We can play up the us-against-the-world angle, and it works well. I know our kids are comfortable in that role right now.

That's been a key for us. We've been able to play 10 kids.

I think that our philosophy is to have a basic standard that we want to work with, but to try and maximize our personnel. You have to find a way to adapt. And we've had some great players to work with here, as well.

I told them that we had done something very special, but that we were going to be a very different football team from that point forward. We were going to wear the bull's-eye on our backs now. We're the hunted instead of the hunters, and we were going to have to be better prepared than ever for that.

We have a veteran lineup but we have a very good nucleus of young kids, freshmen who also can play. They're getting their opportunities and making the best of them.

Our kids believed they could win this thing. We've known we were going to play East for a while and this was what we've been shooting for the last month -- getting ready for a game like this and trying to win a regional.