Greg Mihalik knows how to distribute his sophomores.

Hampton's football coach had a pair of 6-foot-2 sophomores - Bob Bartley and Steve Paskorz - dueling for the starting quarterback position in preseason.

"I told both kids that no matter who won the job, the other would be on the field someplace," Mihalik said. "They're too athletic not to be."

Bartley was named the Talbots' starting quarterback and has completed seven of 23 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown - a 56-yard strike to Sean Hennessey.

Paskorz was moved to running back and has rushed for 469 yards and six touchdowns - on runs of 19, 26, 33, 78, 53 and 74 yards - despite getting no carries in the second half of a 55-14 win over Fox Chapel.

Hampton (2-0) defeated Mount Pleasant 25-14 last week and comes to Knoch for a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday. It will be the Knights' third consecutive home game and their homecoming.

"That kid has really impressed me as a running back," Knoch coach Mike King said of Paskorz. "When a kid switches from quarterback like that, you wonder if he has the durability and toughness to hack it as a running back.

"He has shown he has all of that. That kid is the best running back we've seen so far."

And Mihalik figures Hampton's passing game will become more consistent.

"We've dropped some balls and haven't executed some routes," Mihalik said. "Bob's been doing a good job back there.

"Mount Pleasant stacked the line against us and we expected that since we ran so well in our first game. We're going to deal with what teams give us. I'm equally confident in our passing game."

Knoch (0-2) threw often in last week's 34-12 loss to Moon and figures to do more of it against Hampton.

"Our offensive line needs time to mature," King said. "In high school, it's harder to learn blocking schemes than passing schemes.

"I know our backs are champing at the bit to run the football and I'm sure we'll run it a lot more often later in the year."

Knoch will be facing a 44 defense against Hampton. The Talbots have traditionally played a 50 formation.

"We changed this year to fit our personnel," Mihalik said. "We have a lot of 20-pound athletic-type kids who are really fast and we're trying to take advantage of that."

Hampton is plus-four in turnovers/takeaways through two games.

Knoch is getting healthier. Defensive end Steve Yamnitsky returned from injury last week and wide receiver-defensive back Kory Bottles returns this week.

King lauded the play of linebacker Billy Elliott against Moon, but described his team's tackling as suspect overall.

"We have to tackle better than that this week," King said.

The last three games played between Knoch and Hampton have been decided by seven points or less, including last year's 24-20 Talbot victory.

"It doesn't matter who's having a good year and who isn't," Mihalik said. "Our teams always match up well."

"The year they were undefeated (2001), we blew a 28-6 lead against them," King said. "There's a lot of history to this series."

Hampton at Knoch

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7:30 p.m., Friday

Statistic: Hampton sophomore running back Steve Paskorz has rushed for 469 yards and six touchdowns through six quarters this season.

Streak: The last three Hampton-Knoch games have been decided by a single score: 31-28 Hampton in 2001, 14-7 Knoch in 2002, 24-20 Hampton last year.

Strategy: The Knights plan to throw the football more often in the early part of the season because their offensive line is still maturing and pass-blocking is less technical than run-blocking.

Speaking: "It doesn't matter which one of us is up or which one of us is down. Knoch and Hampton just seem to match up with each other well and the result is a good game." - Hampton coach Greg Mihalik