October 19, 2012 7:00 a.m. MEADVILLE — A mantra for every coach, no matter what the sport, is to take things one game at a time.

However, Meadville head football coach Mike Feleppa can’t help but take a little peek at the longer view as his team prepares for a visit from the Bradford Owls. The two sides will kickoff a Region 5 battle tonight at 7 at Bender Field — senior night for the Bulldogs.

“You don’t look ahead,” said Feleppa. “You take it one game at a time and all that stuff. You can say all that, but I think for every coach the goal is to get into the playoffs. You take one game at a time to do that. But there comes a point where you have to accomplish this, this and this to get into the playoffs.”

And what’s on Meadville’s checklist for getting into this year’s District 10 bracket?

“I think we’ve got to win out,” said Feleppa. “It’s really that simple.”

After tonight’s game with Bradford, Meadville will then visit undefeated DuBois the following week, and then have a historic meeting against Conneaut in Week 10.

At this point, Meadville is 3-4 overall and 1-3 in Region 5. Should the ’Dogs clean up the rest of the way, they could finish the year at 6-4 overall and 3-3 in the region.

That should be good enough to get the ’Dogs a postseason spot, even if District 10 decides to go to a six-team playoff bracket instead of eight.

If the Bulldogs should drop a game between now and the end of the season, that could cause all kinds of trouble.

So, the best possible route for Meadville to get into the playoffs is to win, win, win.

Step one: Bradford.

Now, Bradford isn’t competing for a playoff spot with Meadville. The Owls participate in the postseason as a member of District 9. Yet, they have to win if they want to qualify for the District 9 championship.

“It goes by a point system,” said Bradford coach Jeff Puglio. “There are three triple-A teams that get a shot at the title. ... Right now we’re in second, but we’ve got to keep winning.”

So Meadville’s on the Owls’ to-do list, just as they are on the Bulldogs’.

Both teams are coming into the game with identical overall records (3-4). However, Bradford is a half-game ahead of Meadville in Region 5 (2-3).

“Bradford’s good,” said Feleppa. “They’re a good 3-4 team. They’ve lost some close ones.”

Bradford comes in after a 42-20 loss to General McLane last week. The Owls trailed the Lancers just 14-10 at halftime. But McLane rang up 21 points in the third quarter to pull away.

Meadville is coming off a 56-7 romp over Franklin, during which the ’Dogs gained 464 yards of offense.

That win snapped a three-game losing skid by the Bulldogs.

“We had a good week of practice so far,” said Feleppa. “Morale seems to be back up. And we’re trying to keep it that way.

“The goal now is to win two in a row, because we haven’t done that this year.”

Another way the teams are similar — other than their records and their desire to finish the season strong — is that they both run the wing-T offense.

Bradford’s wrinkle is that its offense truly centers around its senior quarterback Matt Yurkewicz. He’s passed for 360 yards and three touchdowns and has been picked off seven times this season. And he’s also the team’s leading rusher with 499 yards and seven touchdowns.

“Matt’s one of our better runners,” said Puglio. “And we like having him at the quarterback position. We can do more with him there. We’re not limited to one direction. We don’t have to run a counter to get him going the other way. He can take it power, he can take it bootleg. It lets us be more versatile with him.”

According to Feleppa, “Their quarterback is their best athlete, no doubt about it. They try to get him around the edge running the ball.”

The Owls will also hand the ball up the middle to fullback Aaron Fishkin (333 yards, three TDs) and send halfbacks Josh Corignani (273 yards, no TDs) and Justin Fishkin (217 yards, two TDs) to attack the outside.

Together, the Owls are rushing for an average of 207.1 yards per game.

“Their fullback is a hard runner as well,” said Feleppa. “They’ll run the (halfbacks) on some jet sweeps. That seems to be their main attack with them, jet sweeps and little rocket sweeps.”

Meadville’s wing-T — which averages 287.1 yards per game — is much more running back-focused. Fullback Ryan Harkness leads the team with 800 yards and eight touchdowns on 135 carries. Halfback Artrel Foster has 84 carries for 476 yards and eight TDs. And Tim Bolden and Trevor Martin share duty at the other halfback spot. Bolden has rushed for 340 yards and one touchdown. Martin has 325 yards and three scores.

“They’re a physical team,” said Puglio. “It’s going to be a physical game — two running teams going after each other. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”