The happenings of Nov. 22 at Heinz Field sent ripples through the state.

When Bethel Park -- considered a sizable underdog by many -- stormed into the North Shore venue and defeated Gateway, 10-6, in the WPIAL Class AAAA championship game, it stunned people from Scranton to Lancaster, shocked football fans from Uniontown clear up to Lake Erie's shores.

Count West Lawn Wilson coach Doug Dahms among them.

"Sure, we were surprised to hear that score," Dahms said. "Most people had to be, you would think."

And now, Dahms' Wilson team, at 14-0, has a date with Bethel Park (14-0) in the PIAA Class AAAA semifinals at 1 p.m. Saturday at State College, with the winner earning a trip to Hershey and a chance to play for the title.

"To be honest," Dahms said when asked about Bethel Park, "I was kind of upset and our players were kind of upset because we were looking forward to having a shot at Gateway."

Interesting stuff.

Nonetheless, the Bulldogs and their high-powered offense will be trying to navigate their way through the Bethel Park defense Saturday. Wilson runs out of a pistol formation and relies heavily on running back Zac Groff (1,614 yards, 23 touchdowns) and quarterback Steve Huber (88 of 156 passing for 1,328 yards, 12 TDs). The Bulldogs have scored 560 points this season, 164 in the past four weeks.

The question Bethel Park coach Jeff Metheny doesn't know the answer to is this: Has Wilson seen a defense quite like Bethel Park?

"We play close to the vest on offense for a reason," said Metheny, whose team has scored just 27 points the past two weeks, but, conversely, yielded only 20.

"We feel like we play great special teams and great defense where we rush the passer and disrupt what the other offense wants to do. Because of that, we kind of just want to control the ball on offense and, our best chance at this time of year against this competition is to go out there and take care of the football, put up a few points and have our defense do the rest."

It has been the defense that has been the strength for the Black Hawks during the past month, and the unit they feel will have to play well, again, if the Great Southern Conference champions are to advance to Hershey.

"It all starts up front on our defense," said wide receiver-free safety John Schademan, recently named to the Post-Gazette's Fabulous 22 team. "Those guys along our defensive line are the key. When they play well, it makes it a lot easier for us to cover. I think, if you just look at our team and what we have done, you look at our defense as the guys who have really played well and are the reason we won the last couple of games."

One of those "last couple of games" was that monumental upset against Gateway, which came into its matchup with Bethel Park much the same way Wilson does this week -- as a team that has put up gaudy offensive statistics.

"You look at the numbers and you have to be impressed," Schademan said. "But, just like with Gateway, everybody saw they had put up a lot of points and you saw what we were able to do against them. It doesn't matter how many points you scored all year, it matters how many you score in that one game against us."