Shortly after his team won its first playoff game in nine years, South Fayette coach Joe Rossi walked off the field last Friday expecting to see his players with arms raised, jumping around in absolute jubilation.

Instead, in each direction he looked, he saw hanging heads.

"I told them, 'You're supposed to be celebrating,'" Rossi recalls.

"They said, 'Coach we didn't play well.'"

Surmised Rossi: "There's something special about them. They're hungry."

An appetizer digested, that hunger next goes face-to-face with a team that throughout the years has devoured its competition like no other.

Top-seed South Fayette (10-0) meets ninth-seed Aliquippa (9-1) in a WPIAL Class AA quarterfinal at Chartiers Valley at 7:30 tomorrow night. It's not often a No. 1 seed meets up with another legitimate title contender this early in the playoffs, which makes the pairing perhaps the best thus far this postseason.

It's one of the most unusual, too.

South Fayette might have the biggest target on its back, but considering the Lions' 35-15 first-round win against Beaver Area was their first postseason victory since 2000, combined with the fact the Quips are experts at playing this deep into the season -- they've won 25 playoff games, three WPIAL titles and two PIAA titles during that span -- some observers might actually dub Aliquippa the favorite.

It's that history Rossi was quick to help erase from the minds of his players.

"I told them, 'We're playing the 2009 Quips. We're not playing Darrelle Revis, Ty Law and all those other guys. You can't get caught up in the mystique,'" Rossi said.

Some might call this a psychological advantage for Aliquippa, but you can bet Quips coach Mike Zmijanac is not one of them.

"No way," Zmijanac said. "Trust me, when we play, the kids on both sides of the ball won't be thinking about anything like that. What's happened in the past might be relevant before the game. It might be relevant after. And it might be relevant to stories in the newspaper, but for the 11 who line up on either side of the ball, they couldn't care less."

What Zmijanac cares about is his defense being able to corral a potent South Fayette offense, which has scored at least 21 points in every game this season. The Lions have a 1,000-yard rusher in junior running back Jeff Davis (1,188 yards and 20 touchdowns) and are led by standout junior quarterback Christian Brumbaugh (1,856 yards and 21 touchdowns), who was 17 of 23 for 263 yards and three touchdowns in the opening-round win.

"He's the quarterback for the No. 1-seeded team and his team is 10-0. That's all I need to know," Zmijanac said.

"I don't know what size socks he wears or what color his eyes are. What is relevant is he's a good quarterback for a good team."

The play of the Aliquippa defense has been relevant to the Quips success all season long, as the unit has shut out two opponents and has not allowed more than 21 points in any game.

That group has been at its best the past four contests -- allowing only 16 points in that span -- and had little difficulty handling McGuffey in a 27-7 victory last week.

"They've done a great job," Zmijanac said. "We didn't start as a ball of fire, but we have gotten better."

In a game matching a great offense against an equally talented defense, Rossi leans toward it being a low-scoring affair.

"We know it's going to be that kind of game," Rossi said.

Rossi also knows that while his team might lack the big-game culture in which Aliquippa prides itself, his players are wily enough that mystique is offset by experience.

"I have a lot of kids with a lot of experience," Rossi said. "Christian has started 20 games [in his career]. Our offensive line has started together for 20 games. And we're already in Week 11, so we've seen everything."

• Who: Aliquippa vs. South Fayette.

• When: 7:30 p.m. tomorrow.

• Where: Chartiers Valley High School Stadium.

• The skinny: South Fayette is the No. 1 seed in the WPIAL Class AA playoffs, while Aliquippa is No. 9. The Quips are the defending WPIAL champions.

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.