Shamokin Area coach Dan Foor thinks his team may have found itself two weeks ago when the Indians defeated Shikellamy 30-13, a game in which they had 334 yards rushing and 20 first downs.
They followed that with a tough defensive effort in a 20-7 loss to once-beaten Mount Carmel last week.
The Indians (3-7) will have to keep playing with that energy when they take on Shikellamy tonight in the semifinals of the District 4-AAA playoffs at Sunbury. The Braves (4-6) are the higher seed but have had a recent rash of injuries. They'll look to rebound.
The teams are in a similar situation to last year, when Shikellamy pounded the Indians in Week 9, 44-0, but had to have a late rally to down the rejuvenated Indians in overtime in the district playoffs two weeks later.
"The kids played well last week," Foor said of the Mount Carmel game. "But as well as we played defensively, we couldn't get much going on offense. We only
had about 20 yards rushing, and we can't let that happen this week. Now, I think you have to give a lot of credit to Mount Carmel's defense, but we failed to maintain blocks when we had them. That's one of the things that showed on film, and the kids know that."
The Indians probably had their best offensive game of the season in the first game against the Braves, and will likely have to duplicate that effort. They'll also have to be concerned with hard-running Benny Delgado, who had 100 yards and a touchdown in the first game, and wide receiver-defensive back Tyler Pratt, who has battled injuries this season but will likely be the best athlete on the field.
Foor said he thinks his team filed the Mount Carmel game away last weekend.
"They were ready to go with Shikellamy (on Monday)," Foor said. "They've actually been very resilient that way all season. Even when we were down to 2-6, I've been impressed by their resiliency. The season hasn't gone as well as we'd have liked, but the kids have kept coming to practice, and there haven't been bad attitudes or anything like that. I just hope we've picked a good time to start playing better."
Foor is also unapologetic about his 3-7 team being in the playoffs.
"It is what it is," he said. "We qualified under the system as it is. I think all of the teams in the field are competitive with each other. The way we're looking at it, we're 0-0 and so is everybody else. It's a new season."