Forgive the cliche, but a perfect season is a lot like making a cake.
There are a lot of ingredients and at any moment, because of too much pressure or one missed step, the whole thing can come crashing down.
That's why it's remarkable that not just one area team got through the regular season unscathed, but two did.
Mount Carmel and Line Mountain have been no strangers to the spotlight over the last year or so.
Each team made it to the state playoffs last year, and while expectations were high this season, perfection was more than they could have asked for.
But the "perfect" combination of high intensity, plenty of options, a good mix of role players and a dash of luck have these teams sitting pretty.
They each go into the District 4 playoffs in their respective classes as the number one seed. Line Mountain starts its playoffs against St. John Neumann at 1 p.m. Saturday at Shamokin, while Mount Carmel has the winner of the Lewisburg-Wellsboro game to face on Saturday at a site and time to be determined.
No matter what happens in the playoffs, both the Eagles and Red Tornadoes have accomplished something no one will be able to take away. Although, despite each playing in different leagues and having different personnel, the reasons why each enter the postseason at 22-0 are remarkably similar.
High intensity
There is no formal statistic for how many times Mount Carmel's Lisa Varano and Line Mountain's Mike Reed say the word "go" during a game.
It's at least enough that it would qualify as a mantra for the off-to-the-races clubs.
"When my girls play like that, they're at their best," Varano said. "They like to run that up-tempo game."
That's not to say Mount Carmel suffers in the halfcourt game, but the way the girls' eyes light up when they're on the run only comes from liking what you're doing.
For Line Mountain, which doesn't have a girl taller than 5-foot, 9-inches, the more they can run the less they have to worry about matchup problems.
"We tell them that our offense is generated by our defense and as long as we come out and play great defense, get the crowd into it and get the other team out of their rhythm then that's how we end up generating a lot of our points," Reed said.
Options
So after the defense creates one of the many turnovers these teams feast on, who gets the ball?
Perhaps that's why these teams are unblemished. On any given night, it could be one of several options.
At Mount Carmel, Heather Bolick, Ranotta Ahrensfield and Kim Andruscavage have all taken their turns beating on opponents. The trio of seniors have all led the team in individual scoring in individual scoring at one time or another.
Ahrensfield leads the team with 13.9 points per game, followed by Andruscavage at 13.5 and Bolick at 9.4. Sophomore Ali Varano scores 12.6 a game and like Ahrensfield and Andruscavage, led the team in scoring in seven different games.
Those numbers alone mean one of two things - that they're drawing straws before the game to see who gets the ball, or more likely that opponents have no clue who to focus their defensive efforts on.
"Those three girls brought so much experience and leadership to the court," Lisa Varano said. "They're all capable of scoring. Our girls give us the dimension that if a team puts their best defensive player on one of our girls, someone else is capable of stepping up."
The same can be said at Line Mountain, where Kasey Long (18.9 ppg) and Mikhail Whitcomb (17.4 ppg) have combined for a robust 19 20-point games. Both are selfless on fast breaks because they seemingly know that there's going to be another one coming soon enough.
"If you took away the easy layups that Kasey and Mikhail get off of fast breaks," Reed said, "we'd be missing a lot of points."
To think that that's all the Eagles do though is a big mistake. Long has hit for 27 3-pointers and Whitcomb for 44. And if it seems like they're always mentioned in the same breath, they did score the 1,000th points of their careers on the same night, joining both Ahrensfield and Andruscavage who did it earlier this season.
Role players
This label is not a knock, not on a team with a perfect record.
Line Mountain came into the season needing to replace three starters from last year's team. Whoever took those spots had to have known they'd be supporting Long and Whitcomb and have done so without ego all season.
Take Jade London, who had to replace Paige Swineford at the top of the Eagles' defense. She'd played only in spot duty before, but plays with abandon and a toughness that lets her teammates lie in wait for errant passes. Teammates like Macy Bethge, Ciera and Chelsea Lahr, Madison Lagerman and Michelle Menko.
"Everybody has their different role on the team and right now they're all happy with it and relishing it," Reed said. "We're reaping the rewards right now."
The talk after Mount Carmel lost in last year's state playoffs was how the Red Tornadoes were going to replace Danielle Bernini. She rebounded well, altered shots and had a smooth jump shot. And then walked Anna Raybuck into the Red Tornadoes' lives, a transfer from Lourdes. The sophomore forward is averaging 7.7 points a game and watching the back end of the Tornadoes' press.
"Anna is a tremendous passer, sees the court, plays tough inside and has a great jump shot. We've encouraged her to shoot more," Varano said.
The Tornadoes have gotten quality minutes off the bench from Kayla Shamus, who has seven games in double figures.
Lucky
Neither team needed a buzzer beater. Neither team played a particularly close game all season with the average margin of victory for Line Mountain at 25 per win and Mount Carmel a little better at nearly 27 a game.
Where luck comes into the equation for both the Red Tornadoes and the Eagles is that each stayed relatively healthy.
"That's the thing you don't count on," Varano said. "Every year there are teams that seem to get hit. You can't game plan for that."
Line Mountain's Ciera Lahr missed five weeks because of surgery, and Mount Carmel's Kim Andruscavage missed a couple games early in the season as she shook off an injury, but that's pretty much it.
"We had Ciera go down and we had people step in," Reed said. "She was there every day, and she wanted to be back early. We had people that were sick or banged up and no one made excuses."
Schedule
Mount Carmel's opponents have a winning percentage just under 43 percent. Line Mountain's opponents come in at a shade below 44 percent. Another area undefeated team, Tri-Valley, has played 12 teams with winning records but their opponents' overall winning percentage is still below 50 percent.
The fact is that of all the years to do it, this might have been the year to go undefeated. Scores around the state reflected a definite distinction in the haves and have-nots. But as multiple coaches have said, you play who is on the schedule.
What matters is the mindset going into each game, that any team can pull out a victory, acknowledging it and guarding against the upset.
"I think we're confident, but not overconfident," Reed said. "They believe in themselves, while I worry about every game.
"I told them that we had to keep each other motivated and focused, and keep believing in what we can do."
Mount Carmel has never had an undefeated season despite quite of bit of success in the '80s with Maria Fantanarosa, which makes this year all the more impressive.
"I think it starts with hard work," Varano said. "The girls came into the year working hard and it was up to the coaches to help them maintain focus. It's a long season and it's tough to win game in and game out. There were many nights that I thought the other team could have beaten us, but it's really a credit to the girls and my assistant coaches, who make sure each game is as important as the last game."
What it means
As of Friday, eight teams across the state were undefeated, including the Eagles and Red Tornadoes, as well as Tri-Valley.
In the last five postseasons, six teams have entered the state playoffs undefeated at any level. That's six out of 640 teams. Out of those six, three won the state title.
They are Bishop Guilfoyle, Class A, in 2010; Mount Lebanon, Class AAAA, in 2009; and York Catholic, Class AA, in 2007. Only Mount Lebanon is a public school. Tamaqua and Nanticoke entered 2011 and 2007, respectively, in Class AAA and lost.
The odds aren't as remote as matching the big lottery drawing for the night, but unlike buying a ticket, Mount Carmel and Line Mountain get a say in which way their luck bounces.