Coaches are always wary of what they call "trap games."
Those are games teams should win but, for one reason or another, may have more difficulty than is perhaps necessary.
Mount Carmel's game at Central Columbia tonight is a possible trap game.
The Blue Jays are 2-3 and don't have much of a running game. But they picked up a pretty sizeable win last week, rallying for a 33-21 win at Shikellamy a week after being totally dominated by Southern Columbia.
It was the kind of win coaches look for when building their programs, and that sends opposing coaches into worrisome sleep.
Mount Carmel coach Carmen DeFrancesco is, understandably, a little nervous, especially because the Blue Jays are using a spread offense, which could put a lot of pressure on a defensive secondary which is down two starters thanks to the suspensions of Meyrick Lamb and Jacob Kleman.
"They have a nice offensive package," DeFrancesco said. "They spread the ball around. They throw the ball 65 percent of the time."
The Blue Jays have been using two quarterbacks, Tyler Flick and Jordan Thivierge. Thivierge had a big game against Shikellamy, completing 10 of 14 passes including two for touchdowns, and will likely start, but Flick has been the starter most of the season and is certainly capable.
"All of their quarterbacks are athletes," DeFrancesco said.
The Jays employed a variety of routes against Shikellamy, something they failed to do against Southern. In that game, because of their inability to run, they continually tried throwing deep, with little success.
"I couldn't figure out that Southern game," DeFrancesco said. "Last week, they were trying crossing routes, underneath routes, everything."
Mount Carmel got some solid play in the absence of Lamb and Kleman last week, and that has DeFrancesco pleased.
"What's happening now is we're having some breakout kids," he said. "Elijah Duran had a big game. We've kind of been expecting that from him earlier and he started to show it last week. Bryan McFadden and Corey Langton came up big, and Seth Nicola came in for Eric Joraskie, who went out 54 seconds into the game with an injury, and played really well.
"We're finding out we have depth, and that's really comforting."