ALGONA — The return of playoff football to Conway Field was a welcome sight for Bishop Garrigan here Friday night, as the Golden Bears rolled over Janesville, 63-6, to advance in eight-player.

Behind three quick scores in the first quarter, Bishop Garrigan (7-1 overall) continued to pile it on, taking a 41-6 lead into the break. Second round pairings are scheduled to be released Saturday morning.

Caden Roethler rushed 14 times for 148 yards and scored twice with Ethan Marso also finding the end zone twice while running for 56 yards.

“Our kids played very, very well,” BGHS head coach Marty Wadle said. “We saw on film that Janesville was a physical team and we told them they had to come out and match that. I thought we did a great job of doing that and playing our style of football.”

Roethler got the scoring started with a 35-yard run while Tate Foertsch followed with an 11-yard jaunt to the end zone. Sam Plathe recorded a pick-6 with Ethan Marso and Roethler following with scores.

Foertsch connected with Justin Bauer on a 40-yard touchdown pass while Marso, Owen Murphy and Kyle Bormann all added rushing TDs to end the game.

Plathe had eight tackles, Marso seven, Andrew Lichter and Roethler six, and Benjy Trainer five.

Bishop Garrigan has won seven straight since a Week 1 loss to St. Edmond, 42-34. During that stretch, they have scored over 50 points four times and surpassed 60 points in three games.

“We’ve just continued to get better week in and week out,” Wadle said. “Now that it is the playoffs, we have continue doing that, have a little luck and stay healthy.”

The Golden Bears won just eight games total in the previous three seasons and had not qualified for the postseason since 2018.

Janesville (6-3) had won three straight since a loss to Gladbrook-Reinbeck last month. The Wildcats went just 2-7 a year ago but had won 27 games during the four previous seasons.