When the California Pintos and Versailles Tigers met back in Week 3, the Pintos cruised to a 51-14 victory, handing the Tigers their second straight loss.
That losing skid has since reached eight games, as Versailles hasn't won since its season opener against Knob Noster.
The Pintos are looking to extend that streak to nine when the teams meet at 7 p.m. today at Riley Field in the opening game of Class 3 District 6 play.
"I'm sure they've improved since the first time we saw them," California head coach Marty Albertson said. "They're pretty young and I know they haven't won any since then, but they've probably improved.
"When it's win or go home, you can't take anybody lightly and you prepare hard for everyone."
Albertson added his players are ready for the increased pressure that comes with that one-and-done possibility.
"This is which is what you play for," he said. "I think they're ready to go."
The Pintos didn't need much time to tune up for the postseason in their regular-season finale, as they put a cap on a 9-0 slate by ripping Warsaw 56-20 last week.
"I felt like we executed real well offensively and defensively," Albertson said. "We scored 42 points in the first quarter, so you can't complain about that.
"We ended up with 454 yards of offense - we had 375 rushing and another 79 passing - and we really only played 21/2 quarters (with the starters)."
The game also served another purpose when senior Jaden Barr, a mainstay at quarterback for three years, went to the sideline and junior Landon Mouse got some snaps there.
"I changed my quarterback midway through the second quarter and gave Landon some work," Albertson said. "He did a good job, and that was really the first time we've put him in at quarterback. He's played it in practice, but never in a game.
"That was good experience for him, I'm sure we'll be able to get him some experience the next couple weeks. It's just in case, you never know when a quarterback might go down."
While the Pintos have had plenty of blowouts this season, that just means the JV quarterbacks have gotten time, but never the varsity backup.
"(Mouse) is probably the heir apparent there, so he just needs more time there," Albertson said. "... He starts at free safety for us and plays wide receiver all the time, so in blowout games you hate to bring him back at quarterback when the other kids who haven't played need some work. And we don't want him to get injured, because he's a real important part on defense and at receiver."
The first time around, California raced out to a 51-0 lead by halftime against Versailles. The Pintos racked up 455 yards of offense, 325 on the ground and 130 through the air. Versailles did manage 225 yards of offense in the loss.
This could be the first of three straight district rematches for California, the top seed. If fifth-seeded Southern Boone can notch a minor upset in the 4-5 matchup with Owensville, the Pintos and Eagles would meet for the second time, with California winning the first time by a 48-7 score. And if seeds hold, California and No. 2 Blair Oaks would meet in the district final, a rematch of the Pintos' 21-10 victory three weeks ago.
"That's the only thing I don't like about this playoff system, you play a lot of conference teams twice," Albertson said. "But it gives everybody a shot, so I guess it's good in that way.
"It's always tough to play the same team twice because they've seen what you do and have first-hand information on you. Hopefully we can develop a few things they haven't seen and play well enough to win again. You hope you can get it done."
But one thing the Pintos have that the other don't is home-field advantage all the way through districts thanks to the No. 1 seed.
"I told the guys it was important late in the season to take care of business," Albertson said. "Home-field advantage is big and we've got a nice new field and we like playing there. Blair Oaks is a very tough opponent, and in your second-round and first-round games, you never know, so home-field advantage means a lot.
"I surely wouldn't want to travel in districts. If we were going to Blair Oaks for a district final, that would be a tougher row to hoe."
Albertson said there are a couple talking points now that the playoffs have started.
"What i told them is when you get to a playoff situation, you've got to play hard and play smart," he said. "You can't have penalties. Those will stop momentum. I know kids don't try to have penalties, but it's one of those things we harp on all the time, cutting down on penalties, along with protecting the football. We've done that pretty well.
"Truthfully, Blair Oaks is the only game where we've given up the football, so the next time we play them we've got to make sure to not turn the football over.
"The teams that go a long way in the playoffs, when you look at their stats, they usually don't have many penalties and they take care of the football."