BROOKINGS — After finishing the regular season with a 7-2 record, the Brookings Bobcats will open the Class 11AA playoffs when they host Tea Area at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium at 7 p.m. Thursday.

While the Bobcats already scored a 29-22 victory over the Titans in their previous meeting on Oct. 4, the result was part of an unpredictable playoff bracket due to a season full of upsets throughout the class.

“This year has just been wild,” Brookings head coach Brady Clark said. “There’s been a lot of parity this year. A lot of ‘This team beat that team, but then this team lost to that team, but then they beat this team.’ It’s confusing to keep track of that kind of thing, but at the end of the day, this is the playoffs. It’s a whole new season and you’re getting teams in the playoffs who are playing their best football and that’s what we have to prepare for.”

Getting ready for the playoffs will be a new experience for the Bobcats. One year ago, the Bobcats were a team comprised mainly of sophomores learning how to play at the varsity level. After missing the playoffs with a 1-8 record, the Bobcats have flipped the script and are preparing for their first playoff game.

To do that, Clark and his staff have decided to keep things simple. While some may look at the bracket and see a state championship three wins away, Clark stressed that it’s important to win the moment in front of them and take things as they come.

“Our theme for the playoffs is just to be where your feet are,” Clark said. “Focus on what’s in front of you and do your best and win that rep, win that play, whatever it is. That stretch, that class, whatever it is, just be 1-0. Focus on the present and be where your feet are and I know that if we do that we’ll be in a good spot.”

The approach is similar to how the Bobcats have played since defeating Tea. While they beat the Titans and held a 29-6 lead entering the fourth quarter, Tea made things interesting by scoring 16 unanswered points.

The fourth quarter bled over into the next game when the Bobcats suffered a 24-7 loss to Yankton but Brookings was able to correct the issues and finish the regular season with a 42-7 win over Douglas and a 40-14 win in the regular season finale at Huron.

“I think it was a lack of attention to detail,” Clark said of the tendencies that led to the Titans comeback. “[Tea and Yankton] have very good football teams too and their players made plays while ours necessarily didn’t. When we look back at the film, it’s just things that we can clean up and be more disciplined on. You don’t want to look back on it too much but it was just the little things and details we needed to clean up to be more disciplined.”

While the Bobcats recovered from their setback, so did the Titans. Tea had its own hangover by falling 25-0 in Watertown on Oct. 11 and 28-7 at home to Yankton the following week. But they picked up a 15-14 win over 11AAA team Sioux Falls Washington in its regular season finale.

Both teams path to the playoffs is indicative of how the 11AA has played out so far. But with an opening game on Halloween night, the Bobcats are focused on the predictable elements of the game and hope it leads them to a spot in next week’s semifinals.

“The boys have stayed focus and their focus has just been on who their next opponent is,” Clark said. “Honestly, everything we’ve been working on throughout the year, things have just been clicking and I think we’re seeing with our last two games of the season, we’re in a really good spot moving forward into the playoffs.”