Twelve points.

In the world of high school football these days, that doesn't seem like a lot.

Not when Aliquippa is rolling up 61 points against New Brighton, North Allegheny is scoring 40 against Pine-Richland and Rochester rolling up 42 against Neshannock. But 12 points can make a big difference ... in a game and in rankings.

Springdale has a 5-2 record and is 3-2 in the Eastern Conference. Because of 12 points, the Dynamos are not ranked in the WPIAL in Class A by the Post-Gazette.

They lost to talented North Catholic, 20-14, the third week of the season and this past weekend dropped a 12-7 decision in the mud at Brentwood.

"We thought we'd hold onto a 7-6 lead but we gave up a fourth-and-20 play," veteran Springdale coach Chuck Wagner said. "Brentwood is a pretty good team. We knew that going in."

So is Springdale, even though the Dynamos probably won't win the Eastern Conference title. But don't be surprised if they go deep into the Class A playoffs.

Springdale has games remaining against winless Wilkinsburg and cross-river rival Riverview, where Wagner used to coach. A victory in either one should be enough to get the Dynamos into the playoffs. They should win both.

"I think we have a chance to go a ways, I do," Wagner said. "We kind of had the same situation when we went to Heinz Field [for the WPIAL finals] in 2003 and 2007."

The Dynamos had three regular-season losses in 2003 and wound up beating Sto-Rox, 30-13, in the championship game. In 2007, Springdale had a regular-season loss and then dropped a 10-6 decision to Serra Catholic in the final.

After rushing for 607 yards last season, quarterback Brian Shemenski is again the catalyst for the Springdale attack. Only this season, he is getting plenty of help.

Shemenski leads the team with 576 yards rushing on 97 carries and has completed 13 of 41 passes for 200 yards. But running back Bill Arch has rushed for 338 yards on just 29 carries and Dylan Barraclough has 337 on 52. Arch has scored six touchdowns, Shemenski and Barraclough five each.

"And we're a pretty young team," Wagner said. "We've got seven or eight underclassmen starting on offense and about the same on defense. So, it shouldn't be just this season for us."

Freeport, which entertains Deer Lakes tomorrow night, needs one victory to reach the magic 500-win plateau. If that happens it would be the first school in the Allegheny-Kiski Valley to reach 500 wins. The Yellowjackets go into the contest with a 499-297-36 record.

Here is a rule that every head coach should know about, especially with more and more teams going to a spread offense with the quarterback operating out of the shotgun formation.

In Springdale's loss at Brentwood this past Friday, the Dynamos quarterback was flagged for intentional grounding when he spiked the football to stop the clock out of a shotgun formation. It's a rule that not many people know about, but the official was correct with his call.

"The rule is that to stop the clock the quarterback has to be under center and can take no more than one step back when spiking the football," said Dick McHenry, who has been officiating football for 20 years and is a PIAA rules interpreter for football and baseball in the Beaver County area. "If [spiking the ball] is done out of the shotgun, it's intentional grounding."

When asked if he had ever had a quarterback spike the ball from the shotgun in a game he was working McHenry said, "No, I haven't."

There is a four-way tie for first place in the Class AAA Greater Allegheny Conference with Franklin Regional, Hampton, Knoch and Mars all with 2-1 marks. It's hard to figure which team has the easiest path to the conference title.

Hampton is at Franklin Regional tomorrow night, then closes out the regular season at home against winless Highlands. Indiana is at Mars and Knoch is at Highlands tomorrow night. Mars will then play at Knoch Oct. 30 with Franklin Regional at Indiana the same night.

It's hard to imagine the Greater Allegheny champion being seeded higher than No. 5 for the playoffs.

It's hard to imagine a player having a better game than the one Shady Side Academy's Brian Nickel had this past Friday at Valley.

A senior, Nickel carried 16 times for 207 yards and four touchdowns. He scored on runs of 56, 5, 4 and 4 yards. He also hauled in a 30-yard pass for a score in the third quarter. Nickel has carried 157 times for 1,075 yards this season.

Mike White's "High School Sports Edition" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.