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Penn Cambria and Hickory have never met on a high school football field, but the matchup came close to happening a year ago before the Panthers fell by one score to Central in the District 6 Class 3A championship game.
The Hornets ended the Scarlet Dragons' season at Mansion Park two weeks after Penn Cambria's season came to a close on the same field.
Friday when the teams finally meet at Armstrong High School at 7 p.m. -- someone's magical season will come to an end.
"We feel like we're right where we need to be right now," Penn Cambria coach Nick Felus said. "Some of our players have talked about the job, and the job is not finished yet. We're playing a very physical style of football right now with the ability to run the ball and stop the run, and those are two things that you have to be able to do well in order to advance in the playoffs."
Undefeated Penn Cambria is coming off its first-ever state playoff win a week after winning its first District 6 championship.
"They are a big, physical football team," Hickory coach Bill Dungee said. "They have a dynamic player in (Gavin Harrold). He's a guy that stands out right away. They design multiple ways to get him the football which makes it tough on a defense with him not lining up in one area. They have a big physical line, and then defensively, they are strong and have active linebackers and are very well coached."
Hickory avenged its only loss of the season last week when it beat Sharon, 37-31, in the District 10 championship game when Zander Telesz connected with Khalil Houston on a 4-yard touchdown pass with 18 seconds left.
"It all starts with our senior quarterback Zander Telesz," Dungee said. "He's our leader and not only on the field, off the field. I think it was Urban Meyer that said if your quarterback isn't one of your top toughest players on your team, then you have a soft team. I think he exemplifies our toughness with the way he plays."
But Hickory has much more than just its quarterback.
"We have a dynamic sophomore at running back in Kelvin Morrison," Dungee said. "He can run it outside or inside. He's tough also. We have a good sophomore receiver in Jadon Phillips who already has a Kentucky offer as a defensive back. But then we have other weapons like junior running back Jamal Calhoun, two really good tight ends and I think it all starts up front with our line, which is a veteran group led by our center Luke Lewis, who is a two-time all-state player."
The Hickory offense has Felus' attention.
"They are explosive on offense," Felus said. "They have a couple players that when they touch the ball, they can make things happen. They are very multiple and have a dual-threat quarterback. They are very similar schematically to what we do, so that should help us be more comfortable defensively. But they are good up front and aggressive. Defensively, we have to read our keys and play a physical style of football as well."
Central beat Hickory, which has won 12 District 10 titles, in 2015 on its way to the PIAA semifinals.
"The teams in our conference that have made state runs, the guys definitely see that and it gives us confidence," Felus said. "It just shows you the tough conference we play in and gives us confidence plus it prepares our teams to make deep state playoff runs when we play in this tough conference week in and week out."
Felus also expects much of Cresson to relocate to Kittanning on Friday.
"We're expecting Panther nation to be there in full," Felus said. "They always have been. They have done a tremendous job, and we're thankful for our community and their support. We want to do our best to make them proud."