Tired of the torrent of turnovers, Lafayette coach Paul Woolard placed all his focus on sure-handed play in the waning weeks of the regular season. The Fighting Irish must have received the message loud and clear.

Lafayette ripped off narrow victories in the final two weeks against Excelsior Springs and Benton to earn a playoff position. In both games, a previously porous offense did not record a single turnover and avoided the crippling mistakes during a mid-season losing streak.

When the turnovers stopped, so did Lafayette's losing ways, and the team qualified for the postseason for the second consecutive season. The Fighting Irish enter tonight's Class 4 regional contest against Staley as heavy underdogs but own a fresh mindset entering the game at North Kansas City District Athletic Complex.

"I think our guys understand that Lafayette can't beat Lafayette," Woolard said. "You have to force people to beat you."

Indeed, turnovers played a drastic role during a three-game losing streak that threatened to derail Lafayette's building effort. In losses to Cameron, Chillicothe and Kearney, the Fighting Irish (5-5) lost the ball a total of 13 times - including a six-turnover effort in a 74-0 drubbing by the Bulldogs.

Thanks to a clean effort on offense against Benton and Excelsior, however, Lafayette's stout defense turned the tables and generated some takeaways of its own. In the past two weeks, the Fighting Irish have notched four interceptions and hope to use that momentum to slow a torrid Falcons' team - ranked No. 3 in the most recent AP poll.

"People might write us off cause we're Lafayette, but we're by far the hardest-working team in this conference," Lafayette senior linebacker Chris James said after the win against Benton.

In a rematch from last year's regional clash, Staley (10-0) enters as the heavy favorite but remembers this position all too well. In their first season, the Falcons lost only two regular season games but nearly fell to a staunch Lafayette team, 19-14, in this game round a year ago.

After the close call, Staley coach Fred Bouchard said he knows better than to underestimate the Irish.

"We were probably fortunate to have ended up winning that ball game," Bouchard said. "I don't think we overlooked them, but boy, they come here and amped it up and played really well.

"We're hopefully a different team and prepared for these moments. This is one of those clear measurements."

Regardless of the result, Lafayette can view the season as another successful building block in its burgeoning rebuilding effort. Despite a slew of key injuries, several unexpected underclassmen stepped forward and laid the groundwork for a hopeful future on the North Side.

In addition, the Fighting Irish recorded their first .500 season since 1995 and earned back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time since 1994-95 - when the program was in the midst of a five-year stretch of district championships.

"We've been fortunate to find more and more depth and realize a lot of our young kids can play," Woolard said. "We're extremely proud of what we've accomplish this year with the adversity we've faced.

"It's been a wild year, and it's very big reward to get to this point."