BROOKINGS – It’s football season again.

The Bobcats get things going at home, taking on Huron on Friday at 7 p.m. at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

“We’re getting all the pieces fit in and kind of polishing off what we do and really trying to get to a point where everybody is confident in their job and focused on it,” said BHS coach Lee Schmidt. “It’s kind of an unusual week because we don’t really have a whole lot of things from Huron with the new coach coming in. We have a little bit of the highlight tapes from the school he was at before, so they kind of have a quarterback-oriented type of offense – running the football, at least with the system they had down there.

“We’ve been really focusing on ourselves and really trying to just clean things up and execute and take the right attitude about practice. (Wednesday) morning we were up early at 6 o’clock for strength and conditioning and (Wednesday) was really the last big prep day. We do pregame on Thursday.

“So, it’s time, I guess, to find out what we’re really made of because Huron is going to have a good football team and we better be mentally ready to go.”

Brookings went 6-5 a year ago and Huron was 6-6.

Both teams fell to Pierre to end the season – the Bobcats 40-7 on the road in the semifinals and the Tigers 38-20 in the title game in the DakotaDome.

Brookings beat Mitchell 17-7 in the No. 4-5 matchup in the quarterfinals, while sixth-seeded Huron hit the road to topple Harrisburg 20-7 in the quarters and Yankton 28-23 in the semis.

Huron’s new coach

Scott Spanton is the Tigers’ first-year head coach.

He spent more than 30 years coaching football in Texas after getting his start in Rugby, North Dakota.

Spanton graduated from Milbank High School in 1978. He played football and was a member of the track and field team at Jamestown (N.D.) College after that. Later, he was a graduate assistant at Northern State in Aberdeen.

Bobcats vs. Tigers

Brookings is 5-2 against Huron under Schmidt.

The Bobcats snapped a two-game losing streak in the series with a 21-7 road victory to conclude the regular season a year ago.

The Tigers were victorious 12-0 in their last trip to Brookings in 2017.

Prior to a 29-7 loss in 2016, Brookings won at least the previous 10 matchups.

“They’ve had some better football teams (as of late),” said Schmidt. “They seem to have some things going, you know, last year making it to the finals – that’s got to be an uplifting thing for the kids in that program. They probably have higher expectations than we’ve seen out of Huron teams in a long time.

“The kids know it’s going to be a battle. They know there are a lot of things they’re going to have to overcome that first week and be ready to do so.”

BROOKINGS VS. HURON (LEE SCHMIDT ERA)

*Oct. 18, 2018 – Brookings 21-7

*Oct. 19, 2017 – Huron 12-0

Sept. 23, 2016 – Huron 29-7

Sept. 25, 2015 – Brookings 54-12

^Aug. 29, 2014 – Brookings 28-7

^Aug. 31, 2013 – Brookings 20-13

^Aug. 25, 2012 – Brookings 31-14

*regular-season finale   ^season-opener

Couple of keys

Defense:

Recognizing formations

“We think we’re going to get a lot of multiple formations – we’re going to have to be able to make those adjustments; get in the right position and not get out-leveraged by motion plays and things like that,” Schmidt noted. “And, of course, sometimes that takes a little bit of adjustment as the game goes on.”

Offense:

Don’t turn the ball over

“We feel pretty confident in the idea that we’re going to be able to put the ball in the hands of Carter Eidem and Parker Rykhus and a few other kids and get yards out of them. And that’s going to be important, too.

“We’re going to have to establish our running game and be able to do some play action with Tanner Shepardson.”