• His quarterback, J.J. Wilson, is the best athlete he's coached in his 18 years at the Steelers' helm.

• His club's defense is much improved since he made several lineup and position changes.

• All the pressure is on Rochester, the Big 7 Conference regular-season titlist which has racked up 11 consecutive conquests, including a 35-20 verdict at Farrell's Anthony Paulekas Stadium in the season's eighth week.

Farrell (8-3) meets Rochester (11-0) on the Hampton High School turf in Allison Park at 7:30 p.m., and Falconi fully expects his Wilson-led club will be "electric."

"I really believe we can match up with them now,'' said Falconi, who made a precedent-setting handful of late-season moves with his defense. In the teams' initial meeting, Farrell was without the services of Terrence Gash and Frank Tamber, but both have returned to the Steelers' lineup.

In that regular-season contest, Rochester romped for 372 yards rushing, led by Reuben Jackson (164) and Randy Anderson. However, Farrell answered with 307 yards of real estate, led by Wilson's 10-for-18, 178-yard passing performance.

"I don't see them shutting our offense down and containing (Wilson),'' Falconi said. "They're not a great defensive team. They've bent, given up points. I thought, with the 20 we scored that night, we should've scored two more (touchdowns). It was well within our range, we just didn't take advantage. But I certainly feel we can move the ball. The key to the game is we gotta stop them. But that's why I'm very optimistic. We think our defense, at this point, is capable of stopping them, and they have one heckuva offense.''

"We had our running game going pretty well that night,'' recalled 13th-year Rochester head coach Dan Matsook. "But we'd like to mix it up a little more. If not, we may not get away this time around. We'll try to keep 'em off-balance with some other things we can possibly do."

Rochester quarterback Zach Harvey completed only a pair of passes in that outing, but one was a 69-yard TD toss, which opened up the Rams' running game.

"Defensively, we played good enough to win, that's about the best thing I can say at this point,'' Matsook candidly assessed. "I think we have to have a better effort this time around. With J.J. Wilson, they're explosive. Anything can happen when he has the ball in his hands. He's a big part of their offense. He runs and throws the football, but they obviously have other athletes: Lokey Howell, Gash, (Lamar) Claiborne. Those are other weapons we'll have to contend with."

TEAM STATISTICS
FARRELL	OFFENSE	ROCHESTER
1690	Rushing yards	3217
153.6	Per game	292.5
1345	Passing yards	799
122.3	Per game	72.6
128-60-10	Att-comp-int	64-39
3035	Total yards	4016
276	Per game	365.1
293	Points scored	445
26.6	Per game	40.5
FARRELL	DEFENSE	ROCHESTER
1762	Rushing yards	953
160.2	Per game	86.6
403	Passing yards	927
36.6	Per game	84.3
114-31-16	Att-comp-int	n/a
2165	Total yards	1880
191	Per game	170.9
177	Points allowed	126
16.11	Per game	11.5
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
FARRELL — J.J. Wilson 79-564; Terrence Gash 75-417; Lamar Claiborne 63-357
ROCHESTER — Reuben Jackson 159-1,304; Randy Anderson 102-697
Passing
FARRELL — Wilson 128-60-10-1, 360, 14 TDs
ROCHESTER — Zach Harvey 61-36-N/A-700
Receiving
FARRELL — Lokey Howell 27-854; Marcellino Manilla 9-177; Claiborne 7-98
ROCHESTER — Kris Griffith 18-359
Scoring
FARRELL — Wilson 13 TDs, 93 pts.; Howell 11 TDs, 68 pts.; Gash 7 TDs, 42 pts.
ROCHESTER — Jackson 16 TDs, 102 pts.; Anderson 14 TDs, 84 pts.

After witnessing Wilson's 5-TD performance in last week's 45-7 rout of Greensburg Central Catholic, Falconi pronounced him "the best athlete I've ever coached."

"What a performance!'' Falconi marvelled. "The best? I think so, I really believe that. First of all, to play quarterback and do what he does -- not only run well and make the right decisions -- but also throw the ball. He has a strong arm, and the way he finds his receivers is amazing. And defensively, he's our leading tackler in the secondary and has six interceptions. He's not afraid to put his nose in there. To be able to do those kinds of things, he's just a great athlete.''

Considering Falconi has coached Lorenzo Styles, now a member of the St. Louis Rams, that's a mouthful.

"Lorenzo's a great athlete, but I don't know if he could've played quarterback,'' Falconi said. "(Wilson) could be our tailback, and he can handle the pressure. He's gonna be electric on that turf. We didn't get that chance last year, and it hurt us, bad. Offensively, J.J.'s been reborn. He had a couple of dull games, but now he's on fire. I just hope he doesn't burn out.

"I'll be honest,'' Falconi continued. "I don't think they (the Rams) wanted to get on turf. They have those big horses and I think they'd rather grind it out on mud and in the dirt. They're a power football team. Turf is definitely an advantage for us. I think that's in our favor. They've got speed, but they're more of a wishbone, power-I with two tights and they run a lot of counter stuff.''

Falconi said of his revamped defense, "We're almost at the point that our defense is as good as it was in '95 and '96. Not quite, but it's really improved. People that saw us play these two playoff games can see the difference in our defense, but it's something I've never made in my whole career, drastic changes like this late in the year, but we had to.

GAME-BY-GAME
FARRELL (8-3)
20	Laurel	12
12	Wheeling C.C.	21
34	Monaca	28
41	Summit Academy	12
34	Union	18
40	Neshannock	0
28	Western Beaver	21
20	Rochester	35
6	South Side Beaver	16
WPIAL PLAYOFFS
13	Carmichaels	7
45	Greensburg C.C.	7
ROCHESTER (11-0)
49	Summit Academy	6
39	Union	16
53	Neshannock	15
27	Western Beaver	14
56	Reynolds	7
27	South Side Beaver	7
39	Laurel	14
35	Farrell	20
27	Monaca	9
WPIAL PLAYOFFS
60	Cornell	6
33	Wilkinsburg	12

"I'm very optimistic and I like the idea we're the underdog,'' Falconi continued. "Thirty-five-to-20 looks, pretty much, like an easy win, but it wasn't and not too many people know it. Their players might take us a little bit lightly. I'm loving this. It's totally the opposite of last year (when the Steelers entered the postseason as the 2-time defending PIAA Class A champion). I love this situation. They're in the pressure-cooker, they're the ones who're undefeated.''

"We had a feeling we may be meeting them again," Matsook said. "We're not surprised.''

Neither is Falconi.

"They weren't gonna lose, so eventually, we knew if we continued (winning) we'd meet them somewhere along the road," he said. "And here we are.''

On the significance of meeting for a second time in the same season, neither Falconi nor Matsook ventured a strong opinion either way, choosing to portray it as a non-issue, although Falconi admitted, "We learned the hard way'' how to handle Rochester's offense in that first meeting; thus, the defensive changes.

"We've bettered ourselves, and that's one of the pleasing things about coaching, to see changes and the kids being successful,'' Falconi explained. "As coaches, we're just trying to make use of their talent, put them in a position where they can do what they're best at doing. But with all this optimism, we're still playing a great football team in Rochester. This is their year, the year they've been waiting for. If we beat them, it'd be a major upset. But at the same time, that Farrell tradition is coming to the top again."

Directions to Hampton High School: Take exit 4 off the Pennsylvania Turnpike and proceed south on Route 8. At the fifth traffic light, make a left onto Wildwood Road Extension (Yellow Belt). Go one block and make a right onto School Road. At the top of the hill, pass the middle school and the stadium. The road dead-ends at Topnick Drive. Make a left and follow through a ravine to the top of the next hill. The school is on the right.