If there were one team that had fuel for the fire this summer, it was Indiana High School. The Little Indians were 6-3 last season and 15 points separated them from a perfect regular-season record.

As it was, those three setbacks to Highlands, Pine-Richland and Franklin Regional kept them from making the WPIAL football playoffs.

Motivated by that disappointment, the Little Indians are looking like a team that is ready to make a big leap forward this season. Indiana is 3-0 and off to one of its best starts since joining the WPIAL in 1988.

It might come as a surprise that Indiana is in the WPIAL. The school, located 62 miles east of downtown Pittsburgh, is one of the most remote outposts in the league, and it certainly has not distinguished itself as a major force on the field the past two decades.

In fact, in the 21 years since entering the WPIAL, Indiana has made the playoffs three times -- in 1988, '89 and 2003. Since 1990, there have been four winning seasons, and its overall record is 56-124.

That's ancient history for the players on this team. These Little Indians are motivated only by those three losses from last year. All three were on the road and against teams that advanced to the playoffs.

"These guys sensed how close we were last year," said coach Mark Zilinskas, who is in his seventh season as head coach and his 20th year overall with the program.

All summer, Zilinskas talked about how football was a game of inches. One play here or there could have made the difference in those games. As an outlet, the players poured their frustration into the offseason conditioning program.

Before Zilinskas became head coach, there was no offseason program, which likely accounted for some of those 0-10 and 1-9 seasons in the '90s. Those players who lifted weights did so in an 800-square-foot weight room. With the help of a grant and some fund-raising, the new weight room, at a total cost of $215,000, is now 5,000 square feet, and Zilinskas boasts that it is one of the best such facilities among the state's high schools.

"The offseason program was my No. 1 priority when I took the job," Zilinskas said. "And the kids have bought into it. We had 100 percent participation in our offseason program this year. We expect it from them. Even the kids who play basketball or another sport were in here at 6 a.m. lifting weights in the summer.

"We're seven years into the program and we're starting to see some long-term effects from the kids who have come through. We're seeing kids make a lot of progress over a three-year period."

Perhaps, the most impressive aspect of the 3-0 start is that only a few starters returned. Senior quarterback Ben Fiscus, the linchpin of the Little Indians' option offense, is one of them. He rushed for 124 yards and scored three times in the 26-17 victory against Kiski Area.

Kiski Area is the closest thing Indiana has to a rival, but it is not in the same conference anymore. Zilinskas said one of the hard things for Indiana since joining the WPIAL has been constant switching between classifications and conferences. The Little Indians competed in Class AAA in 1988 and 1989. From 1990 until 2003, they were in Class AAAA. Now they're back in Class AAA, but they've never stayed in the same conference very long.

It is routine for Indiana to have 90-minute to two-hour bus rides to road games. Of course, visiting teams have an equally difficult time getting to Indiana on a Friday night, which would be quite an advantage if the Little Indians managed to earn a home playoff game.

That's why the upcoming conference games are so important. The WPIAL schedule-makers did Indiana no favors. They must play at Franklin Regional and Highlands again.

But going back to the site of their biggest disappointment just might be the motivation Indiana needs to get a home playoff game.

The Little Indians never have played host to a WPIAL playoff game.

"It's something our kids are used to," Zilinskas said of the travel. "We sell our kids on the fact that we're going to tough it out. We're not thinking about the playoffs yet. We're focusing on the fact that we have a young team. Every team that has success improves from week to week. We have to make progress from week to week.

"If we are fortunate enough to make the playoffs, playing at home would be a nice advantage for us."