The countdown is on, and just over a day away from a southwest-hosted SHSAA 9-man Football Provincial quarterfinal.

Conference 2's second-seeded Shaunavon Shadows (4-2) welcome Conference 4's second-seeded Unity Warriors (5-1) to Shadows Field Saturday afternoon.

"It's always great when you can play at home, especially in these Provincial playoff games. The guys get to stay at home the night before, have a good meal, and sleep in their own bed," said Garret Glasrud, head coach of the Shaunavon Shadows, who said the players aren't the only ones who are looking forward to Saturday afternoon's game. "The town is always excited about it - the fans come out and they're excited to see a football game here at home for Provincials. It just means a lot to the whole community."

A 37-26 victory over Indian Head in their second-last week of the regular season helped the Shadows leapfrog the previously second-seeded Broncs in the conference standings, allowing Shaunavon to clinch the home playoff game.

Since the win, which Glasrud called a "huge game" for the team, the Shadows head coach says the intensity in practice has increased as the team fine-tuned their game ahead of the quarterfinal contest.

"We've really been looking at our blocking schemes and just working on those hard the last couple of weeks, as well as just going over game film trying to correct a few small mistakes and things like that on defense - just get guys flowing to the ball. But other than that, we're pretty good to go."

As well as studying their own game film, the Shadows' head coach says they've been scouring their relatively unfamiliar opponent's game film, and are now at the point where they're confident in their game plan against Unity moving forward.

"They do have some big linemen and they really like to run the ball hard - some old school-type football with Power I-formation," Glasrud said. "The defense has been working on shedding blocks, filling gaps, and trying to just make sure that we limit them as far as their run game goes."

All that's left for both teams, as well the six other 9-man teams remaining, is 48 minutes of Provincial quarterfinal football with their backs against the metaphorical wall and fighting for one of four spots in the semifinals.

"The regular season is behind us now and when it comes to Provincial playoff football, it's do or die," said Glasrud. "We've cranked the energy up again this week knowing that either we move on or we're going home. The team's energy is pretty high and the guys are excited. We're ready to just go all out."

Kickoff for the game is at 3 p.m., and you can listen live to Bourassa Plumbing Shaunavon Shadows Football on 1490 CJSN with the pre-game show starting at 2:45 p.m.