Jeannette's season has been so easy, coach Ray Reitz always hopes for something to motivate his team for every game. But he believes there will be no motivational problem this week.

Jeannette (14-0) plays Wilmington (13-1) in a PIAA Class AA semifinal Saturday afternoon at Slippery Rock University. Wilmington, a District 10 school which used to play in the WPIAL until the late 1980s, features Chris Burns, a running back who has caught the attention of Jeannette.

Burns is a Pitt recruit who has rushed for 1,901 yards on 208 attempts this season. A 5-foot-10, 190-pound senior, Burns also has scored 32 touchdowns.

"I think any kid who is going against a Division I college player from another team, it gets them juiced up," Reitz said. "I know a lot of our kids want to play against him. I think it's a pride thing for our kids, to show how good they are. But I don't think it's just here. I think it's like that everywhere."

Burns had 233 yards rushing in a 35-24 quarterfinal victory Friday against Bishop McCort.

Wilmington's only loss this year was to Ford City in the season opener. Burns was held to less than 100 yards in that game.

"I hope you write that he's the next Tony Dorsett because that will help get our kids up even more," Reitz said. "Our goal going in is to physically pound him and pound him early in the game. We want to let him know he's going to get hit."

Jeannette has pounded just about everyone this year, forcing the mercy rule in 13 of 14 games. Under the rule, the clock runs almost continuously when a team leads by 35 points or more in the second half.

Jeannette star quarterback Terrelle Pryor could reach a milestone in the game. He needs a little more than 100 yards rushing for 4,000 in his career. He surpassed 4,000 career passing yards last week. No WPIAL player has passed and ran for 4,000 career yards.

A coach from the University of Oregon is expected to attend a Jeannette practice this week to watch Pryor. Although Oregon isn't on Pryor's final list of five colleges, Reitz said: "They still think they have a shot at him. Everybody still thinks they have a shot."

Pitt assistant Matt Cavanaugh visited with Pryor Monday at Jeannette, although Pryor has said repeatedly that he is not considering Pitt.

For the Wilmington game, Jeannette might have lineman Chris Hall back in uniform. He missed the quarterfinal game against Karns City because of a concussion after an auto accident.

"He has to pass a concussion test first that [doctors] give him," Reitz said.

"You should see this test. It deals a lot with memory. I don't even know if I could pass it and I didn't even get hit in the head."

Class A semifinal

In a game matching two teams that have never played a game in December before, Serra (14-0) takes on Kane (14-0) Friday night at Clarion University. This is the first trip to the semifinals for either team. Serra won a WPIAL title this year for only the second time while Kane won a District 9 championship for the first time.

Kane is trying to become only the second District 9 team to make it to a PIAA championship. The last time was 1992, when Smethport upset Rochester in the semifinals to make it to the title game.

Serra's defense will be tested by Kane quarterback Zach Anderson, who has thrown for 2,112 yards this season and completed 59 percent of his passes.

Kane running back Dustin Moran has 1,250 yards rushing.