Way back in August, the Moskov family was planning its fall. Dave Moskov, Auburn's head football coach, was talking with his wife, Karin, who was scheduling a conference in Washington. How about the second week of November?

“I remember we were laughing, saying, ‘Here's the weekend that would be the state quarterfinals,'” said the head coach, who has four children. “But I told her to go ahead and schedule it. If we make it there, we'll work around it.”

Here they are.

The Maroons indeed made it to the state quarterfinals, but they won't stop there. After a 39-7 drubbing of Union-Endicott, they'll play Marshall at 3 p.m. Saturday at Paetec Park in Rochester with a place in the state championship game at stake.

And Moskov isn't the least bit surprised. He knew even back in August what he had on his roster.

“You look at the pieces of the team, and these are good kids. How good are they going to be? That's up to them,” Moskov said, recalling his thoughts from the summer.

Three months later, Moskov has his answer.

Every player on the Maroons roster has stepped up, and they'll have to do so again this week against a speedy Marshall team from Section V. The Jurists (10-1) are a bit of a surprise this season, making their first trip to the state semifinals since 1996. Head coach Jason Muhammad is in his fourth season with the team, and entered the season with a 13-22 record in three seasons.

The secret behind their success comes from behind the center. Taking the snaps will be Jeremiah Crumity, who piled up a 402-yard, three-touchdown performance against McQuaid this season - tied for second-most ever in a single game in Section V. That means Auburn's secondary, which snared six interceptions Saturday, will have its work cut out.

Not to mention the Marshall defense posted three shutouts this season and allowed 25 points only once.

But Moskov has seen it all before.

“There's no tomato cans in our division,” Moskov said of the tough competition in Central New York. “When you (play teams like that), you become a better football team. One of the reasons we've gotten better is we're playing against great teams and it pushes the kids to get better.

“And we just keep getting better.”