The Eastern and Southwestern conferences were arguably the toughest in Class A football so it's appropriate the top teams in those leagues square off in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.

Dillon plays Billings Central this afternoon at Wendy's Field at Daylis Stadium. At the same time, Laurel plays at Frenchtown. The other two games match the Northwestern champion Polson against Belgrade and Central winner Butte Central plays host to Columbia Falls.

Central and Dillon are as familiar with each other as their own conference rivals. This will be the seventh time in the past five seasons they've met including the third consecutive year in the playoffs.

Central beat Dillon 21-7 in the semifinal round last year and defeated the Beavers 28-13 in the 2007 championship game.

Coach Jim Stanton's club is anxious to be back on the field after having a bye week.

"You don't have much control over that,'' Stanton said. "It did allow us to work on some different things, even go back and prepare and do fundamentals on some things. It's almost like the first game, the kids are happy to play. We need a game.''

Dillon , which finished second to Frenchtown in the Southwestern A, is coming off a 38-0 rout of Ronan. Quarterback J.T. Linder threw two touchdown passes and ran for 63 yards and a TD. The sophomore went 9-for-17 for 86 yards and was intercepted twice.

"They're doing mostly the same things,'' Stanton said. "They are doing a couple of things a little differently, but they're still very successful. They try to spread you out and they catch the ball real well.''

Coach Terry Thomas believes the Beavers are going to have to be able to run the ball to have a chance.

"We're going to have to be able to run and pass the ball. I don't think you want to have just one phase of the game. I think we have passed the ball for more yards, but we have run effectively.''

San Parke is the Beavers' top ground gainer with 561 yards. Evan Helle has gained 270. Linder is 103 of 186 passing for 1,393 yards and 16 touchdowns. The leading receivers are Toby Shepherd with 33 catches and MacKenzie McGrath has 29.

Central's offense has demonstrated an ability to pass better this year, but Thomas said the running game is still the key.

"We have to stop the run. Central does a good job of trapping inside and outside and they have some passing sets that will be a challenge for us.''

Central is averaging 241.1 yards on the ground and 113.8 passing. Kevin O'Brien leads the ground attack with 588 yards. Mac Tolstedt has rushed for 442, Cole Cattelan for 399 and Justin MacDonald for 221. Cole Moller has thrown for 757 yards and 11 touchdowns, connecting on 45 of 79 passes. Cattelan has completed 53 percent of his attempts (17 of 32) and has four scoring tosses.

Ryan Toner is the top target with 24 receptions and four TDS.

Laurel at Frenchtown

This is the premier game of the quarterfinals. Both teams have lost just once - both to Billings Central - the Locomotives by 15-6 and the Broncs by 16-12. Both feature powerful running games and productive passing attacks.

"They got some size and they're athletic all across the board,'' Laurel coach Mike Ludwig said of the Broncs. "Even their lineman are athletic and aggressive.''

Frenchtown uses a wishbone offense that generates a lot of yards, but also sets up the pass.

"They try to hide the ball and lull you to sleep,'' Ludwig said. 'They'll have double tight ends and be in the wishbone, but then they'll use a play action pass.''

But the ground game is still the bread-and-butter for the Broncs. Jonny Dilworth leads the way with 964 yards (11.1 yards per carry) and 12 touchdowns. J. D. Undem has picked up 783 yards and scored seven TDs and Brennan Fisher, who gets 12 yards a carry, has 460 yards rushing and 10 scores.

Laurel's top ground gainer is Jake Miller with 749 yards and nine touchdowns. Quarterback Dylan Kramer has gained 498 yards and scored eight TDs including two in last week's first-round win over Havre. Ethan Albrecht has run for 272 yards and scored five times. He's also kicked eight field goals in 10 attempts and is 46-49 on extra points.

"We feel, as far as depth, that we're equal,'' Ludwig said. "We have about the same amount of guys going both ways.''

Ludwig said tackle Jarred Hergett, who sustained a knee injury in the Sidney game and sat out last week, is expected to start on defense and may get some time on offense.