The Otis-Bison High School football team will travel to Victoria on Saturday for the second round of the Eight-Man Division-II state playoffs.
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
The 32-mile drive to Victoria (6-4) is a more accommodating trip then the 202-mile drive to Bird City for last year’s second-round 51-6 victory over Cheylin for the Cougars.
“It’s a lot shorter drive this year,” Otis-Bison head coach Travis Starr said. “Last year’s crowd was fine. We always have a good showing. The community really supports us everywhere we go.”
The Cougars (9-1) are coming off of a 68-20 two-quarter dismantling of Moscow on Tuesday night. Running back Dylan Wissman shredded the Wildcats for 314 rushing yards and five touchdowns.
Starr said that his team will likely see less of that on Saturday.
“They’re a solid team,” Starr said. “Offensively and defensively, they’re going to fly to the ball and play good, fundamental football. The kids understand that this will be more of a dog fight. We’re going to have to fight for every yard and every first down.”
The winner of the matchup will face the winner of the Thunder Ridge-Ashland game.
Otis-Bison has history with both teams, having bumped Ashland from the playoffs in the third round last season. Thunder Ridge is the only team that has beaten the Cougars this season — a 44-18 setback in Kensington in Week 4.
“We’re not even thinking about a rematch at this point,” Starr said. “These kids know they have to get past Victoria before they start thinking about that.”

Osborne (9-1)
at Macksville (10-0)
The Macksville Mustangs enters the second round of the Eight-Man Division-I state playoffs as one of four undefeated teams.
The Mustangs are joined by Madison High School (10-0), Lakeside (10-0) and Montezuma-South Gray (9-0). South Gray had an open date in Week 5.
Macksville will host Osborne on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Osborne is coming off of a 70-44 win over Little River in the first round of the playoffs. The Bulldogs’ single loss came in Week 1 against Lakeside, a 32-26 setback.
Osborne averages 55.8 points per game while allowing an average of 29.9 points per game.
Macksville averages 50.8 points per game and has allowed 22.6 points per game.
The Mustangs are coming off of a 42-40 win over Ness City, the closest game for Macksville since its Week 1 34-32 victory over Victoria.
The winning team plays the winner of the Central Plains-South Gray game on Friday, No. 11, for a berth in the state championship game.

 Central Plains (9-1) at Montezuma-South Gray (9-0)
Central Plains will challenge Montezuma-South Gray on Saturday night at 7.
Given the choice between an afternoon game at 2 and a night game at 7, Oilers head coach Chris Steiner said he chose 7.
“I prefer late games,” Steiner said. “It makes it just like a regular Friday night game. We’ll be doing the same things that we always do.
“It should help the kids focus since it will be like every other game.”
Steiner said his main focus right now is his team’s health.
“Mostly right now, we’re just trying to stay healthy,” Steiner said. “With the weather like it is, we need to take good care of ourselves. They need to get healed up and stay healthy.”
Steiner said that his team will have no problem being ready for Saturday’s game on four days of rest.
“We should be all right,” Steiner said. “It’s only one day shorter than the last two games. They’re excited. They’re ready to go. They want to play right now, to be honest. There’s a lot of good buzz around the school and around the community.”