During the championship runs of the Traditional boys basketball team in the 1990s, coach Joe

Cardinal coined a term to describe his team's ability to win state titles even though they

played a free-wheeling style. He called it "all the way without a play."

For this year's Randolph football team, they just might go all the way without a pass.

The Cardinals perform both ends of the oft-spoken coaching key for success: Run the ball,

and stop the run. They've done it so well that they're one win away from a state title. From

the Section VI championship, to the Far West Regional, to the state semifinal — they

haven't even attempted to throw a pass.

"We don't pass very often — we can, but we don't have to," Randolph coach Pat Slater

said. "If you don't have to, why put it up there?"

That's a good question with no real good answer for a team that is coming off a record-

breaking rushing performance in the state semifinals. In the Cardinals' 61-8 rout of Groton

they set records in state tournament play (which includes the three rounds after sectional

championships) with nine rushing touchdowns and 601 rushing yards. The yardage total was only

3 yards off the total-yards record — all without throwing a pass.

Randolph (11-1) will take the same philosophy into its game with Moriah (9-2) in Saturday's

Class D state championship at noon in Syracuse's Carrier Dome.

"Our entire year has been [based] on our kids up front — we're not real big up there,

but kids know what their job is and they go ahead and do their job and get off the ball," said

Slater, whose 187 wins are sixth on Western New York's all-time list. "And we've got three

pretty nice backs."

Randolph seniors Matt Hettenbaugh, Alan Lockwood and Travis Terry are those backs, while

senior quarterback Mike Maycock provides the occasional option run.

This is Moriah's second straight championship game. It lost last year's final to Maple

Grove, 55-7. The Section VII (Plattsburgh area) champion Vikings have a strong running game

behind senior Ron Schofield (295 yards and two touchdowns on 38 carries in the semifinals) but

they have also passed for more than 500 yards.

The new state rankings will be released today, with Randolph expected to be atop the Class

D poll after it throttled previous No. 1 Groton. Moriah was fifth last week.

Championship week

The Buffalo News will have state football final preview stories for Randolph

(today), Sweet Home (Thursday), Southwestern (Friday) and North Tonawanda (Saturday).

Which team has the best shot at a state title? Vote and comment at the Prep Talk

blog.

If you're not headed to Syracuse this weekend, follow the action of each game at

Prep Talk Live at buffalonews.com.