MOUNT CARMEL - A championship is a championship, and playing for one carries hightened excitement.

That excitement, along with a home crowd at the Silver Bowl, will fuel Mount Carmel Area when Hanover Area, visits tonight for the Eastern Conference Class AA championship.

It's a matchup of 6-5 teams that hope to close the year with a win to thrust them into offseason workouts.

Hanover Area suffered a four-game losing streak in the middle of the season that rivaled Mount Carmel's three-game skid to end the season.

But both teams seem to be in the right place at the right time.

To complete their upswing, the Hawkeyes defeated Carbondale 28-14 last week, reversing the outcome from the regular season when Carbondale dominated 35-0 in week five.

That was the second of the Hawkeyes' four straight losses, which encompassed winless

campaigns against then undefeated Old Forge (34-6), Dallas (15-8) and GAR (27-0).

The turning point for Hanover, in Mount Carmel coach Bob Chesney's mind, came against Dunmore. Although it was a 14-6 loss, the Hawkeyes were only down by one point at halftime to the No. 1-ranked Class AA team in the entire state.

"Coming in 6-5 and what jumps up is they did lose to Old Forge, but a few games ago they lost 14-6 to Dunmore, and that was impressive," Chesney said.

"They lost to Carbondale 35-0 the first time and came back to beat them last week 28-14. That shows they're starting to peak at the right time. They're coming to us with a head of steam."

Leading a senior-heavy lineup is tailback Mike Redick. At 6-foot, 4-inches, Redick will see the ball quite a bit as he did last week against Carbondale. In the Hawkeyes' EC semifinal win, Redick carried 31 times for 127 yards.

While defenses get worried about stopping Redick, the Hawkeyes are more than capable of going to the air.

Quarterback Brandon Colorusso has found fellow senior Tomas Cabrera 29 times for 494 yards and five touchdowns. Another tall player at 6-2, Cabrera is supplemented on the outside by his brother Josh at 6-1 with seven catches for 118 yards and two scores.

"They seem more comfortable running the ball, although last week they had three touchdown passes," Chesney said.

"But they can throw the ball by running a deep pattern to one of the Cabrera kids. More than anything we have to find a way to stop Redick."

With the best defense being a consistent, ball-control offense, Mount Carmel will continue to do what has been successful this year, namely running the ball.

Hanover has given up 1,926 yards on 444 attempts. Sure to see his share of the carries is Justin Pellowski.

With one game left in his high school career, Pellowski will try to match his performance of last game. The 215 yards the senior rushed for against Schuylkill Valley was a career high and pushed his overall total to 1,242 yards with 17 touchdowns.

Whether it's because the line has matured as the season has gone on, or because Pellowski realizes the season's clock is winding down, he's been running like a man on a mission, according to Chesney.

"Justin is a pretty quiet kid," Chesney said. "The line has slowly gotten together a little more to give him some things that he can use his speed to take advantage of some things. It's a factor that we hoped comes along. The combination of Justin's persistency and the line's play allow him to break some runs."

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