playoffs.

This marks Wilson’s 15th season as head coach and the Pirates have made the playoffs 13 times.

They did not advance last year.

“It’s been one of those up and down years for us,” Wilson said.

“But I’ll take it (because were in the playoffs).

“Our kids have competed well,” he said.

“We’ve been plagued with injuries all season long. We have only played two games with the same 22 starters on the field. To have a chance to play in the playoffs is great. We’re starting to heal up at the right time. We’ll see if it helps us.”

Wilson said the key this time versus Columbia Falls will be time of possession.

“We’ve got to move the ball,” he said.

“They are a tough offense to shut down. We have to win the possession battle and also be able to put some points up.”

Columbia Falls appears to be playing its best football at the right time.

“The last 3-4 weeks, a huge jump in the level of play,” Schweikert said.

“Our kids were inexperienced and we knew that going in, especially early in the year. They kind of hurt themselves (with mistakes).

“But they are great kids, super athletes who worked super hard. Now they are getting to the point where you will have to show up to beat us .. show up and take it from us. You are not going to take it from us any more.”

Schweikert said Polson took advantage of its tall receivers in the first meeting to make some big plays and keep drives alive.

Polson quarterback Tanner Wilson was 14 of 26 passing for 206 yards and one touchdown. He also piled up 138 yards rushing on 21 attempts and ran for two scores.

“They have really good receivers, tall,” Schweikert said.

“They threw a lot of 50-50 balls, lob them up their for their receivers. We have to win more of those, do a much better job of deflecting those, knocking them down.”

He said his quarterback Dakota Bridwell, 11 of 17 passing for 186 yards “played very, very well” against Polson.

In addition to that, “we ran between the tackles really well,” he said.

Wyatt Green rushed for 138 yards on 21 attempts.

This is Schweikert’s fourth season with the Wildcats and his teams have advanced to the playoffs each year.

Class B

Playoffs are not a rare occurrence for Bigfork’s Vikings.

This marks the seventh-straight year they have advanced with coach Todd Emslie.

What is different, however, is they are traveling — rare road warriors.

Bigfork starts the postseason today at 1 p.m. at Roundup.

“We haven’t,” Emslie said of being the road team for the first round.

So this is a new experiences. And to make it enjoyable, Bigfork assistant coach Ed Buttrey arranged for the team get a workout at Bobcat Stadium on the campus of Montana State University on Friday. The team stayed in Billings last night.

“It’s been fun,” Emslie said.

“We practiced at MSU, they (players) really enjoyed that.”

The team worked out for 1 1/2 hours.

“It was a unique experience,” he said.

Emslie says this will be his first trip ever to Roundup. He also can’t remember if Bigfork and Roundup have ever met on the gridiron.

The scouting report on the Panthers, Emslie said, is impressive.

“An old-fashion offense,” he said.

“Wing-T.

“They’re big boys,” he added. “Their quarterback is 6-foot-5, 260 pounds.”

But Emslie said the Vikings defense is playing well right now to hopefully counter Roundup’s power attack.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” he said Friday.

“Whatever happens, happens.”

A big plus for Bigfork is the return of offensive/defensive tackle Grant Ozegovitch. He broke his ankle in the first quarter of the first game this season.

“We’re excited to have him back,” Emslie said.

“He’s been at practice, doing what he can. I don’t know how many reps we can get out of him, but having him back is great.”

Emslie said Bigfork needs to play a clean, smart game to advance.

“We need to clean up our turnovers,” he said.

“We had three the last game. We can’t do that anymore.”

Emslie said the game will be streamed on the internet at fm88roundup.com live.

The playoffs began on Friday, with Colstrip beating 7B champ Thompson Falls, advancing to play either Fairfield or Anaconda.

Butte Central topped Hamilton 49-14 to advance to play Miles City in Class A and Hot Springs won 73-0 to advance in the Class C 6-Man bracket.

High School Football Playoffs

First Round

Class A

Friday’s Score

Butte Central 49, Hamilton 14

Tonight’s Games

1 p.m. — Polson at Columbia Falls

1 p.m. — Sidney at Belgrade

4 p.m. — Laurel at Billings Central

Class B

Friday’s Score

Colstrip 38, Thompson Falls 14

Today’s Games

All games 1 p.m.

Anaconda at Fairfield

Glasgow/Nashua/Hinsdale at Baker/Plevna

Manhattan/Manhattan Christian at Columbus

Deer Lodge at Malta/Whitewater/Saco

Huntley Project at Boulder

Cut Bank at Missoula Loyola

Bigfork at Roundup

Class C

Eight Man

Friday’s Score

Ennis 52, Flint Creek (Drummond/Granite) 14

Tonight’s Games

All games 1 p.m.

Belt at Fairfield

Gardiner at Charlo

Culbertson/Bainville at Chinook

Harlowton at Arlee

Simms at Wibaux County

Victor at Twin Bridges

Broadus at Chester/Joplin/Inverness

Six Man

Friday’s Score

Hot Springs 73, Roy-Winifred 0

Tonight’s Games

All games 1 p.m.

Sunburst at Savage

Bridge at Lone Peak

Westby/Grenora at Denton/Geyser/Stanford

Valley Chrstn at Hobson/Moore/Judith Gap

Valier at Terry

West Yellowstone at Chester/Hysham

Jordan at Box Elder