Joseph Scarvell said he doesn't want to sound arrogant, but he expected his Kennedy Catholic High School students to win a recent drama competition.

Kennedy's drama teacher said he believes the students are well-prepared, but won't make a prediction about their chances in the Pennsylvania High School Speech League State Drama Tournament today at Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, north of Harrisburg.

"I don't know what to expect at this next level," Scarvell said.

The students prepared a "cutting" -- shortened version -- of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and performed it two weeks ago in Bethel Park for the tournament's regional competition.

Kennedy came out on top of the six schools that staged plays.

That win earned the students one of the six spots for today's competition.

The Kennedy students left for the tournament Friday, and the performances were to begin at 8 a.m. today. Kennedy will be the third school to perform and, by 3 p.m., a winner should be announced, Scarvell said.

"They're quite excited about it," Scarvell said of his students.

Scarvell said he doesn't think any butterflies will affect the performance of his students at the next level.

"I trained them to focus on each moment, or each beat," he said. "As they do that, they go from focus to focus. Once the show gets started, there shouldn't be any space in their minds for anything else."

Cast members are John Bosley, Josh Bradac, Brittany Chill, Mike David, Tim Esmond, Anna Hohman, Robert Ippolito, Allison Leonard, Laura and Virginia Mateo, Abbey Rowe, Leann Saxe, Ben Loreno and Ian Thomas.