By Doug Petrowski

Playing only its second postseason football game in 52 years, the Mountlake Terrace Hawks don’t have a lot of experience to fall back on as they prepare for their Quad-District matchup with Kennedy Catholic (Burien) on Saturday. But Hawk Head Coach Tony Umayam thinks he knows what it is going to take to get that first playoff win.

“Teams have to really be dialed in on what they do,” Umayam said. “It comes down to execution.”

Mountlake Terrace (5-4) faces the Lancers (7-1), fourth in the latest Seattle Times 3A football rankings, Saturday at Highline Stadium in Burien at 7:00 p.m.

Umayam and his coaches have been watching game film of Kennedy Catholic and the coach is impressed with what he sees, calling them “one of the top teams in the state.” The Lancers breezed through its Seamount League schedule this season; the only blemish was an opening week non-conference loss to the state’s second-ranked 3A team, Mount Si.

Accessing high school game film has been made simple with the advent of the Internet. “It is fairly easy to get and exchange film with opponents nowadays with online applications, so we can get a good idea of what they like to do and what type of players they have,” Umayam explained. But coaches can’t expect a totally clear picture of an opponent’s tendencies just from video. “You can usually expect things you don’t see on film since everyone knows everyone else has watched film at this point in the season,” Umayam added.

Playing in the postseason is not unusual for Kennedy Catholic, which has won or shared the league championship 19 of the past 24 years. In 2011, the Lancers beat Lincoln of Tacoma 52-14 in their Quad-District playoff game, then fell to Camas 48-14 the following week.

Mountlake Terrace’s only appearance in the playoffs was in 2009, when they lost to Central Kitsap 35-0.

The Hawks are in good shape physically, said Umayam, with senior nose tackle Tyler Webster the only player questionable for Saturday’s game.

The Mountlake Terrace-Kennedy Catholic match-up can be viewed live on the Hawks Live Sports Network starting at 6:50 p.m. on MLTnews.com.