As Trinity's athletic director and head football coach, Ed Dalton tries to teach the school's athletes the important lessons that come with athletic participation.

The key lesson for the football team this season has come in dealing with high expectations.

These are not the expectations of Trinity's fans, or even its players. They are expectations Dalton has for his players and his team to perform this season.

Trinity boasts two NCAA Division I recruits and entered this season expecting to contend for a WPIAL Class AAA playoff berth. Those expectations remain intact, even though Trinity was beaten by Canon-McMillan in its season opener.

The team bounced back after that to register wins against Blackhawk and at Hampton. Trinity (2-1) opened Big Seven conference play this past Friday night at Chartiers Valley with an eye toward beginning its playoff push.

Dalton is not interested in playoff talk at this early stage of the season, however.

"We really don't think we've played well yet," Dalton said. "There are a lot of things we need to do to get better."

It's hard to imagine what some of them might be. Trinity was averaging nearly 300 rushing yards per game entering the Chartiers Valley contest and its defense was performing at a high level behind senior linebackers Mike Yancich and Andrew Sweat, who are recruits of Penn State and Ohio State, respectively.

The team has run the ball extremely well with Yancich at tailback and Sweat at fullback behind a senior-dominated offensive line. Center Frank Dobbin, guards Taylor Deep and Eric Stultz, tackles Ed Gray and Ian Killen and tight end J.D. Berry all are experienced players who have provided the foundation for the offense.

Their play has made it easier for Trinity to absorb the losses of standout quarterback Cody Enders, who holds many school passing records and now plays at Connecticut; all-time leading receiver Ben Howard and 1,500-yard rusher Troy Garove, all of whom graduated after last season.

The line also has helped senior quarterback Ian Haley, in his first action as the starter, get off to a good start. Haley completed 17-of-34 passes for nearly 300 yards and four touchdowns entering Friday's game and had yet to throw an interception.

"We're definitely running the ball better," Dalton said. "We had to replace a lot of our skill people from last year and we needed the line to play well for us. Right now we are looking for consistency. We have made too many mental mistakes."

The mistakes have been clear when Dalton watches tape. Entering the game with Chartiers Valley, Trinity had been hit with penalties that had nullified five scoring plays of 70 yards or more. Yancich had two such runs called back by penalties a week ago.

"We just haven't had the mental discipline that we need to have at times," Dalton said. "Maybe we were a little full of ourselves entering the season. Maybe we have read too many of our press clippings about how good we are supposed to be.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm happy with the kids we have and the way they have worked this season. But I think as hard as we have worked, we can still work harder. The kids have put the time in, but we still have to work to get better."

Trinity has worked harder in recent weeks. Practices have been longer as the players have shown the commitment to overcome the mental lapses that have cost them big plays and that ultimately could cost them a shot at a playoff berth or conference title.

Dalton said the players also are learning to deal with high expectations. Skilled players such as Yancich and Sweat are finding they are becoming measuring sticks for their opponents, and learning that every week they get the opposition's best shot.

"We've got some talented kids but I don't think we are playing anywhere close to as well as we can," Dalton said. "Our kids are finding that the teams we play are trying to raise their play against us.

"We are going to have that target on us, not only from a team standpoint but from individual players who want to see how good our kids are. Our kids are finding that they have to play at their best every game. They can't take it easy against anybody."