Northwood-Kensett and East Buchanan are such similar teams it might be tough to tell them apart when they meet Friday in the state quarterfinal round of the Class A playoffs at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Well, maybe they aren’t that similar, but both run a wishbone offense and both have a similar tradition of appearing in the state playoffs.

But surprisingly the two teams have never met before.

Each has played Lisbon, Central Elkader and Riceville. The No. 4 ranked Buccaneers (11-0) downed Central Elkader 28-0 in week six, Lisbon 42-14 the next week and defeated Riceville 21-0 in the substate round.

The No. 6 ranked Vikings (10-1) beat Lisbon 48-21 in the substate round and downed Riceville 35-0. The Vikings defeated Central Elkader Monday 14-13 on a two-point conversion attempt.

East Buchanan is in its first trip to the state playoffs since 2004 and its 14th overall appearance. Northwood-Kensett is also making its first return to state since 2004 and its eighth overall. Neither team has won a state title.

“They look a lot like us,” said Vikings head coach Dave Capitani.

The Buccaneers have a 1,000 yard rusher in Colin McKeon. He has 1,049 yards and 15 touchdowns on the season. Junior Jordon Gerbracht has 891 yards and 13 touchdowns for the season.

But it’s not just the speed of the running backs that concerns Capitani.

“We haven’t seen a team with this kind of speed, all the way around, not only their backs their line is very athletic,” he said.

The Northwood-Kensett defense dealt with the speed of Central Elkader’s backfield last week and now it will have to adjust to East Buchanan. Judging from the last game that shouldn’t be a problem.

“We’ve challenged our kids defensively,” Capitani said. “We felt early on in the year we played some pretty good defense, the middle of the year we got a little complacent and didn’t play as well as we needed to. We knew if we wanted to win championships we’ve got to play championship defense. I thought we did that the other night.”

Leading the defense in tackles is junior linebacker Tyson Warner. He’s tallied 156 tackles on the season and been a big part of the defense. Warner is a player that seems to be around the ball every play because as he puts it, he likes to hit.

“Every single down I want to hit somebody,” Warner said. “It’s like a switch from nice to psycho in a minute.”

The defense got a lift when senior Michael Steiff returned to the starting lineup after seeing limited playing time in the previous two games because of an injury.

Offensively the Vikings have worked all week on improving their offensive line play in order to combat the Buccaneers speed.

“We know their lineman get off the ball real fast and low,” senior quarterback Jordan Reindl said. “We have to win the trenches up front. Our line is really working on getting on people and hoping to have a better week than last week.”

Capitani said that the game could very well come down to turnovers. Northwood-Kensett had one turnover against Central Elkader.

“I think it comes down to we need to take care of the football,” Capitani said. “They have turned the ball over, more than a lot of teams on film. We feel we need to win that battle.”

Capitani likes his team’s chances if they can move the ball better offensively than they did Monday and if the defense limits the big plays.

This will be the second game for the Vikings at the UNI Dome. While it isn’t a home game, it might well feel like one now. As for an advantage, Capitani feels there may be a slight one having played there once already.

“I think we feel a little more comfortable going down there, we know the routine,” he said. “On the other hand, sometimes that dome I think it takes more of a toll on your body than playing out on the grass. With four days to recover it’s not a lot of time.”