The Hillmen (7-4) shocked Oakdale 27-14 last Friday, ousting the team that had reached the semifinal or championship round of either the Div. III or Div. IV playoffs in five of the last seven seasons.

Placer’s last playoff appearance came in 2000 when the Hillmen, then coached by Mike Sabins and with Keone Kauo leading the way, upset Sonora, 33-27, in the first round before falling in the semifinals to Oak Ridge, 20-14.

Dixon ended an even longer playoff drought this season. The Rams hadn’t been to the postseason since 1999 before beating Bear River in the first round on Nov. 21.

Prior to Placer’s 2000 playoff appearance, Placer, under coach Jerry Van Lengen reached the postseason twice in the 1990s.

In 1994, Rio Americano defeated the Hillmen, 21-17, in the first round while one year later the Hillmen fell again in the first round at Sonora, 55-13.

In 1998, with Sabins at the helm and guiding the Hillmen to the Sierra Foothill League crown, Placer went on the road in the opening round of the Div. II playoffs and notched a big 35-22 upset of Merrill West of Tracy before being eliminated by Rio Linda in the semi-finals, 32-12.

Prior to the 1994 Hillmen appearance, Placer had waited 13 years between postseason games.

In 1981, playing in an eight team Div. II playoff bracket for the first time, the Hillmen defeated Elk Grove, 9-0; Ponderosa, 17-14 in overtime and Mira Loma, 30-7, in a Saturday afternoon championship game played at American River College.

From 1975 to 1980, the Hillmen basically owned the postseason as the Bill Miller-Tom Johnson coached Hillmen won nine games in a 10-contest playoff stretch that culminated with four section titles.

The run started in 1975 with Placer rolling past St. Mary’s of Stockton, 52-6, in the first round before handling Manteca on the road, 20-6, in the final.

One year later the Hillmen routed Galt, 40-6 in the first round before in perhaps one of the more epic games ever played at Le Febvre Stadium, George Harrison connected with Andy Brophy on a touchdown pass in the final minute to lift Placer over St. Mary’s, 28-20 for the crown.

Placer then made it three straight AA crowns in 1977 by defeating El Dorado, 14-0 in the first round and then handling Ponderosa, 33-7 in the finals.

In 1978 the Hillmen went 9-1 but didn’t qualify for the playoffs as a Week 10 31-28 loss to undefeated Nevada Union kept Placer from the postseason.

One year later Placer returned to the playoffs but ran into Ponderosa’s two-year title run squad keyed by future Pac-10 player Bryce Oglesby as the Bruins handled the Hillmen, 35-13.

The Hillmen, however, made amends in 1980 as following a 36-0 win over Manteca in the first round, Placer turned the tables on Ponderosa by taking a 35-8 championship win in a game played at Placer.

All total, Placer is 13-5 all-time in playoff games with five championship pennants.

“I have never seen that kind of defense played at Placer. I didn’t realize how athletic and talented Oakdale was until I saw them live,” said John Miller, Placer’s defensive coordinator. “There were a lot of circumstances that made it challenging for us, but I was amazed at how the kids responded. They buckled down and realized the opportunity they had in front of them.”

In holding the powerful Oakdale offense to just two touchdowns, the Hillmen (7-4) earned their first playoff victory in eight seasons. They also booked a trip to Dixon, where they’ll face a defense that is touted as possibly the best in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs.

With two suddenly stout defenses on the field, could we see a defensive struggle Friday night?

“I think we might,” Placer coach Joey Montoya said. “Defensively, they’re as good as we’ve seen — right up there with Whitney.”

Miller helped the Hillmen right the ship after Oakdale marched down the field for a quick touchdown in the first quarter last week. Placer gave up just one score the rest of the way as they stunned an offense that had averaged more than 31 points a game during the regular season.

Miller said the team didn’t make major adjustments after the Mustangs’ initial score.

“Our film prep time last week was short and we had some situations where we were making the incorrect calls,” Miller said. “The adjustment was to just take a deep breath and talk about our game plan. After a couple series, we started to slow them down and Jon Slane came back to the sideline and said, ‘We’ve got ‘em.’ After that, they weren’t thinking about it, they were just playing football.”

Miller is not related to Montoya’s grandfather — former Placer coach Bill Miller — but he’s been by Montoya’s side since the two began coaching freshman baseball together at Placer in 2000. Montoya and Miller learned the football coaching craft under Dave Humphers at Nevada Union.

They spent four years together at Pioneer in Woodland, where they built the new program into a winner almost overnight. Miller was one of the first people Montoya called when he got the job with the Hillmen. Miller graduated from Placer in 1998, one year after Montoya.

“Coming back to Placer is something that we always wanted to do, it just took about eight years for that opportunity to come up,” said Miller, who played defensive back and receiver for the Hillmen. “It’s a dream to coach here with Joey.”

Miller said former Placer coach Tom Johnson — who coached with Bill Miller during Placer’s glory years in the late 1970s and early 80s — had a major influence on his development as a coach. Now he’s coaching alongside John Hilton and Dennis Murphy, who coached Miller when he played at Placer.

The Hillmen don’t have a big-time Division I linebacker or a monster defensive lineman on their roster. But the hard-working group has steadily improved throughout the season and turned into a strength for a team that had been mostly known for its wing-t offense.

“We’ve had our moments of great performances and we’ve had some bumps along the road,” said Miller, who works as an area manager for a landscape company in Roseville. “But we’re playing our best at the perfect time. We just have a group of kids that play hard.

“We don’t have that 6-5, 230-pound linebacker, but Seth Parrish, Jon Slane, Jake Lopez, Kenny Tackitt, Brad Moller and all those guys play like they’re big-time players.”