For five area teams the second season begins this week as Washington, Northside, Southside, Plymouth and Riverside each advanced to the playoffs.
The Eastern Plains Conference champion Pam Pack (9-2) will play in the in the NCHSAA 2-AA bracket for the first time in school history and will be at home for the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year.
In the 2-AA classification, the playoff bracket is like that of a March Madness one, with the 16 teams in the East and West being seeded 1-16.
Thanks to its stellar regular season, the Pam Pack has earned the No. 3 seed in the East and will take on Eastern Plains Conference rival North Pitt (6-5), a No. 6 seed, at home at 7:30 p.m.
The two teams met previously at North Pitt in Week 11 and the battle was won by Washington, 22-14.
Whoever escapes that game will advance to face the winner of the No. 6 Bunn (7-6)-No. 11 Greene Central (3-8) matchup next week.
Plymouth, Northside and Southside will compete in the 1-A classification, where the pod system is in place. The system groups teams together by their location and seeds each team in the pod.
A total of three No. 1 seeds were issued in the East and defending 1-A state champs and Atlantic Conference winners Plymouth (10-0) grabbed one of them.
The Vikings, the No. 2 ranked team in the state in the AP Poll, will begin their title defense at home against fellow Atlantic Conference member No. 8 Creswell (3-8).
Plymouth won its earlier matchup with the Tigers 56-6.
Northside (6-5), who finished in third place in the Coastal Plains Conference, was awarded a No. 5 seed and will begin its playoff journey on the road against No. 4 Manteo (7-4).
The winner of that contest will face off against the winners of the Plymouth-Gates game in the second round.
Southside will begin its postseason where its regular season ended, on the field against Pamlico.
The No. 7-seeded Seahawks (3-8) fell to the No. 2-seeded Hurricanes in both team’s season finale last week and will do it again this Friday at Pamlico.
If Southside can win the rematch it will take on the winner of the No. 3 Northampton (8-3)-No. 6 Columbia (5-6) game.
Riverside will start its postseason at home this Friday and is competing in the 1-AA classification, which follows the same playoff format as the 1-A division.
The Knights (7-4) finished the regular season in second place in the Two Rivers Conference to earn a No. 3 seed and will host No. 6 Perquimans.
The winner of that battle will advance to face the winner of the No. 2 Wallace-Rose Hill (9-2)-No. 7 Gates (4-7) game.