A battle of top-10 teams is set for Friday night when Gans hosts Kiefer in the first round of the Class B playoffs.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Grizzly Field between No. 8-ranked Gans (7-3) and No. 10 Kiefer (8-2).

Gans earned the No. 2 seed from District B-4 by going 7-1 in league play. The Grizzlies were rewarded with a home playoff game, but it is far from an easy match-up.

“In the first round, you’d like to have a game where you could say ‘Yeah we’re going to win this one.’ But this is a toss-up,” said Gans head coach Trent Holt.

Kiefer began the season with eight straight wins before losing two of its last three. After falling to Depew in Week 8, the Trojans beat Weleetka before losing 14-13 last week to Wetumka.

Holt attended Kiefer’s last game and was impressed with quarterback Ostin Broadhead, a 5-10, 180-pound senior.

“Their quarterback is definitely one of the team strengths. He throws the ball well. He’s not extremely fast, but he’s pretty quick and very powerful. He’s a tough guy to bring down,” said Holt.

“Number 26 (Nick Livingston) is a good runner and they’ll put him in the slot too and throw to him,” added Holt. “Number 10 (C.J. Ashwood) and number 1 (Jonathan Mefford) do a good job too. You can’t just double-tream number 26 because they spread the ball around so well.”

Broadhead has now thrown 20 touchdown passes after completing scoring strikes to Livingston and Mefford last week. Broadhead also leads Kiefer in rushing.

Holt said there are several keys for Gans on Friday night.

“Naturally, we have to know our assignments on offense. Our line has to be able to get a hand or helmet on someone and not let them run free. The offensive line is big for us, because if we block well our backs can run the run the ball,” said Holt. “And on defense, we’ve got to tackle and cover well when they throw the ball.

“We match up pretty well and it could be a tight ball game. If we play well and don’t do anything stupid, we have a shot at winning the game.”

The Grizzlies are coming off a 46-6 win over Arkoma last Thursday. Cody Johnson scored on a fumble return and Weston Choate returned an interception 44 yards for another TD. Choate also scored on a 47-yard run, while Braily Couffer ran for two TDs and Kaleb Kepke added another.

The win capped a winning regular season for Gans and Holt is happy to be back in the playoffs after a one-year absence .

“It feels good. We were in the habit of going to the playoffs and last year was different for us,” he said.

Quarterback Mike Royal leads Gans with 1,004 yards rushing on 102 carries. Couffer has another 791 on 114 attempts and Choate and Kepke have also shown big play ability.

Royal has also passed for 484 yards and five touchdowns while completing 29 of 58 throws.