Area teams received their assignments for the first round of the playoffs this week Saturday from the South Dakota HIgh School Activities Association.
In class 9B, Hitchcock-Tulare is the only area team that qualified for the playoffs, receiving the sixth seed. The 6-3 Patriots will host 11-seeded Faith, 5-3, Thursday in Tulare, at 7 p.m.
Top-ranked and undefeated De Smet, 8-0, received the fourth seed in class 9A and will open the playoffs Thursday at Wilkinson Field in De Smet hosting No. 13 seed Britton-Hecla, which is 3-5.
Wolsey-Wessington, 5-3, received the seventh seed in 9A and will host 10th seed Oldham-Ramona/Rutland, 4-4 Thursday at Wolsey.
The Woonsocket/Wessington Springs/Sanborn Central Blackhawks are the only one of the three area teams hosting a playoff game in the first round in Class 11B. The 5-3 Blackhawks are seeded eighth and will host No. 9 McCook/Central/Montrose, 6-2, Thursday in Wessington Springs.
Clark/Willow Lake grabbed the final 11B playoff spot, though that means the sixteenth-seeded Cyclones, at 4-4 will travel to Winner Thursday to open the playoffs against the undefeated Warriors.
The final area team in the 11B playoff mix is 5-3 Redfield, seeded 11th in the field, which travels to No. 6 Aberdeen Roncalli, 6-2, Thursday.
Not all kickoff times had been determined when the Plainsman went to press. Those times will be published when announced.