DALTON, NE — Eight-man football playoffs begin Thursday in Nebraska and two local teams will be playing in the first round on their home fields.

The Leyton Warriors and Garden County Eagles have eached earned the right to host first round games after both finished the regular season at 6-2.

The Warriors earned the #5 seed in the west bracket in Class D2. They will host #12 seed Hyannis (4-4) in the first round on Thursday, Oct. 21. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. MDT in Dalton. The game will be broadcast on 98.7 The Big Boy. This is the second consecutive season Leyton has made the playoffs.

Leyton defeated Hyannis in the regular season 27-6. That game was also played in Dalton. The Warriors were in danger of having to take to the road for the first round, but a 36-22 win over Garden County Thursday, Oct. 14, was key in securing them a home playoff game.

Despite dropping the regular season finale to Leyton, Garden County will also host in round one. The Eagles are the #6 seed in the West in Class D2. They will welcome #11 seed Blue Hill (4-4) to Oshkosh Thursday. Kickoff will be at 2 p.m. MDT.

Garden County faced Blue Hill in the first round of the 2019 playoffs as well. The Eagles won that meeting 52-6. That's also the Eagles last win in the playoffs. Garden County has made the playoffs every year since 2002.

The first round of the eight-man playoffs is made up of two 16-teams brackets split into east and west. After the first round, the advancing teams will be re-seeded and placed into one statewide bracket for the rest of the tournament.

If Leyton and/or Garden County win, they will play in the second round on Friday, Oct. 29.

Eleven and six-man football still have one week of the regular season remaining. Those playoff brackets will be revealed next weekend.

FULL CLASS D1 BRACKET

FULL CLASS D2 BRACKET