In dire need of a victory to improve its odds of making the postseason, Steel Valley earned its biggest win of the season last week.

A victory this week would be even bigger.

After earning a critical 33-14 decision at Seton-LaSalle last Friday, the Ironmen (5-2, 5-2) play host to undefeated South Fayette (7-0, 7-0) in Century Conference play tomorrow night. The Lions, the Post-Gazette's second-ranked team in Class AA, sit atop the conference standings. The Ironmen stand a game ahead of Seton-LaSalle for the fourth and final playoff spot, trailing Keystone Oaks and Sto-Rox by one game.

"At this point, all these games are very important," Steel Valley coach Ray Braszo said. "I told my kids that from here on out, every game is a playoff game."

If that's the case, then the matchup with South Fayette is equivalent to facing one of the top seeds.

"[South Fayette] is undefeated and ranked pretty high and it's our homecoming," Braszo said. "It's a big challenge for us. Hopefully our kids are up to play well."

To do so, the Ironmen will lean heavily on a rushing attack that has flourished in recent weeks, and was nearly unstoppable against Seton-LaSalle. The Ironmen ran for 323 yards against the Rebels, with a trio of players doing all of the damage. Junior tailback Delrece Williams led the way with 173 yards and two touchdowns, and was aided by junior fullback James Caldwell (77 yards, two touchdowns) and senior quarterback Tony Johnson (73 yards, one touchdown).

"I think as far as the type of opponent it was, it was definitely our best running performance," Braszo said. "They're a big, strong team, so to do that against them was big, plus it was something we needed to do to win the game. It was a big game to do something like that."

On the season, Williams has rushed for 870 yards and 12 touchdowns, and Caldwell and Johnson have chipped in with eight rushing touchdowns apiece, allowing the Ironmen to run the ball with great success.

"That's our strength," Braszo said. "I feel like we can pass the ball, but our main strength is running the ball."

The Ironmen can play a little defense, too. They held firm on a key goal-line stand late in the first half against Seton-LaSalle, and limited Rebels quarterback Anthony Rizza, the WPIAL's leading passer, to 181 yards and just 13 completions in 33 attempts.

The Ironmen hope their success against one standout quarterback duplicates itself when they meet another this week. When it comes to throwing touchdown passes, South Fayette quarterback Christian Brumbaugh has no peers.

A 6-foot-3, 195-pound junior, Brumbaugh has a WPIAL-best 20 touchdown passes. No one else has thrown more than 14. Brumbaugh's 1,163 passing yards is good for fifth in the WPIAL. He has completed 63 percent of his passes and presents the Ironmen with quite a challenge.

"He's definitely a good quarterback and he did lot of damage to us last year," Braszo said in reference to South Fayette's 35-6 romp. "He runs their team kind of flawlessly. He puts the ball on the money and has good receivers."

And that's where another problem comes into play for the Ironmen -- South Fayette's offensive diversity. Six players have caught at least 10 passes for the Lions, including junior running back Jeff Davis, who leads the team with 781 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns.

"Their offense does a lot of things and we found that out last year," Braszo said. "We're preparing to stop it, but it's not easy because they don't do just one thing."

If the Ironmen want to do one thing, it's get another win and inch a little closer to the playoffs.

"We were kind of reeling for a little bit, but we got through the early part of the schedule just enough to stay in the race and make a run," Braszo said. "Right now, we're probably playing better than we have all year."

• What: South Fayette at Steel Valley.

• When: 7 p.m. tomorrow.

• Where: Campbell Field in Mun-hall.

• The skinny: The surprising Lions are 7-0, lead the Century Conference and are ranked No. 2 in Class AA by the Post-Gazette. Steel Valley is 5-2 and coming off an important victory against Seton-LaSalle.

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