BROOKINGS — The Brookings Bobcats are undefeated and have the second-ranked Pierre Governors coming to town. But Friday’s game — which has a 7 p.m. kickoff at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium — doesn’t compare to the competition that the Bobcats are having to find a consistent approach on the gridiron.

Brookings has managed to win their first three games, but there are areas where they can improve. Those areas are where the Bobcats are focused heading into the matchup with the Governors and has been the talk of a week that’s had a business-like approach.

“We just need to execute and do our jobs,” head coach Brady Clark said. “There are times when we’re worried about doing somebody else’s job and we don’t take care of our own.”

One of the areas that Clark would like to see improvement is in the Bobcats’ communication. While they kept Aberdeen Central to seven points in last week’s win, there were several other mistakes internally that could have helped the Golden Eagles put more points on the board and kept the Bobcats from scoring on offense.

“Communication is really key for us, especially on the offensive line,” Clark said. “If we’re going to get different looks on the field, we need to talk about that presnap and then also communicate with the coaches. Because we might not be seeing it even on film sometimes. It’s just understanding that not everything is going to work, but we need to stick together, keep encouraging one another and just focus on the play that’s called at that very moment.”

But that’s where Clark has felt the Bobcats have made the most improvement. The communication has led to belief and the belief has led to wins in each of the first three games and in a spot where they could send a message with another victory.

“It helps when you win, but every week, we’ve seen more and more of our confidence level rising,” Clark said. “We talk about how the little things matter and the boys have done a really good job of not taking reps off whether that’s from conditioning to drills or even warm-ups. I’ve been really pleased with how they’ve just helped hold each other accountable and have done the little things right.”

The little things will matter going up against the Governors. Pierre had a similarly messy game in a 20-14 win at Aberdeen Central to start the year and steamrolled Huron 48-6 the following week. But despite a 28-14 loss to Watertown last Friday, the Governors have a stable of athletes including tight end Cooper Terwilliger.

“He’s a very good athlete,” Clark said of Terwilliger. “Their offense runs through him, so our goal is, obviously, to shut him down. If we can do that, that will really help our defense as a whole and force them to maybe get in some situations where they’re not so comfortable.”

Slowing down the Governors will be easier said than done but Clark believes that focusing on themselves is just as important as what Pierre will bring on Friday night. If the Bobcats limit their mistakes and find consistency on both sides of the ball, they could gain another confidence boost with a win. But it’s all about focusing on the little things that can make that happen.

“We need to play flawless,” Clark admitted. “We can’t make the same mistakes that we had against Aberdeen. Hopefully, we got that out of our system but we need to play sound football and execute in all three phases. We can’t let Pierre take advantage of turnovers and we can’t make mental mistakes and have bad penalties.

“Those little things are crucial if we want to compete in this game and win. We have to control that. We just need to focus on what we can control and focus on playing our best.”