The post season looked a lot like the regular season for the Aberdeen Roncalli football team Thursday night.

The third-rated Cavaliers used a balanced attack on offense, pitched another shutout on defense and dominated Mobridge-Pollock 46-0 in the opening round of the Class 11B playoffs at Dacotah Bank Stadium.

“It’s kind of the same game plan every week,” said Roncalli coach Billy Young. “We rely on our defense to give us short fields to work with and when we get that we have to turn it into points, and for the most part we were able to do that tonight.”

Roncalli took the opening kickoff and marched right down the field, capping off an 11-play drive on a short touchdown pitch from Jackson Isakson to Maddox May.

The Cavaliers then took advantage of a short field and scored three plays later when Phillip Zens turned a misdirection play into a 33-yard touchdown run.

Roncalli’s next drive lasted just two plays and resulted in a 33-yard touchdown pass from Isakson to Abe Holscher.

Isakson added a 48-yard field goal and then fired back-to-back touchdown strikes to Keegan Stewart as Roncalli opened up a 29-0 advantage.

“On the first one I was supposed to run drag and I saw the safety cutting down across the middle, so I cut back,” Stewart said. “I did the same thing against Webster. He threw two good balls both of those times.”

Stewart grabbed the ball in between three defenders for this second TD. Again he credited Isakson for the score.

“He threw a great ball where only I could go up and get it,” Stewart said, “so it’s all a credit to him.”

Isakson added another field goal before the Roncalli defense got into the scoring act when Kaden Clark picked off a pass and ran 16 yards for a touchdown.

“It was surprising. I caught the ball and next thing I knew I was in the end zone and I had all my teammates around me,” Clark said. “It doesn’t get much more fun than that, especially in a playoff game.”

Clark also had a bit of fun joking with his defensive teammates.

“I told the cornerbacks, they have to get some pick-six’s now,” Clark said. “I can’t have more than them. I’m a D-lineman.”

Isakson finished the contest with 130 yards passing and four touchdowns, and completed throws to five different receivers.

“We’re trying to spread it around some. At least two of those big plays were to the second guy in the progression,” Young said of Isakson’s passes. “He looked and number one wasn’t there and he was able to check to number two and make the throw there, and the receivers made a couple of great catches, too.”

May finished with 110 yards rushing as the Cavaliers racked up 379 yards from scrimmage. On this night, seven different players had at least 30 yards of offense.

“Playing with these guys is great,” Stewart said. “We have eight guys a game getting the ball, getting yards, so defenses have to prepare for a lot of different things that we’re going to do to them.”

Roncalli improved to 9-0 and will host Hot Springs in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The Cavaliers will look to use the same proven formula that has gotten them this far.

“It all starts on the defense for us,” Clark said. “We have to set the tone early on defense and then I trust our offense to get us going. We have a great quarterback, great coach and great skilled players.”

Hot Springs has flown under the radar all season and enters the contest as the seventh-seeded team in the playoffs.

“They’re definitely underrated. I’ve seen them on tape. They’re very, very good,” Young said. “They’ve got a couple of linebackers who are as good as anybody in 11B, maybe two of the better linebackers in the state. That’s going to be our biggest challenge offensively is making sure we are able to get those guys blocked.”

As is the case with the playoffs, each step along the way gets to be a bit more challenging.

“We’ll definitely have to come ready,” Young said. “It’s going to be a different level of competition next week.”

Mobridge-Pollock (4-5) 0 0 0 0 – 0

Aberdeen Roncalli (9-0) 23 16 0 7 – 46

First Quarter

AR – Maddox May 8 pass from Jackson Isakson (Isakson kick), 8:13.

AR – Phillip Zens 33 run (Isakson kick), 5:12.

AR – Abe Holscher 33 pass from Isakson, 2:18.

AR – Isakson 48 field goal, :11.

Second Quarter

AR – Keegan Stewart 13 pass from Isakson, 6:31.

AR – Stewart 19 pass from Isakson (Isakson kick), 2:51.

Fourth Quarter

AR – Kaden Clark 16 pass interception return (Isakson kick), 10:51.

OFFENSE: Mobridge-Pollock rushing 31-41 (Aiden Schoenhard 15-52), 5-14-1 for 56 (Holden Eisemann 5-14-1 for 56), receiving (Schoenhard 1-20, Shane Henderson 1-18, Jackson Eisemann 1-11, Mark Sandquist 1-7), first downs 7; Aberdeen Roncalli rushing 30-249 (May 9-110, Zens 3-50, Isaskson 8-43, Abe Kretchman 6-41, Andrew Brennan 3-5), passing 9-12-0 for 130 (Isakson 9-12-0 for 130), receiving (Brennan 2-39, Holscher 1-33, Stewart 2-32, May 3-26), first downs 17.

DEFENSE: Mobridge-Pollock Kobe Johnson-Good Shield 6 tackles, Joseph Dutenhoeffer 5 tackles, Carter Hinsz 5 tackles, Jesse Bearsheart 4 tackles; Aberdeen Roncalli, Zens 7 tackles including 1 sack, Josh Schaunaman 4 tackles and 1 fumble recovery, Brenden Livermont 4 tackles including 1 sack.