Perry football coach Bill Gallagher has always gone to great lengths -- figuratively and literally -- to challenge his team with tough non-conference games outside of the City League.

Turns out, one of the greatest challenges yet was the one that actually plays its games closer to the Perry Traditional Academy building than anyone -- the Commodores included.

The preseason No. 1-ranked team in the City League -- Perry -- will travel about a mile and a half up Perrysville Avenue to Martorelli Stadium to play North Hills at 7:30 p.m. Friday in a season-opening game.

"Some of their kids live closer to our stadium than some of our kids," North Hills coach Jack McCurry said.

"[The two schools are] right next to each other, so we thought it would be a good idea to come out and play. It'll be a good game for the fans and a good barometer for both teams."

Perry, which plays its home games at Cupples Stadium on the South Side, has been the rare City League team that has scheduled aggressively out-of-league for years. The league power -- the Commodores have won eight of the past 13 city championships -- regularly will play teams such as Ohio power Youngstown Ursuline, Erie Cathedral Prep or Erie McDowell in PIAA District 10, schools from Wheeling, W. Va., and those in central Pennsylvania.

Coach Bill Gallagher also has made it a point to scrimmage WPIAL powers during preseason drills (for instance, this season, Perry scrimmaged North Allegheny and Central Catholic).

"We take pride in the fact we'll play anybody if given the opportunity," Gallagher said.

Another opportunity to play an elite program arose out of relationships that developed between the coaching staffs built through the school's meeting each other in passing camps in the summer.

"We have a tremendous respect for the North Hills program and the history of North Hills," Gallagher said. "Once the week [on the schedule] opened up, we jumped at the chance because we just want to give our kids an opportunity to compete against best programs around.

"This is a great chance we feel like we couldn't pass up."

Said McCurry: "A lot of our kids know their kids. They're right next door. This will give us a chance to play against some outstanding skill that we really don't get to see in the Northern Seven. It's a little different experience for us, and we're looking forward to it."

It would be easy to characterize this game as Perry's speed and skill versus North Hills' experience and talent along its offensive and defensive lines, but it's not that black and white. The Indians, for instance, return senior quarterback Taylor Schmidt, who accounted for more than 1,500 yards of offense and 10 touchdowns last season.

But North Hills has its most experience on the lines, where it has five returning starters, including standout Dan Heinauer.

"They're tough kids, and they play great technique," Gallagher said. "They play tough, so your kids have to get after them. We have to establish a run game and have to, of course, protect the passer. We're going to go out there and try to get the ball in our playmakers' hands and make them make things happen, let our kids play our game."

Perry's top playmaker is senior quarterback Greg McGhee, who combined for 970 yards and 14 touchdowns passing and rushing last season. The Commodores also feature three-year starting receivers Devin Ghafoor, Ray Taylor and Gerald Sherrell. Junior Leighton Hawkins and Eric Frye also have the potential to do damage with the ball in their hands.

"They've got tremendous skill kids," McCurry said. "McGhee is very good, very athletic. He makes a lot of things happen out there on the football field, so it's very difficult to match up with them in the skill positions, so we have to do some other things -- control the ball, keep it away from them, grind it out, make it a long game, those types of things.

"We don't want to go out and get into a track meet kind of thing with them; they're simply too talented. They simply have better skills than we do. They're a very good football team that is going to challenge for the City title."

Perry is coming off a 7-3 season in which it lost in the City League semifinals; North Hills made up for a pedestrian 4-5 regular season by advancing to the WPIAL Class AAAA semifinals in 2009.

• Who: Perry at North Hills.

• When: 7:30 p.m. Friday.

• Where: Martorelli Stadium, West View.

• The skinny: It's a non-league game for both teams but the matchup of City League power vs. WPIAL establishment is intriguing.

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