Glacier football knows it will be playing in next week’s playoffs and where that first game will be.

Who it will be playing and how far it could go is dependent on Friday’s final game of the regular season against Missoula Big Sky. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Legends Stadium.

Should Glacier (8-1) beat Big Sky (5-4), it will seal up the second seed in the Class AA playoffs, and home-field advantage through the semifinals. A loss could result in the third seed, depending on the result of tonight’s game between Billings West (8-1) and Helena High (6-3) at Vigilante Stadium in Helena. Should West win and Glacier lose, the Wolfpack will fall to the third seed. If both teams lose and Bozeman (7-2) wins at Billngs Skyview (1-8), Glacier would retain the second seed thanks to its wins earlier this year over Bozeman and Helena, the best wins of the three teams that would be tied for second.

Big Sky also has something to play for. The Eagles are trying to avoid a loss that could stick them with the eighth seed and a trip to undefeated Billings Senior (10-0), especially with the Broncs getting rest with a final week bye thanks to a forfeit from Missoula Hellgate.

That’s putting aside that this could be a playoff primer for a rematch next week: same time, same place. Glacier has never landed in a situation where it has to play the same team back-to-back and neither has Big Sky since the switch to an eight-team playoff in 2003.

Big Sky enters the game after a loss to Helena Capital last week, and has been streaky this season, never winning or losing more than two games in a row.

“They’re always one of the most physical teams in the state,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said.

“They’re going to play physical, tough football. Their offensive and defensive lines are always that way.

“They run the football. That’s what they want to do. Their quarterback is a big, physical guy. If they can run it 40 times they will. If they can get it going, they will. It’s one of those games where it’s going to be smashmouth, in the trenches, which line of scrimmage can win that battle down there is going to win it.”

The Eagles are powered by talented quarterback Levi Janacaro, who has piled up yards in the Big Sky rushing attack this season. In the last three game alone, Janacaro has 602 yards rushing, averaging nearly 8 yards a carry. He put up 258 yards against Bozeman, which has the fifth-best scoring defense in the state this season.

While a threat on the ground, the potency of the Big Sky attack comes from when it chooses to catch teams off guard with the pass. Janacaro has thrown for two touchdowns in the last two games, albeit inefficiently, completing just 44 percent of his passes.

“He’s patient looking for his hole, and once he sees it he’ll hit it,” Bennett said of Janacaro. “He’s big and strong (6-foot-0, 207 pounds) and really tough to bring down. We’ve got to make sure we get lots of people to the ball. We’ve got to tackle as a team and tackle well because he can make you miss and hurt you.”

Glacier has seemed to right its path after losing for the first time two weeks ago. The Wolfpack has won the last two games by a combined 70 points, holding Butte to 21 points and Flathead to a single touchdown in last week’s rain-soaked contest.

“We feel like we’ve got two really good games under our belt now after we dropped that game to CMR,” Bennett said.

“The kids responded really well and we’ve played our best football the last two weeks. With this being our final regular season week we just really want to make the next step, keep improving. We feel like we’re on the right track. We want to peak at the right time, be playing our best football going into the playoffs.”