Shoulda, coulda, woulda?

Not at Slippery Rock High School.

The Rockets have won two straight football games after a 0-4 start, but there is no lamenting about what could have been at camp Clyde Conti.

"Heavens, no," said Conti, the Rockets coach. "We just keep thanking out kids for the opportunity to keep playing football games. These are the kids in Slippery Rock who want to play football, who go out and play hard each week."

So, there's no wondering where the Rockets would be going into their homecoming game against Hickory at 7 p.m. Friday had they not given up a 35-yard touchdown pass to Fairview with 10 seconds left.

There's no contemplating what could have been had Slippery Rock come up with one big play in a five-point loss to Sharon, or what its playoff chances would be had it stopped Grove City on a fourth-and-8 in overtime.

"It's not the mistakes you make, but how you respond to them," Conti said. "Our response has been good. We still keep coming out practicing hard and preparing well."

But it's hard to ignore how radically different things would be for the Rockets had they won the three close games they lost.

The last two haven't been close.

Slippery Rock beat Greenville 31-0 two weeks ago before handling Mercer 21-7 last week on the legs of Ben Collins and David Bauer.

Holdovers from the glory days of Slippery Rock football, Collins rumbled for two short touchdown runs and Bauer added another score as well as 112 yards rushing on 14 carries.

Had those three close losses gone the other way, the Rockets would be in Hickory's position right now.

Hickory is 3-2 and third in Region 3 behind undefeated Wilmington and Reynolds, who has one loss.

But the Hornets lost to both Wilmington and Reynolds this season.

After the 69-28 loss to Wilmington, the Hornets refocused on defense and have given up just 31 points in three games since then, including a 35-0 shutout victory against Greenville last week.

There has been nothing wrong with Hickory's offense.

The Hornets have a plethora of weapons at their disposal and an innovative offense to employ them with.

Hickory runs a spread, shotgun offense which coach Jim Bell has tweaked just enough over the two-plus years in which he has run in to keep teams guessing.

"Nobody can run their base defense against us," Bell said. "Every week we think we have a pretty good idea how teams are going to play us, but we don't really know.

"But we change our offense week to week and year to year."

It has worked out well with Nick Erdesky taking the majority of the shotgun snaps at quarterback.

Hickory has two 200-pound running backs in Keith Yager and Vince Campbell as well as a speedy ball carrier in Josh Peager, who rushed for 79 yards on just nine carries against Greenville.

But perhaps the most important man in the Hornets' offense is center Phil Tizio.

"Every play we run from the shotgun," Bell said. "Even our 'Victory O,' if we are lucky enough at the end of the game to use it, is from the shotgun."

Bell has every center in his program trained to snap the ball from the shotgun.

"Phil has probably made thousands of snaps in the shotgun," Bell said. "Knock on wood, he hasn't had a bad one all year. He probably does it in his sleep."

It is possible that Hickory could finish in a three-way tie for second place in Region 3 with Reynolds and Sharon.

Most observers believe the top two teams from the region will make the playoffs.

Only four teams make the District 10, Class AA playoffs from Region 3 and Region 4.

Bell and other wonder why there isn't eight instead of a bye week between the regular season and playoffs.

"It's absolutely the dumbest thing I have ever heard of in all my life," Bell said. "If we were 0-6, I'd say the same thing. I have never heard of a high school playoff system where there is week off between the season and the playoffs.

"There hasn't been one District 10 coach or committee member I've asked who can give me a good reason why there is a bye week."

It isn't a new argument.

Last year, Grove City was nearly shut out of the playoffs with a 7-2 record, and then went on to play in the Class AA state title game.

Wilmington was 7-2 last year and shut out. Hickory was 6-3.

Bell hopes that fate doesn't befall his team this season.

"As a coach I always want to reward my kids, tell them if they work hard good things will happen," Bell said. "This system doesn't reward the kids. Clyde and I will probably talk about that before the game."

But Slippery Rock isn't grousing about the playoff system. It's not playing the woulda, shoulda, coulda game.

Just the Hickory one this week.

"This is our best opponent to date," Conti said. "They have an awful lot of weapons and they are bigger and stronger. But I like our kids at Slippery Rock. They have been one of the best group of kids I've even been around."