MONROE — Just the mere mention of playoffs is enough to excite the Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central football team. 

And although just about every member of the starting lineup from the Falcons’ state championship team of 2019 has graduated, the players comprising this year’s squad have elevated their game as the post-season has moved closer. 

“They’re still learning,” SMCC coach Adam Kipf said. “I don’t think we have nearly the studs we did as a senior-laden group (last year), but they’re getting confident in what they’re doing.”

St. Mary Catholic Central will host Leslie High School in an opening-round playoff contest at 7 p.m. Friday at Navarre Field. The Falcons (4-2) are the second seed in their Division 7 district, ranked behind Riverview Gabriel Richard (5-1).

Although the season started rocky for the young Falcons with two losses in their first three games, Kipf said he was able to use the playoffs as the motivator, closing the regular season with consecutive victories over Grosse Ile, Monroe Jefferson and Detroit Southeastern.

“Obviously, we didn’t come close to the top of the Huron League, but I told the guys in the last three games you’re playing for home field advantage,” he said. “They played well and they got it done.”

Since it’s been a long time since the Falcons last played their upcoming opponent (a 2008 state semifinal contest, which Leslie won, 22-19), both teams have traded films and are scouting each other as best they can.

“They have good size, a couple of running backs that are a load to bring down. They’re a fundamentally sound football team,” Kipf said of the Black Hawks, who hail from the Greater Lansing Athletic Conference. “It should come down to fundamentals — we’ve got to block well, we’ve got to tackle and we’ve got to take care of the football.”

Kipf said being the reigning state champion is a double-edged sword.

“We don’t talk about being defending champs. I tell the guys, ‘This is your team, this is your chance to leave your legacy,’” he said. “Last year’s tournament run influenced them. They saw all the work that the seniors put in. But this is a different group, a different vibe, a different team, and they’re trying to create their own legacy right now.”

This weekend is the first round of the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s “all-in” playoff format, which became necessary due to the season’s delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. St. Mary Catholic Central and the other 19 Catholic-affiliated high schools around Metro Detroit are among the total field of 499 teams participating in the six-week tournament.

The new format ends playoff droughts for Marine City Cardinal Mooney (which last qualified in 2012), Grosse Pointe Woods University-Liggett (2016) and Dearborn Divine Child (2017), and there are several other playoff storylines involving local Catholic teams.

Besides Gabriel Richard, Clarkston Everest Collegiate and Detroit Loyola enter the brackets as top seeds in their district — in fact, Everest and Loyola have the highest playoff point totals statewide among their respective divisions. While Novi Detroit Catholic Central is undefeated, the Shamrocks are a second seed. 

Two opening round match-ups pit Catholic schools against each other: In Division 3, Birmingham Brother Rice hosts Divine Child, and in Division 8, Royal Oak Shrine hosts Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes.

Everest, Our Lady, Shrine and Cardinal Mooney are all in the same district, and Cabrini is in the same region as the other four.

Last season was the first time in 27 seasons that no Catholic High School League team reached the state championship round, although SMCC — which is a member of the Huron League — represented Catholic schools well at Ford Field, with its 7-0 victory over Maple City Glen Lake.

Here are the first-round playoff draws for local Catholic and affiliated schools (7 p.m. Friday unless noted):

• Division 1: Walled Lake Northern (2-4) at Catholic Central (6-0)
• Division 2: University of Detroit-Jesuit (2-4) at Grosse Pte. North (3-3) (6 p.m. Friday); Warren DeLaSalle (2-4) at Roseville (4-2) 
• Division 3: Divine Child (2-4) at Brother Rice (5-1) (at Wisner Stadium, Pontiac); Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (1-3) at Pinckney (4-2)
• Division 4: Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood (0-4) at Madison Hts. Lamphere (6-0); Hazel Park (1-5) at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (5-1)
• Division 5: Dundee (1-5) at Ann Arbor Fr. Gabriel Richard (2-1) (4 p.m. Friday); Richmond (2-3) at Macomb Lutheran North (4-2)
• Division 6: There are no local Catholic schools in this classification
• Division 7: New Haven (0-6) at Loyola (5-1) (7 p.m. Saturday at Madison Hts. Bishop Foley); University-Liggett (2-4) at Clinton Twp. Clintondale (2-4); Madison Hts. Madison (0-6) at Bishop Foley (5-1) (1 p.m. Saturday); Springport (1-3) at Riverview Gabriel Richard (5-1); Leslie (2-4) at St. Mary Catholic Central (4-2)
• Division 8: Petersburg-Summerfield (1-5) at Cabrini (2-4); Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest (0-6) at Everest (6-0) (1 p.m. Saturday); Cardinal Mooney (2-3) at Sterling Hts. Parkway Christian (3-3) (1 p.m. Saturday); Our Lady of the Lakes (0-6) at Shrine (4-2) (6:30 p.m. Saturday at Notre Dame Prep)