Playoff football returns to KCII3 tonight as the Sigourney-Keota Cobras (4-4, 4-1) look to extend their season as they welcome the Interstate 35 Roadrunners (5-3, 4-1) to the Snake Pit.

After an 0-3 start against three top 15 teams in Class 2A, the Cobras began to heat up in district play, shutting out three of their five opponents and beating once-ranked Durant by 30.

I-35 has had a very similar year to the Snakes, as the Roadrunners lost each of their first two games but sped up as the year went on, ending up 4-1 in their district, including a 19-7 victory over consensus top ten team Pleasantville, who ended in a three-way tie with the Roadrunners and the district champions, West Marshall.

In addition to their similar results throughout the year, the two squads also run similar offensive systems in SK’s single wing and I-35’s wing T. Cobra Head Coach Jared Jensen described what it was like preparing for a team so schematically similar to his own, “

The Cobra offense is led by junior tailback Ike Molyneux, who will look to surpass the 1000-yard rushing mark for the season on Friday. To this point, he’s collected 935 yards, over 100 per game, and a dozen touchdowns on the ground.

Cobra spinback Brayden Wood has heated up through the air in recent weeks, as he’s thrown for 221 yards and four touchdowns on the year.

Senior lineman Owen Menke sets the tone for SK’s offense, as he holds the class lead in pancakes with 41.

Jensen described how his team’s offensive line has developed as the year has gone on, “Understanding the dive, the counter, the power, the sweeps, understanding all the things that, when you’re playing for our scout team, you’re focused on stopping. Now it’s just our actual defense trying to get that stop, and I think that will pay dividends.”

Defensively, the Cobra pass rushers are powered by Wells Clark, who’s racked up fo ur of the team’s eight sacks on the year, while Blake Baker leads the charge against the rush with a team-high 7.5 tackles for loss.

On the season, the SK defense has also collected 12 takeaways.

The I-35 offense is led by a trio of running backs in Jace Maxwell, who has 592 yards and 10 touchdowns, Ace Currie, who has 513 yards and four touchdowns, and Nick Pasutti, who has 427 yards and seven touchdowns. The Roadrunner passing attack is helmed by senior Hutch Howard, who has collected 460 passing yards and five touchdowns this season.

Senior Mavrick Hutton leads a ferocious I-35 front seven. He leads the team with six sacks and 13 tackles for loss on the season. The rest of the defense has capitalized on the opportunities he creates, as I-35 has picked up two defensive touchdowns on 11 takeaways this year.

Friday night will be the first time since at least 2008 that the Cobras meet the Roadrunners.

Coverage will start with the Area Game of the Week Pregame show at 6:30 p.m. and kickoff will be live from the Snake Pit in Sigourney at 7.