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Quince Orchard, Seneca Set for Saturday Showdown

Cougars welcome Screamin' Eagles in match-up of undefeated teams at 5:00 p.m. at the 'Cougar Dome'.

Beneath all the pomp and pageantry that accompanies Saturday's Seneca Valley- game – from the reunion of QO's to Seneca coach Fred Kim – is a football game that pits two of the county's best teams against each other.

All of that extracurricular stuff might add to the hype, but then again, this game doesn't exactly need any extra build-up.

Whenever QO and Seneca play each other, the stakes are usually high, such as last year's first-round playoff game where the Cougars erased a to overcome the Screamin' Eagles, 19-15. But this is the first time in nearly 20 years that both Seneca and QO enter the game undefeated. Both teams enter 4-0 and the Cougars know they’re in for a battle this weekend.

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"When you play a team like Seneca, you can't prepare for everything because they do so many things and they do them well," Quince Orchard coach Dave Mencarini said. "Defensively, we've just been focusing on correcting the mistakes we made last week in the secondary. We know Seneca will be prepared and I think we've had a good week of practice fixing those breakdowns from last week."

Mencarini is speaking about last week's game against Northwest. While QO outmuscled the Jaguars, 42-20, Jaguars' quarterback Matty Callahan threw for more than 280 yards in the game, and on two different occasions, he had passing touchdowns of more than 60 yards. Mencarini said a big focal point Saturday is not giving up the big plays.

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Additionally, Mencarini said his team will have its hands full with Seneca running back James Jones-Williams, whom Mencarini called outstanding. Jones-Williams leads Montgomery County 3A in rushing with 568 yards and 6 touchdowns.

The fact that Seneca is efficient with both its pass game and run game makes the Screamin' Eagles tough to prepare for, Mencarini said.

"Our success on defense depends on our ability to stay disciplined," Mencarini said.

Quince Orchard enters Saturday's game with a dominant run game of its own. Powered by Mark Green, who leads Montgomery 4A with 555 yards and 8 scores, the Cougars' ground game has helped propel the team to its 4-0 start. The Cougars are also relying on quarterback Lucas Bogart, who started last week due to the injury of regular starter, Billy Plante, to help balance the offensive effort out.

Mencarini said he believes this game is about as evenly matched as it gets, and in the end, will come down to individual match-ups in key areas.

Both Mencarini and Kim are also quick to point out that they are not letting the memory of last year's playoff game impact their team's outlook on Saturday's game.

"It would be a big mistake on our guys' part to feel too confident about that," Mencarini said. "Many of our guys weren't even on the field last year during that game, so there's no need for us to feel good about playing a team as explosive as Seneca."

From Kim's perspective, being on the losing end of two games against QO last season, he too is putting 2010 in the past.

"We certainly can't think about what occurred last year," Kim said. "We need to put that behind us. Against an excellent football team like QO, we just have to make sure we minimize our mistakes. They're well coached on both sides of the ball. We have to do everything we can to make sure that we're consistent on both sides of the ball and special teams."

As far as the celebration of the school's 1991 team, Mencarini recognizes the importance of that team in the program's history. Mencarini actually agreed to host the game on Saturday as opposed to Friday so more members of the 1991 team could attend, including former coach Ernie Ceccato, who is coming up from the Atlanta area.

"I think it's important for our players and the current community to see where it all started," Mencarini said. "We've got a pretty good thing going. But you always want to honor those who laid the ground work for what you have."

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