When the quarterfinal round of the high school football playoffs gets underway this evening, there will be three intriguing games within 10 miles of each other.

In Class 11AA, Aberdeen Central will be hosting its first playoff contest in more than a decade when it hosts Spearfish at 6 p.m. at Golden Eagles Field. Across town in Class 11B, Aberdeen Roncalli will be facing Hot Springs for the first time in program history at 6 p.m. at Dacotah Bank Stadium. And then 10 miles south of town in Class 9A, Warner will host Canistota in a rematch of a state championship contest two years ago at 7 p.m.

Here is a closer look at each of those matchups:

Spearfish (4-5) at Aberdeen Central (5-4)

While Central is no stranger to the playoffs – it advanced to the semifinals last season – the Golden Eagles aren’t accustomed to playing at home in the post season.

“We’ve been in the playoffs before and usually we’re on the lower side of seeding and now we’re on the upper side of that to host a playoff game. We haven’t done that since 2009,” said Central coach Justin Briese. “That’s exciting. It’s exciting for the kids. It’s exciting for the school, the community, that we can have this opportunity to host a playoff game.”

After an 0-3 start to the season, Central reeled off five straight victories to earn the right to host a post-season contest. Briese said the Golden Eagles aren’t the same team they were at the beginning of the year.

“We’ve grown. We’ve come together a lot,” Briese said. “We’ve figured out what we want to do and how we want to do it.”

The Eagles have found a way to wear teams down on offense and turn opponents over on defense.

“We’re blessed to be able to have one-way starters each way on offense and defense,” Briese said. “Most teams that we play have pretty much their entire offense and defense as two-way starters.”

Central has been opportunistic on defense, leading to a plus-12 turnover ratio.

“They do a great job of getting the ball back in the offense’s hands, forcing a lot of three-and-outs,” Briese said. “They do an awesome job.”

The offense, on the other hand, values the ball and has taken advantage of prime field position.

“Our offense just kind of chugs along. We do our thing,” Briese said. “We control the ball and we take care of it.”

The Eagles will face a Spearfish team that features explosive players at the skill positions. Briese said that his team will need to be able to contain those weapons.

As far as keys to the contest, look for a heavy dose of the things Central has done all season that has secured the opportunity to host this playoff contest.

“I think we’re going to have to kind of do what we’ve done all year: control the ball, gain yards on the ground and take advantage of passing situations when we have it,” Briese said. “And at the same time, our defense needs to get turnovers and make big plays when they get the opportunity to do it.”

Hot Springs (7-2) at Aberdeen Roncalli (9-0)

While Hot Springs and Aberdeen Roncalli have not met on the gridiron before, the duo has played a pair of common foes this season, each beating Redfield and St. Thomas More.

Roncalli coach Billy Young said those results don’t mean much, but how each team reacted to situations does.

“It’s not something we sit around and look at and we’re like well, we beat team A by this many and they beat them by that many,” Young said. “We look for more things along the lines of who have they played that is similar offensively to us, how did they adjust, and who have they played that has a similar defense and what were the things they tried to do against that.”

The Cavaliers have rolled through most of their competition this season. While the defense has been stout each week out, the offense has refined a few things and gotten sharper in recent games.

“We’ve kind of eliminated some stuff that wasn’t working and changed a few minor things here and there. As the season has gone on, with practice comes perfection. We’ve gotten better at what we do,” Young said. “We tried not to throw a whole bunch of new stuff from week to week in to learn. We have enough stuff. We don’t need to add more plays. It’s just been repetition, repetition and getting better at it.”

The Bison will present a challenge in the form of twins Preston and Landon Iverson who spearhead an option offense. Young said that either one of them is a threat to score from anywhere on the field.

While Hot Springs has flown under the radar this season, the Bison definitely have Roncalli’s attention.

“When you watch them on film you have to respect them. It jumps off the screen right away,” Young said. “You can tell these guys are just different than some of the other people we’ve played.”

Young said the Cavaliers will need to be disciplined on defense, and be able to run off tackle and also use their play action scheme on offense.

There is definitely plenty of excitement in the air as kickoff looms.

“I’m just excited to be playing football in late October,” Young said, “and I know our guys are going to be ready to play.”

Canistota (5-4) at Warner (9-0)

On paper, this may look like a mismatch, but don’t let the records fool you.

Warner is the top-seeded team in 9B and has had just one close call all season, an 8-6 win over Class 9A Hamlin.

Canistota has lost four games, but as Warner coach Kerwin Hoellein pointed out, two of those setbacks were against undefeated teams in Class 9AA and another was to an 8-1 team in 9AA.

“They’ve got four losses,” Hoellein said, “but they come from really quality teams.”

Hoellein said last year’s state title game featuring the two squads is in the past, but there are some things to be learned from that contest.

“You go back to that game film and you’re looking at it to see how they defended us in certain formations,” Hoellein said, “because they most likely are going to do the same thing.”

Hunter Cramer was Warner’s starting quarterback as a freshman in that championship encounter. Cramer now spends times as a running back in addition to signal-calling, where he has rushed for nearly 8 yards per carry. The junior has had multiple games in his career with a rushing, passing and receiving touchdown all in the same game.

“That doesn’t happen very often,” Hoellein said.

Canistota comes into the contest with the same mental and physical toughness that has become a trademark of its program through the years. Hoellein said his players need to be ready for a hard-fought, aggressive battle against the Hawks.

“They come out and they’re going to smack you in the mouth. That’s something that you have to prepare your kids for, that extra aggressiveness,” Hoellein said. “They want to beat you and they want to beat you up doing it.”

The Hawks have potent playmakers on both sides of the football. Hoellein said things like turnovers and special teams could play a huge role in the contest.

He expects there to be little margin for error in determining the outcome.

“I’m expecting a game like we had when we played Hamlin,” Hoellein said. “Every inch counts, every play matters, just two really good football teams getting after it.”