It was sauna-like: perhaps that is what everyone remembers most about that night in Canonsburg.

"I remember the heat was a major factor," Upper St. Clair football coach Jim Render said of Aug. 27 of last year, when his team downed Canon-McMillan, 14-12, in the season opener.

"You had to beat the heat first, before even thinking about the opponent."

Everyone is hoping that it is cooler at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Upper St. Clair when the two teams open the season against each other again.

But that's where the common thread ends. Upper St. Clair is hoping it is able to pick up a win to open the season again, while the Big Macs' are hoping that this season gets off to a better Week 1 than last year. Both USC (11-1) and Canon-McMillan (8-3) were WPIAL playoff teams a year ago, the Panthers in Class AAAA, the Big Macs in AAA.

With so much personnel different this time around, scrutinizing last year's game probably wouldn't be very helpful.

"I don't know what can really be extrapolated from that game last year because we're a completely different team this year and I know that they have a much different look as well," Canon-McMillan coach Guy Montecalvo said.

"Right now, I have to be honest, we are focusing on getting ourselves to understand what we are doing before we focus on Upper St. Clair."

And when Canon-McMillan does focus in on Upper St. Clair, it might be toward Panthers junior quarterback Pat McShane.

Don't let McShane's 5-foot-9, 165-pound frame fool you -- he is being talked about as the next stellar athlete to walk the hallways at Upper St. Clair.

As a sophomore last season, McShane played a key role at defensive back for the Panthers, who reached the WPIAL Class AAAA semifinals. In the winter, he also showed flashes of athletic brilliance for a young kid, hitting three key shots for the Upper St. Clair basketball team in the WPIAL title-game win against rival Mt. Lebanon.

So, with all that said, Render knows that while the Canon-McMillan game will be McShane's first start at quarterback, the junior might not have the customary jitters.

"He's played in enough competitive football games for us that I don't foresee that being a factor," Render said of McShane's first start under center.

"Between what he has done for us in the past and him coming off the bench last year in basketball in some key situations, I am not concerned about him being rattled."

What might have rattled McShane the most going through his first camp as the starting quarterback was getting acclimated to the new position and having to take in stride criticism from Render, who does not tolerate mental mistakes.

"You can't take everything he says personally. Some things you just have to shake off and not let bother you," McShane said. "You have to trust coach Render and do what he tells you to do because of how successful he's been."

Montecalvo is hoping Render and the Panthers don't have too much success tomorrow. To hear Montecalvo talk, though, is to quickly realize that he has different goals heading into this year than he did a year ago at this time, when he had a roster dotted with 25 seniors. This year's Big Macs have just three returning starters -- two on offense, one on defense. A sophomore -- Zane Zebrasky -- could man the important starting quarterback spot

"We have our work cut out for us, not just against Upper St. Clair, but all season," he said. "I think our whole staff is looking forward to this year, though. The focus this year is not being prepared to win a championship, but it is being prepared to get better each day we go out there and making sure that we do all the little things to improve each day. If we do that, it will lead to success and we're setting a goal to have that improvement as the year goes on lead to a spot in the playoffs."