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The road to a state championship is a long one, but it's a journey that the North Tama football team is well acquainted with. The Redhawks came up just shy of a state title last year, falling to Southern Cal in overtime in North Tama's first-ever state championship game appearance.

The Redhawks have looked poised to return to the UNI-Dome all season long, cruising to a 10-0 record and allowing just 18 points along the way. Nine of their 10 contests have been decided by four scores or more.

Their one close call came against North Mahaska (8-2), who they face tonight at 7 p.m. for the second time in 10 days in the first round of the Class A state playoffs.

The Warhawks played North Tama to a scoreless tie through three quarters before the Redhawks' Dylan Youel punched in the only score of the night in a 7-0 North Tama win. North Mahaska corralled Youel, Class A's ninth leading rusher, for most of the game, holding him to just 63 yards over 23 carries.

Youel has maintained his top-10 rushing rank despite his slow day against the Warhawks and sitting out the Redhawks' substate matchup with Highland of Riverside last week with back spasms. He's rushed for 1,140 yards and 21 touchdowns this season.

"Dylan was able to do some walkthroughs during practice this week," North Tama head coach Brent Thoren said. "Being able to sit him last week (against Highland) was probably a good thing.

"You take a kid like Dylan out you lose a little bit (offensively), but we have a ton of kids ready to play."

Thoren said he expected Youel to play tonight against the Warhawks, but if he's not able to go, the Redhawks have a more than capable option in backup running back Colton Hamilton. The senior rushed for 129 yards and three touchdowns in relief of Youel last Wednesday against Highland.

"It's a luxury to have a runner as good as Colton ready to go," said Thoren. "It's kind of a plug-and-play with him."

Even with such a dynamic rushing attack, North Tama's strength continues to be its defense. The Redhawks didn't allow a point until Week 5 this year and have pitched shutouts in eight of their 10 games this season. They boast a hard-hitting, opportunistic secondary with a dominating front four ahead of them.

Jeremy Wrage, Grant Vesely, Matt Popelka and Nathan Jones have controlled the line of scrimmage all year for the Redhawks, accumulating 50 tackles for loss between them on the year.

"Jeremy is a great edge rusher, but Popelka and Jones, all they do is get double-teamed," Thoren said. "Every play they're going through two guys."

Having such a strong defensive front allows Thoren to drop seven back into coverage, eschewing the blitz in most instances, something that Thoren termed a "luxury" for his defense. It's also helped produce 18 interceptions for the Redhawk defense on the season, seven of which have been courtesy of James Weida.

Even with the perfect regular-season record and the gaudy statistics, the Redhawks know none of that matters in the playoffs with many players returning from last year's heartbreaking loss to Southern Cal.

"We have guys that have been here before," Thoren said. "Our preparation has been very business-like. We're just trying to live in the moment with how we prepare and do what we do."