Elizabeth Forward is not expected to go far in the WPIAL Class AAA boys' basketball playoffs after a late-season push qualified the Warriors for the postseason for the first time in three years.

First-year Elizabeth Forward coach Brian Znavor has to feel good about the way his team responded down the stretch, however, winning three of its last four games to finish tied with Yough (where Znavor previously coached) for fourth place in Section 5-AAA.

The Warriors (8-13, 6-6) will play Mars Area (15-7, 7-5) at 3 p.m. Saturday at Valley High School in New Kensington in a preliminary-round game.

To reach the playoffs, Elizabeth Forward had to avenge early-season losses to Yough (10-10) and Belle Vernon Area (14-7). The 76-51 victory against neighboring rival Belle Vernon on Jan. 31 was the highlight of the regular season for Elizabeth Forward, which followed that victory with an impressive 58-47 do-or-die triumph over Yough last Friday.

"All season we were close in some games where we thought we had an opportunity to win, but we could never seem to turn the corner," said Znavor, who believes tremendous progress has been made in laying the groundwork for a successful program where winning seasons have been rare. "Then about two weeks ago our kids really began to find themselves.

"The kids continued to work hard and practice hard where they got to a point where things started clicking.

"We dropped a game at home to Waynesburg [53-52, on Jan. 17] that we didn't expect to lose, but shortly after that, we went from playing maybe our worst game of the season to our best [against Belle Vernon].

"It's a tribute to the kids who came to work every day and bought into what we are attempting to do. Winning like this has definitely given our kids confidence that they need going into the postseason."

Even the team's only defeat in the last two weeks -- 67-52 at 5-AAA champion Thomas Jefferson -- is a plus for the Warriors, who lost by 38 points at home in their first meeting with the Jaguars on Jan. 13.

"TJ really put it to us the first time, jumping on us 25-2 to start the game," Znavor recalled. "Our kids are now playing with more confidence. The second time around we showed that we've become a much better team. It was only a 6-point game early in the fourth quarter before they started to pull away at the end."

Znavor knows a thing or two about playoff basketball. Four years ago while at Yough, he led the Cougars to the WPIAL title game before losing to Moon Area. It helped that Yough had Ben McCauley in its lineup. McCauley has since gone on to a successful career at North Carolina State where he is a senior forward and second-leading scorer with the Wolfpack (13.5 points per game).

There is no one on the EF roster averaging that at the high school level for Znavor, but two of his big men, 6-foot-3 senior Jordan Austin and 6-4 senior Sean Lavelle, have picked up the scoring pace in recent weeks.

Lavelle leads the team, averaging almost 12 points per game with Kolesar not far behind at 10 ppg. The tallest player on the team, 6-8 junior Jordan Kolesar, has also played a key role down the stretch along with 5-9 guards Ryan Styche, a senior, and junior point guard Dan Scurfield and 5-11 junior shooting guard Deren Breitinger.

"We thought we had a talented enough team to compete for a playoff spot this year and this will be something new for all of these kids," Znavor said.

"For our younger kids it shows that with some work [in the future] we could become a playoff team each year. Our [junior varsity] kids have played well this year and so has our freshman team. Both of those teams had winning records. Hopefully, getting into the playoffs will help turn the program around."