There is no postseason glory to play for. No playoff spots to be won or lost.

No buzz. No glory.

Neither the Slippery Rock nor the Wilmington High School football teams have anything to play for much beyond the end of this month.

So what?

"I keep telling them, 'Your name is on everything you do, whether you are 7-0 or 0-7,'" said Slippery Rock coach Clyde Conti. "That should be enough of a motivation."

The Rockets are in uncharted waters these days, after advancing to the playoffs the last two years and making considerable noise while doing it.

Now the only sound coming from Rocket Nation is sighs about what could have been.

Slippery Rock (3-4, 2-4) lost considerable punch on offense and defense to graduation, but entered the season as one of the favorites to win the new Region 3.

But things quickly went awry for the Rockets, culminating last week with a 28-7 loss to Hickory.

"The writing has been on the wall for awhile," Conti said.

In the final two games, a 7 p.m. kickoff against Wilmington in the final home game Friday and next week's contest against Erie McDowell, Slippery Rock will audition some of its youth.

Some sophomores will see more playing time.

"I'm not saying we're giving up on this season," Conti said. "We're still trying to find that spark. Now you have Wilmington coming in with one of the deepest and quickest backfields in the conference."

It hasn't been a good year for quarterback Ben Collins and running back Sean Ray, both sophomores. Collins has thrown six interceptions and only two TD passes to go with 335 yards passing. Ray, who gained more than 1,400 yards last season, had rushed for 497 this season.

He was held to minus-2 yards on nine carries against Hickory.

"It's important to go back out and keep plugging away," Conti said.

Wilmington coach Terry Verrelli is in the same dubious boat as him opponents, only the route there was different.

The Greyhounds (5-2, 4-2) are a few big plays away from being in the thick of the playoff race.

"Both game was lost were because of big plays," Verrelli said. "Against Grove City and Greenville, we did a good job limiting their running game, but we did an equally poor job stopping their passing game and the big play."

Wilmington's offense is led by a three-headed running back beast. The trio is spurred by Marquis Alston, who has rushed for 621 yards on 87 carries.

Jonathan Fauzey (74 carries, 450 yards) and Mark Bruno (50-527) round out the trio.

Bruno had 210 yards against Hickory.

But Wilmington will not be able to parlay that to a postseason berth.

So, Verrelli finds himself trying to motivate in a new way.

"You have to talk to them about why they play," Verrelli said. "The true mark of what type of person you really are is shown when things aren't going your way."