Two matches into the PIAA Class AAA boys soccer playoffs and Peters Township has made two round trips all the way from McMurray to Bridgeville and back.
For the defending state champions, back-to-back wins over Taylor Allderice and Fox Chapel at Chartiers Valley High School made it seem like the Indians were playing in a local tournament.
"It feels like we're still in the WPIAL playoffs," Peters Township coach Bobby Dyer said following Saturday's 4-1 victory over Fox Chapel, the Indians second win over the Foxes in eight days. "Last year, we were all over the place."
Peters Township (19-5), winners of nine straight and 17 of its last 18, finally gets the chance to travel when the Indians play Central Bucks East (19-4-1) tonight at Chambersburg High School beginning at 6 p.m.
In last year's quarterfinals, Peters Township defeated Central Bucks East, 2-0, on the way to the team's third state championship.
"We've talked to their coach and we played them last year. Plus, we have friends out there through my college coaching," Dyer said. "We have an idea of what they do and they have an idea of what we do."
What Peters Township does is win at this high level.
The Indians are on a remarkable 10 match win streak in the postseason.
Over the past three years, Peters Township has won 17 of 20 playoff matches - one of those losses came in the 2006 PIAA quarterfinals against Manheim Township at Chambersburg High School.
"I don't think we really know what that means," senior forward Nick Wilcox said. "We knew after we lost to Mt. Lebanon (on Oct. 4), we had to step our game up if we wanted to get to this point. When we had to do something, we've done it."
And they've done it in a different fashion than last year's club, led by Shane Pruitt, the 2007 PSCA Player of the Year.
With each match, a new source of offense emerges for the Indians, whether it's Wilcox, Christian Brandstetter, Nate Troscinski, Corey Wilcox or Cody Partyka.
So far, Peters Township has scored eight goals in the state playoffs.
Then, there's the Indians' defense.
They've allowed five goals over the past six matches and done so against some of the state's top offensive talents. Reid Cservak, Tim Hutchins and Ryan Mathews have marked players like Fox Chapel's Andy Coulson and Allderdice's Zack Spolar with great success.
Their play has made it easier for goalie Ryan Koepka to communicate assignments and sweeper Greg Weimer to make the occasional attack on offense.
"Defense wins championships," Dyer said. "Our five seniors play outstanding defense. With Reid, Hutch and Ryan Mathews, we give those guys one-on-one assignments. I believe in challenging players and they have not come up short."
Neither has the Central Bucks East defense.
With shutout victories over District 3 champion Exeter Township and Lampeter-Strasburg in the first two rounds of the PIAA tournament, East has 16 on the year.
Combine that with 19 shutouts in 2007, and East goalie Jake Pickering and defender Michael Whitaker are part of a strong defense, which will be assigned with the task of slowing Peters Township's attack.
"When we come to play, we don't think we're going to lose," Wilcox said. "We know what we did last year and we know we can't lose in the playoffs if we are going to do it again."