"It's my understanding that there is a home around Case and Pearl (avenues) that has its Christmas lights up, so we have to keep on winning to encourage those other people up along the stadium to put their lights up too," Wildman said. "It seems more festive. I hope we have all kinds of problems planning (next) week.''

That will be contingent upon how the Tigers (9-2) fare at 1 p.m. Saturday at Erie's Veterans Memorial Stadium against District 9 champion Karns City (8-3) in the opening round of the PIAA Class AA playoffs.

Sharon is coming off a 13-6 District 10 title-clinching win over Mercer County Athletic Conference rival Wilmington, which avenged a 28-10 regular-season setback.

"From Oct. 22 'til Nov. 12, for a young team to get beat 28-10 -- be down 21-0 -- and three weeks later come back and beat an awfully good football team says a lot about our kids,'' Wildman said. "I hope they build on that and not dwell on that.''

But, Wildman added, that should not be the case.

"We enjoyed Monday, but the focus of the week was to re-focus and I think we're approaching (Karns City) with a pretty good mind-set.''

Which is fortuitous, for, as Wildman noted, "Anybody playing football this time of year is a pretty good team -- and they are.

"They're an extremely well-coached team. (Head coach) Lon Hazlett, when he came to Karns City, turned things around. I mean, whoever heard of Karns City 10 years ago? But he's had them in the playoffs. They play solid defensive and, offensively, they're a little different personality. Two weeks ago they were spreading people out, running and throwing and optioning, but then their quarterback (Mark Bly) got hurt, so they played power football against Brookville (in the D-9 title tilt) and were very successful at it.''

Which leaves Wildman and his coaches, led by assistant Mike Donato, facing the prospect of preparing for almost two different style teams.

"That's kind of the difficulty,'' Wildman said. "On the one hand, we had to prepare for four wides and one setback and the shotgun, and on the other hand we have to be able to change that mentality if they come out in two tights and a power set and try to play a more physical brand of ball."

As for a preference, Wildman, who scouted Karns City in a 30-28 loss to Redbank Valley and last week's 14-7 win over Brookville (the Gremlins also were crushed, 41-0, by Wilmington in the season's sixth week), isn't sure if he has one.

"The teams we've played have relied on both styles and we've been fairly successful against both, and I feel confident after today that our kids will recognize formations and know where to line up and what to do.''

Wildman (186-71-6), Mercer County's winningest scholastic grid mentor, was heartened by last week's win over Wilmington even though the Greyhounds grounded previously unstoppable Carmone Parchman by limiting him to 54 yards on 31 carries.

"Probably the most encouraging thing about it was we have a tailback who has rushed for 1,700 yards, but didn't have a particularly big game and we still won,'' Wildman said. "But we were able to run the fullback (Justin Schweiss) and get the ball to our wideouts (Marlin Jackson and Terrance Phillips, who caught the game-winning 25-yard TD) and do what we had to offensively to be able to win the game.

"And Mike (Schneider) had a good game,'' Wildman said of his sophomore signal-caller's 7-for-8 passing performance. "In years past, when we've been more of a one-dimensional team, that sometimes catches up with you. But that wasn't the case last Friday.''

The somewhat unexpected success of a underclassmen-laden squad producing the school's seventh district crown almost leaves Wildman in a festive mood.

"When we were walking off the field (Thursday), I said to one of my coaches, 'It's kind of scary, but there seems to be a little bit of an air of confidence here.' I'm sometimes pretty good at reading (players) and sometimes not, but I'm hoping I'm right and the kids are ready to play. They better be ready to play, 'cause if they're not, Karns City will get their attention in a hurry.''

And there's no doubt Wildman would rather not necessarily be home for the holidays -- unless its practicing on the Tiger Stadium turf in preparation for next week's opponent.