ESCANABA — Escanaba coach Dave Howes and Gladstone coach Jeff Hansen didn’t dwell too long on tough varsity football losses Friday night.

Instead, the focus is now on the state playoffs starting Friday night for the five area playoff qualifiers. Escanaba (7-2) will host Bay City John Glenn (5-4) in a Division 4 pre-district game, while Gladstone (7-2) will travel to Kingsford (6-2) for a pre-district contest between two league champions.

Three other area schools also are playoff-bound — Bark River-Harris (5-4) earned a Division 8 playoff berth as an at-large Class D school and will get a rematch at Norway (8-1), while in the eight-player tournament North Central (6-2) travels to Forest Park (6-2)and Engadine (7-2) visits Rapid River (7-2) in regional openers.

Escanaba coaches, players and fans gathered at Mo’s Pub Sunday night for the MHSAA’s televised selection show.

Howes was pleased to see the Eskymos (7-2) earn the top seed and possibility of hosting both district games with their playoff point average of 77.639.

“I’m very happy we got the No. 1 seed,” Howes said. “All the hard work the kids put in paid off and we played a tough schedule. The kids deserve it.”

Esky lost its Great Northern Conference showdown 21-14 at Kingsford Friday night.

“I’m sad for the kids we didn’t get the GNC title,” said Howes, whose team advanced to the regional championship game last season. “The game could have gone either way.”

John Glenn defeated Escanaba 52-41 in a 2008 Division 3 pre-district game.

Meanwhile, Gladstone players and coaches watched Sunday’s selection show on a large projection screen in the high school auditorium.

The Braves ate pizza, celebrated the school’s first playoff berth since 2008 and watched their draw to face the Flivvers.

“It was a nice time,” Hansen said. “We haven’t been to the playoffs in about a decade.

“This group put in a lot of hard work and we wanted to celebrate our entrance into the playoffs. We see (the Kingsford game) as a great opportunity for us.”

Gladstone, which fell to Calumet 20-16 Friday night, won the outright Mid-Peninsula Conference title and Kingsford wrapped up the outright GNC crown against Escanaba.

Bark River-Harris will get another shot at Norway, which defeated the Broncos 28-14 in Week 5. The Broncos last qualified for the playoffs in 2015.

North Central, the two-time defending eight-player state champion, also gets a rematch against Forest Park. The Trojans defeated the Jets 66-58 in overtime in Week 2.

Rapid River and Engadine last met in the 2015 season, with the Rockets winning in the regular season (62-30) and 36-29 in the playoff opener.