Griffin Hall wasn’t around the last time the Salina Central faced Salina South in the Class 5A football playoffs.

Nobody from either team was.

Even so, Hall grew up hearing all about the glory days of a storied rivalry between the two powers that in six straight postseason meetings from 1999-2004, led to five state championships.

Hall’s father, Mike, was a Central assistant coach for all six of those games and later the head coach. Griffin, a junior, will start at quarterback for the Mustangs when they renew their playoff rivalry with South in a 5A quarterfinal matchup Friday at Salina Stadium.

“I’ve heard a lot of stories from when they played in the playoffs,” Griffin Hall said. “Almost every year is kind of what it sounded like, and it would be a huge game when that happened.”

The last playoff meeting resulted in a 21-14 South overtime victory on the way to its second state championship under coach Ken Stonebraker. Central won its sixth and most recent title the following year under Marvin Diener.

Current Central head coach Mark Sandbo was not involved in those most recent playoff games, but growing up down the road in Lindsborg and playing for his father Gary Sandbo at Smoky Valley High School during that time, he was well aware of the intense rivalry.

“I grew up around it, and I knew it well,” said Sandbo, now in his eighth season as Mustangs head coach. “Being the son of a coach and pretty aware of sport, state titles at that time ran through Salina, so yeah, I’m very familiar.”

That Central is in the quarterfinals comes as no surprise. The Mustangs lost just once during the regular season and take a 9-1 record into this week’s game as the No. 2 seed in the West.

South, on the other hand, entered the playoffs as the West No. 14 at 1-7, but advanced with back-to-back upsets against No. 3 Andover and No. 6 Liberal on the road. The Cougars’ three victories are the most since their 3-7 mark in 2017.

“Honestly, when we thought that this could happen, we were kind of rooting for it,” said Sandbo, whose Mustangs beat South in the season opener, 31-21. “South is a really good football team, but you’re going to play really good football teams across the board at this point in time.

“But then you can take that, and these kids on both sides of the community have an opportunity — deserve an opportunity — to play in such a showcased event, which you could argue is maybe the biggest game in Salina in the last 20 years.”

If senior Cooper Reves didn’t appreciate the significance of the rivalry before, he certainly does now.

“Even today at my internship — I have an internship at the hospital — there were guys coming up to me that I didn’t even know, and they’re like, ‘Heard you guys have South this week. We’re excited to watch,’ and telling stories,” Reves, the latest in a long line of standout Central running backs, said Tuesday. “It’s kind of cool, just the community behind us and talking about their days when they used to play.”

The Mustangs have heard it from their coaches as well.

“All the old coaches talk about what the rivalry was like,” said Reves, the Mustangs’ leading rusher with 2,101 yards and 21 touchdowns. “Even today, coach (Richard) Brake was talking about his son (who) played here.

“He was just talking about how the stand would be just packed with people, and so I’m excited for the environment.”

Senior linebacker Jesus Delgado agreed.

“Day in and day out, we talk about living in the moment and realizing what’s at stake,” said Delgado, who leads Central with 109 tackles, including 16 for loss with four sacks. “There’s going to be a lot of energy in the stands, and I think we’re ready.”

Griffin Hall isn’t the only member of his family looking forward to Friday’s game. So is his father.

“He’s really excited,” Griffin said of dad Mike. “He’s told me some crazy stories and how exciting it is to be able to have that game, and obviously it’s more exciting when you win.

“I’m excited to get to live that moment now.”