It's delightfully simplistic, but what else needs to be said?

Rather than enter into a paralysis of analysis, there's no need to spend hours breaking down the film or combing through all the numbers to examine why the North Hills football team has been able to pull off two of the biggest upsets of this autumn's WPIAL football playoffs in consecutive weeks.

It's the players, stupid.

"We're just playing better," McCurry said.

"We're playing better football, and we're not making the mistakes we were making earlier in the year. It's just a combination of that. It's the same kids; we're just playing better."

The Indians brought a less-than-impressive 4-5 record into the postseason and had not defeated a team that finished with a record better than 3-6 until shocking a pair of one-loss teams in consecutive playoff games.

North Hills pulled the upset in the opening round at No. 5 seed McKeesport Area, 19-7, Nov. 6, and then avenged a loss two weeks prior against rival and No. 4 seed North Allegheny with a 14-10 victory this past Friday.

Not bad for a team that lost three of its final four games in the regular season.

"They're executing better, they're competing better, [and] you can see they have whole 'nother level of confidence playing now," said Gateway coach Terry Smith, whose No. 1-ranked Class AAAA team will face North Hills tomorrow night.

"They're a very dangerous team. You upset a really good McKeesport team and a really good North Allegheny team in back-to-back weeks, you're a team to be reckoned with."

North Hills will try to pull off yet another bombshell when it plays Gateway at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Fox Chapel's James S. Burk Memorial Stadium. If Indians fans thought the previous two upsets were surprises, this one would be the biggest shocker of them all.

With all due respect to McKeesport and North Allegheny, the Indians are facing their toughest challenge yet in the Gators. Gateway is 11-0 and the tournament's No. 1 seed. The Gators have the best statistical offense (45.6 points per game) and defense (6.3 points against) in Class AAAA. They have outscored playoff opponents Plum and Penn Hills by a combined 84-3.

"They're so talented, you have to keep the ball away from them," McCurry said. "You can't give them the ball. With all the players they have, they're going to make plays, so you try to possess the ball so they don't have the chance to [do that]."

How much of a statistical mismatch is the game on paper? North Hills has yet to score as many points in a game as Gateway is averaging and has only once allowed fewer points than the Gators are averaging giving up to their opponents all season, a 14-3 victory against Pine-Richland on Oct. 2.

The Indians have scored only 36 points the past three weeks; Gateway has scored at least 35 in each of its past 10 contests.

"They just have tremendous athletes," McCurry said. "When you watch them on film, they have athletes at all their skill positions. They're simply outstanding when they get the ball, and that quarterback [Rob Kalkstein] just runs the show. He makes all the right decisions.

"Anybody who's going to beat them has to play a perfect game. And you not only have to play a perfect game, you have to get some luck. It will be a tall task for us Friday."

Kalkstein has passed for more than 2,000 yards and 24 touchdowns this season and for more than 6,000 yards in his career. He has moved into third place on the WPIAL's all-time passing leader board.

The weapons he can distribute the ball to include running backs Orne Bey (745 yards, 9.4 yards per carry, 11 touchdowns), Brendon Felder (583 yards, 9.3 per carry, 17 touchdowns) and Markie'd Jones (477 yards, 8.2 per carry, 7 touchdowns) and receivers Steve Vranka (30 catches, 741 yards, 11 touchdowns), Dayonne Nunley (15 catches, 7 touchdowns) and Armstead Williams (17 catches, 22.7 yards per reception).

Despite that abundance of skill-position talent, what has impressed Smith the most about his team recently is the play of his linemen, overcoming the absence of Mitchell Devall, a 320-pounder who missed last week's game and is questionable for tomorrow.

"The offensive line and defensive line have established themselves in these past few weeks," Smith said. "They've been constants for us, whether we're passing the ball or running the ball, by protecting Robby and defensively holding things down to let our linebackers run free."

For North Hills, quarterback Taylor Schmidt has been at his best during the playoffs, going a combined 17-for-26 for 185 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in the two victories.

"A few weeks ago if someone had said, 'You think you're going to beat McKeesport and North Allegheny in back-to-back weeks?' that just wasn't in the realm of possibility," McCurry said

"All we know now is we have a shot. We have a chance this week against Gateway, which is all you can ask for. They're probably the most talented team we'll see. We'll just see what we can do."

• What: Gateway (11-0) vs. North Hills (6-5).

• When: 7:30 p.m. tomorrow.

• Where: James Burk Stadium at Fox Chapel High School.

• The skinny: North Hills is the surprise team in the WPIAL Class AAAA playoffs and has upset McKeesport and rival North Allegheny. Gateway is the No. 1 seed. The winner plays Woodland Hills or Bethel Park in the final next week at Heinz Field.

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.