In week one, Penn-Trafford will travel to Upper St. Clair. In week three, the Warriors will host McKeesport, and in week five, they'll take on Pittsburgh Central Catholic.

So what's the significance of those opponents?

They are the past three WPIAL and PIAA Quad A champions and three of the top programs in the area again this year.

Penn-Trafford is faced with a brutal slate of foes this season, and coach Art Tragesser feels that his team needs to be at its best every week to compete for another postseason appearance.

"We just really have to concentrate on really playing well. Our schedule could be the toughest schedule in Pennsylvania," said Tragesser, who's team finished 5-5 overall and 4-1 in the Quad South last season.

"Our focus is playing as hard and good as we possibly can play each week. If we don't, we won't be able to compete with those guys."

Penn-Trafford lost in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs to North Hills, 28-23, in 2006.

Hoping to lead the Warriors back to the playoffs is a solid group of senior captains -- Justin Edwards, Chris Rasky, John Granatire, Brian Mack and Pat McEwen.

All will play crucial roles for P-T this season.

Edwards and Rasky will fill the playmaker mold at receiver and defensive back, replacing Tim Cortazzo now playing at the University of Toledo.

"Justin has a lot of experience from last year," the coach said. "We've got a lot of kids who can do some things with the ball. We're happy with that."

Rasky, who is getting college looks from several MAC schools, will be looked upon also to equal his 494 yards and five touchdowns from 2006. He'll have to pick up the leadership void left by his brother Erik, who was a standout quarterback last season for P-T, throwing for 1,702 yards and 15 TDs.

"It's tough to fill his shoes, because he was such a good athlete and knew how to step it up when other players weren't playing at his level," Rasky said. "Hopefully I can do the same this year."

Replacing Erik Rasky under center likely will be McEwen, who is battling with junior Jeromy Klobucar and sophomore Matt Hyland heading into Saturday's opening game.

"We'll work with them and hopefully they'll progress as the season goes on," Tragesser said.

Mack will lead a solid group of ball carriers which also includes Edwards and juniors Bobby Westerlund, Mike Brown and Jordan Curry.

"We look good. There's a couple kids helping out back there, doing real good," Mack said. "Our line looks good, too. We're looking for a big year running the ball from everyone."

"Everyone in our offense can carry the ball -- our wide receivers, slots, H-back and quarterback," Tragesser added. "We have a lot of different people. We'll spread it around and see what's working for us.

"We'll be running a lot of different guys. We're going to run a lot of different sets with different people."

Other receivers in the lineup will be seniors Steve Schmidt, Kenny Pizarro and Matt Schade, as well as Brown. Senior Nick DeNillo is at tight end.

Senior Steve Mandish and junior Mike Cima return on the offensive line, but the Warriors are looking for some underclassmen to fill in the holes left by the graduation of All-Conference stars Dan Matthews, Clint Wherry, Bill Holtzer, as well as Aaron Zitkovich.

"That's our big concern this year, because that's where we are most inexperienced," said the 12th-year field boss.

"We're working with a lot of kids, trying to find the right combination. Kids are working hard there."

Tragesser also has concerns about the defensive line, which lost All-Conference player Cory Johnson to graduation.

"We don't have a whole lot of experience on the defensive line. We don't have anyone returning," he said.

"We're using a lot of kids. We're just trying to find something. We have no actual starter coming back. There might be some playing both ways. We'd like to come up with six to alternate, because it's pretty tough to play on both sides, especially with the schedule we play."

Linebacker Paul Stefanik, an All-Conference tackling machine now playing at Kent State, will be hard to replace, Tragesser said, but he's looking forward to big seasons from Granatire, Mack and senior John Ferragonio in the heart of the defense.

"We're going to be pretty tough," Granatire said. "We're going to go out there and make plays, hustle to the ball."

The secondary will be a strength for P-T with Rasky, Edwards and Brown returning to the 3-5-3 format.

Edwards will also handle the punting duties, while junior Connor McGartland and senior Brent McBride will take on placekicking tasks. Steve Huegel, who was the punter and kicker last season when healthy, walked on at South Carolina this fall.

"It's been going pretty good. We've had some young kids fill in the shoes of some of the older kids that left last year," Edwards said."We just have to stay together, play as a team and work hard."

Tragesser agreed that hard work will determine how far the Warriors go, especially against an upgraded Quad South Conference that features Division I talent-loaded Pittsburgh Central Catholic and Norwin, as well as much improved Hempfield, Latrobe and Connellsville.

"We're just going to take it one game at a time. We'll come in each week and prepare for the team we're going to play," Mack said. "Hopefully we'll come out with a victory every week."