Like the rest of his teammates, Mt. Lebanon senior quarterback Andrew Cappucci sat anxiously Monday night awaiting word of who his Blue Devils would be paired against in the WPIAL playoffs.

When word finally came, Cappucci's eyes widened -- his Blue Devils would be facing none other than the vaunted Gateway Gators.

Sixteenth-seed Mt. Lebanon (2-7, 2-3), the fourth-place finisher from the Great Southern Conference, will travel to Gateway (9-0, 7-0) to take on the top-seeded Foothills Conference champion Gators at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in a WPIAL Class AAAA first-round game.

As far as the WPIAL playoffs are concerned, the pairing is somewhat akin to David versus Goliath. The Blue Devils, who dropped their first five games of the season, have the worst overall record of any playoff participant, regardless of class. The Gators, on the other hand, are the class of the WPIAL. Coach Terry Smith's bunch is the Post-Gazette's top-ranked team in the WPIAL and PIAA, while USA Today has them pegged No. 3 nationally.

"It's Gateway. You can't say you're going to run into their territory and kick their butts," said Cappucci, who has thrown for more than 1,500 yards and 14 touchdowns. "I can't say we don't have a chance, but it's going to take a lot of effort."

Needless to say, that effort will have to be nearly perfect for the Blue Devils to have a shot of pulling off a stunner. The Gators have the ability to come at their opposition in a variety of ways offensively and defensively.

They can do it on the ground with 1,000-yard rusher Brian Williams and fullback Dorian Bell, or through the air with underrated quarterback Robbie Kalkstein and receivers Corey Brown and Josh Vermeulen. The Gators average 43.9 points per game, tops in Quad-A.

On defense, their dominance is just as impressive, having surrendered just 9.6 points, also a Quad-A best. The line is anchored by defensive tackle Jack Charles, while a pair of Ohio State recruits (Bell and Brown) head the linebacking and defensive backfield units.

Cappucci said he had a good feeling his squad would be matched against the Gators and that premonition was right on the money. Cappucci said he has seen and heard enough about the Gators to know he and his teammates will have their hands full.

"I've seen some big hits from Dorian Bell on highlights and have heard a lot about their other big-time players," Cappucci said. "When we break down film, we usually highlight the players who are really good, but we can't do that this week because there are just too many of them."

The Blue Devils, though, are playing the best they have all season. They've split their past four games, earning wins against Peters Township and Baldwin. And even in their losses, they've played well, falling by slim margins to fellow playoff teams Canon-McMillan (35-28) and Upper St. Clair (33-21), both on the road.

"I think we caught fire during the Canon-McMillan game. Since then, we've been playing our best ball of the year. I think that's definitely going to help us," Cappucci said.

Something that won't help the Blue Devils is playoff experience, or in their case, lack thereof. It's been two years since the Blue Devils last qualified for the playoffs, and none of their current players were starters on that squad. On the other side, the Gators advanced to the WPIAL finals last season, and this will be the 13th career playoff game for some of them.

But while Cappucci and company are about to enter an unfamiliar setting, their hunger to keep their season and careers going is as great as ever.

"We have 25 seniors and this could be the last time we ever play football together. I think that's our motivation," Cappucci said. " If we lose here, we're done forever."The game

• Who: Mt. Lebanon (2-7) vs. Gateway (9-0).

• When: 7:30 p.m. tomorrow.

• Where: Pete Antimarino Stadium at Gateway High School.

• The skinny: Gateway is the top seeded team in Class AAAA in the WPIAL playoffs, which means the Blue Devils, the No. 16 seed, will be a decided underdog.