Patrick O'Shea firmly believes that if his North Catholic football team is to knock off Derry Friday in a WPIAL Class 3A semifinal, it needs to play its best game of the season.

You can't blame the head coach for setting such a lofty standard. O'Shea remembers well the 27-0 beating that Derry laid on North Catholic Sept. 21, the latter's only defeat to date.

“I've been coaching high school football for 27 years and Derry is one of the most well-coached teams I have ever seen on film,” O'Shea said. “Every one of their players knows exactly what he needs to do on every play.”

North Catholic and Derry will square off again at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Hempfield Area High School.

In the earlier meeting, Derry (10-1) humbled North Catholic's potent offense, holding it to just 83 total yards. But Derry coach Tim Sweeney knows what NC quarterback Zack Rocco is capable of. The junior has passed for 1,758 yards, 24 touchdowns and five interceptions this season. He has added 474 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns.

“He's a great athlete with a lot of poise,” said Sweeney. “It helps that they probably have the best offensive line in the league.”

That group includes center Jack Friel, guards Carson Primrose and Dom Prentice and tackles Alex Michalski and Finnegan O'Shea.

“We've been making use of a tight end more lately,” said Coach O'Shea. “Nikhai Hill-Green has been playing there and Mathias Benson has played some, too. We've even gone to a double-tight formation a few times.”

NC's ground attack is paced by senior Cameron Branch and his 676 yards, but others have contributed. Aside from Rocco, who is second on the team, Anthony Serventi has totaled 396 yards and six touchdowns and Joey Prentice has 241 yards and three scores.

“We don't have a go-to guy in the running game,” said O'Shea, “but we have several guys who we believe we can count on. Zack's ability to pick up first downs with his legs has been key for us.”

In a 31-24 victory over Quaker Valley last week, North Catholic overcame six turnovers, including Rocco's three interceptions.

“We can't turn the ball over this week,” emphasized O'Shea. “Our kids have to understand that this game will boil down to fundamentals, doing well the things they were taught in youth football.”

Unlike North Catholic (10-1), Derry does have a feature back in senior Justin Flack, who has rushed for over 1,200 yards and scored a school-record 32 touchdowns this year.

NC held Flack to 37 rushing yards in September, but he also had 100 receiving yards and scored all four of Derry's touchdowns.

“He's played well since his sophomore year,” said Sweeney of Flack. “He continues to make plays for us week in and week out.”

Derry does have other threats in the ground game, evidenced by the 149 yards gained by Onreey Stewart in last week's 46-0 drubbing of Central Valley.

Quarterback Paul Koontz has topped 800 yards passing and thrown 11 touchdowns this season, but stopping the run will be the main focus of North Catholic's defense.

“Derry's offense is very methodical,” O'Shea said. “They just keep at it and eventually, someone on the opposing defense makes a mistake. Their offensive line is really good and we have to stay low. The minute we are upright on defense, that's when they'll break a big play.”

Derry's defense is led by senior outside linebacker Dom DeLuca, who has no shortage of respect from his head coach.

“He's the best linebacker in the WPIAL, at any level,” said Sweeney, who expects a much different game than the one played seven weeks ago.

“The first time, we played just about a flawless game,” he said, “and North Catholic didn't come close to doing so. It was an anomaly.”

Derry's lone loss this season was a 25-22 setback to Elizabeth Forward Sept. 28.