When traveling out of state to play a team you haven't played before, there are plenty of unknowns.

But in McKeesport Area's case, this much is known: The Tigers are going to run headlong into a football team coming off a huge victory when they travel to Cincinnati's Paul Brown Stadium at 5 p.m. Saturday to play Ohio power Colerain High School.

"They are extremely good and extremely fast," McKeesport coach George Smith said of Colerain. "We've got our work cut out for us, for sure."

Perhaps the biggest advantage Colerain has is that it has already played a game -- and a huge one, at that. The Cardinals beat another Cincinnati area school, St. Xavier, 13-8, last week at Nippert Stadium on the University of Cincinnati campus in front of 15,000 fans. St. Xavier entered the game as the No. 18 team in the USA Today national poll.

"A bunch of people were doubting us," Colerain senior offensive lineman Brandon White told Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Tom Groeschen following the win.

"I think this will open a lot of eyes. It's a huge thing for us to show that Colerain football is still here."

The McKeesport contingent knows how formidable Colerain will be this weekend.

"They have already played a game, and of course I think that is a big advantage for them because you make your biggest improvement from Week 1 to Week 2," Smith said. "Really, all I care about is that we go there and we hit. I just hope we go there and compete, hit and are prepared as best we can be."

McKeesport should be prepared, as its preparation will be made easier because Colerain runs the same triple-option attack the Tigers employ.

The first week of the season traditionally brings with it some nontraditional, non-conference matchups, and this year is no different.

With those matchups, there will be some teams seeing some extended travel times.

Obviously, McKeesport will travel the farthest of any PG South coverage team, making the 285-mile trek (each way) to play Colerain at the home of the Cincinnati Bengals, Paul Brown Stadium.

Albeit they won't be spending that long on busses, there are some other local teams that have some travel ahead of them as well.

Serra will play tomorrow night at North Park's J.C. Stone Field against North Catholic, and it will be a 31 mile trip, each way, for coach Rich Bowen's Eagles.

Upper St. Clair has a similar bus ride in terms of mileage. The Panthers will travel the 33 miles each way to Harrison City to participate in a Class AAAA non-conference clash against Penn-Trafford.

Coach Kevin Kissel at Brentwood might think about ways to kill some time on the bus, as his team will make the 63-mile trip to District 10 Wilmington for their opener tomorrow night. Incidentally, Wilmington is formerly a WPIAL school.

Another road trip that won't have the odometer spinning out of control but might just turn into a commuting headache could be Baldwin's 18-mile trip to Mount Royal Boulevard in Shaler, where the Highlanders will play the Titans tomorrow night.

Is there an easy way to get from Baldwin to Shaler during the Friday night rush hour?

The thinking here is no way.

What a way to begin a season.

Week 1 starts with a bang in the City League, as the Post-Gazette's No. 1-ranked team, Brashear, will kick off its season against the City's No. 3-ranked squad, Perry at noon on Saturday at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.

Every week in this space during the football season, we are going to give you something to pay special attention to involving an aspect of an upcoming game to be played in the PG South coverage area.

This week, pay attention to Bethel Park, as a whole.

There hasn't been this much buzz around the program in a number of years and the Black Hawks play host to a very capable opponent in Kiski Area tomorrow night coached by Harvey Smith.

The buzz around Bethel Park has a lot to do with standout quarterback Erik Olson and stalwart running back Lyle Marsh, who are both among the top skilled players in the area.

All that said, if the Black Hawks fall flat tomorrow night, it could raise some suspicion that maybe there was too much of a preseason buzz around coach Jeff Metheny's squad.

But, conversely, if they go out and take care of Kiski Area, and particularly if Bethel Park were to win easily, people might start to believe that all the hype was warranted.