The road for those teams begins Friday.

Capital at Lewiston

The Bengals earned a Class 5A home playoff game after their second-place finish Monday in a Kansas tiebreaker against Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene. It gave Lewiston (7-2) the No. 2 seed from the North district, pitting them against the Eagles, the No. 5 seed from the West.

The two teams haven’t played since 2009, when Capital won 49-27. The Bengals are 4-16 all-time against the Eagles. But this year, Lewiston has had success against teams from down south, going 2-0 vs teams from the Boise area. It opened its season with a 49-31 win vs. Kuna and notched a sound 42-29 victory against Madison.

The two teams will meet at 7 p.m. Friday at Bengal Field.

According to Pancheri, Capital likes to pass the ball.

“They have a really nice passing game,” Pancheri said. “They have a tight end that can really make plays.”

Lewiston’s defense got tested Oct. 22 against Coeur d’Alene when they allowed 500 yards of total offense, the most they’ve given up all season, including 290 through the air.

“I think we’ll be just fine,” Pancheri said. “We’ve played pass-happy offenses before. I like it when they have to pass because that just means we’re stopping the run game.”

Offensively, the Bengals are going to lean on its base run game, but if Capital (6-3) wises up to it, Pancheri intends to open it up.

“We just need to move the ball, however we’re going to do it,” he said.

Two teams from the Whitepine League are set to square off in another opening-round Class 1A Division I state tournament game as the Rams (3-5) face the Wildcats (6-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Lapwai High School.

Clearwater Valley coach Allen Hutchens said it’s a blessing and a curse playing a familiar team in the postseason right away.

“We’re in the toughest conference in the 1AD1,” he said. “When you get a chance to play an opponent you’re familiar with, it’s an advantage. You know what their strengths and weakness are and what their tendencies are, but again, the conference is so tough, so we know we’re in for a good game.”

The last time these two teams played, Lapwai came out on top 44-22.

“We were down three starters in that game,” Hutchens said. “It was a one-possession game (for) a time until our defense allowed a 99-yard touchdown run. So limiting the mistakes and big plays is what it comes down to.”

Lapwai is going to ride senior quarterback Titus Yearout.

“Titus is a phenomenal athlete and the line is protecting him really well this year,” Lapwai coach Josh Leighton said. “Titus is a phenomenal athlete and a great leader. There’s a reason he’s going to play Division I basketball.”

Genesee (6-2) opens up Class 1A DI state tournament play at 2 p.m. Pacific on Friday at Weiser High School against Murtaugh (4-2).

The Bulldogs haven’t made a long trip this season, but according to Genesee coach Justin Podrabsky, some of the team has experience on long rides from being on the state championship baseball team in the spring.

“Most of them already know the long-trip atmosphere,” Podrabsky said. “I’ve been preaching to them that it’s a business trip and they have a goal that they want to achieve and in order to do that, they have to be ready to play.”

The Bulldogs have been balanced on offense all year, but against the Red Devils, they’d like to run the ball more to offset their pressure.

“They like to put pressure on you with wide defensive ends,” Prodrabsky said. “We have to establish the run game so they’re not able to key in on our passing game. We want to give Jack the ball 20 times and utilize Cy and Nolan in the quick game.”

On defense, Podrabsky said they need to stop the run game in order to stop long possessions.

“They run and run and run, and then run some more,” he said. “They take up to eight minutes a possession, so on defense we need to put them in second-and-long situations in order to get the ball back for our offense.

“You look at the league, top to bottom, and everyone has a solid run game,” he said. “We have faced a gauntlet of really good backs that really positions us well for teams that are run-heavy.”

Potlatch vs. Grace

The Loggers (5-3), the No. 10 seed, begins their Class 1A DI state tournament against the seventh-seed Grace (4-4) at 1 p.m. Pacific on Friday at New Plymouth High School at 7 p.m.

The Loggers are going to stick with what got them to the dance offensively.

“We’re going to stick with what works, and that’s the run game,” Potlatch coach Ryan Ball said. “We talked about being better in the passing game this year but the run game just worked for us.”

As for the defense, Ball said they need to contain the Grizzilies’ quarterback.

“They have the ability to run the ball to the outside, but their quarterback is phenomenal,” he said. “We have a tough task at stopping the run game and the deep pass.”

Timberline (3-3) has a chance for a Cinderella story as they take on Carey (8-0) in the first round of the Class 1A Division II state tournament at 4 p.m. Pacific on Friday at Carey High School.

“Everyone knows that Carey is the No. 1-ranked team in the state,” Timberline coach Pat Christopherson said. “We know that we have our work cut out for us, and we have to execute our game the best we can.”

As far as what that game plan is, Christopherson said they need to limit mistakes and secure tackles.

“The last thing we need to do is get in a shootout,” he said. “It’s all about game control. We need to control the clock, and I think we’ll be able to do that with short passes. On defense, we just need to secure open-field tackles.”