BROOKVILLE— A two-week layoff can be a good thing — especially if it's following a four-game losing streak.

The Moniteau football team finds itself in such a situation as the Warriors prepare to travel to Brookville for a District 9 Class AAplayoff game at 2 p.m. Saturday.

"We could have used this bye week earlier in this losing streak,"Moniteau coach Jeff Campbell said. "I think it will benefit us. We'll find out Saturday if it did.

"We've been spending a lot of time working on basic fundamental things like blocking, tackling and the passing game."

Moniteau (5-5) heads to Brookville (7-3) coming off losses of 39-19 to Karns City, 49-36 to Redbank Valley, 20-19 to Clarion and 49-20 to Sharon.

All four losses have a common denominator:Moniteau fell behind by a lot of points in the first half.

"That last game ... we were getting ready for the playoffs and were sitting certain people here and there,"Campbell said. "The other games, I can't explain our slow start. We do well in the second half because this is the most well-conditioned football team we've had at Moniteau.

"We do wear teams down. Now we have to find a way to keep games within reach early."

The Warriors were outscored by an average of 29-6 in the first half of their five losses.

"That losing streak can be deceiving,"Brookville coach Chris Dworek said. "They've lost to some pretty good teams there and they played them tough."

Sophomore running back James Shope played the first quarter at quarterback for the Warriors last week, or he might be entering the playoffs as a 1,000-yard rusher. He has 133 carries for 964 yards and 12 touchdowns as it is.

Quarterback Tyler Armagost has thrown for 1,705 yards, 21 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Five Moniteau players have at least 15 receptions for more than 200 yards. Josh Loos has 32 catches for 533 yards and eight touchdowns, followed by Clayton Casper (17-318-3), Josh McFadden (19-226-1), Dakota Campbell (17-217-6) and Mitch Czech (15-216-2).

Czech, lineman David Glenn and running back Ricky Best are out for the season with injuries. The Warriors are healthy otherwise.

"This extra week off gave us some time to heal people up,"Campbell said.

Moniteau will be playing Brookville in postseason for the third time in four years. The visiting team won the other two games. Brookville scored a 20-13 triumph at Moniteau in 2004 and the Warriors posted a 35-25 win on the Raiders' turf in 2005.

"That's just how the district is set up,"Dworek said. "It's usually us, Brockway, Karns City and Moniteau. We're bound to see each other pretty often.

"(Moniteau) can run and throw the ball as well as we can. This game will come down to the play of the offensive and defensive lines. Whoever can handle the pressure and stay balanced will win. Whoever has to put all their eggs in one basket will be in trouble."

Brookville is 2-4 in home playoff games and hasn't won a postseason game at home since posting a 21-10 triumph over Brockway in 1999.

The Raiders boast District 9's leading rusher in Joe Galbraith, who's carried the ball 167 times for 1,379 yards and 16 touchdowns. Quarterback Shane Heschke has 734 yards and six TDs on 98 carries.

Heschke has also completed 71 of 149 passes for 1,298 yards, 14 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. His top receivers are Alex Kerr with 25 catches for 561 yards and nine TDs and Rocky Pearce with 16 catches for 297 yards and four scores.

Heschke is the younger brother of former Brookville quarterback Nick Heschke.

"I'll be glad when those Heschke boys are through at that school," Campbell said. "They've won a lot of football games."

There actually is one more Heschke coming: freshman Jared Heschke.

"But people can relax a little bit. He's a fullback-linebacker, not another quarterback,"Dworek said, laughing.