The chilling November wind bites through the air, and most schools have put away their football gear and moved inside to the basketball court.

Out on the worn grass west of the home stadium, Bishop Luers defensive coordinator Lew Goodwin barks out a reminder. It's impossible to replicate his gruff, familiar voice in print. Suffice it to say his message that only four teams remain standing in Class 2A - one step from the state finals - comes through loud and clear.

Luers is still playing football. What else is new?

“We have great tradition already at Luers,” safety Quyuan Mattox said. “That's why most of us came here to play football. We knew we could make it this far. We're all brothers. We trust each other. We have each other's back. We had to pull it together and we did.”

Luers (8-5) has the most losses of any team in any class still standing in the state tournament. But is there anyone, anywhere, who is willing to count the Knights out when they host Rensselaer Central (11-2) at 8 p.m. Friday at Luersfield?

Luers has won 11 semistate titles, tied with Indianapolis Roncalli for the most in state history. Since Roncalli lost in the sectional round, Luers can claim sole possession of most semistate titles with a win over Rensselaer Central. Luers is tied for fourth with seven state titles.

Winning another semistate won't be easy, however. Rensselaer Central has a seven-game winning streak, and hasn't lost since a 21-7 defeat to undefeated Class 3A West Lafayette in a game that was tied with 10 minutes left.

“We've heard they're a really good team and they like to control the clock,” Luers' Steve Kiermaier said. “So, we're going to have to be really physical this week.”

Rensselaer Central is a young team with only three seniors among its 22 starting offensive and defensive positions.

One of those seniors, however, is running back Justin Bohannon, who has rushed for more than 1,500 yards. He often uses the blocking of junior fullback Ben Ahler, who has added over 700 yards. Junior quarterback Nick Green is capable of passing, but also adept at running out of the wishbone, double-wing or power-I formations.

Leading the way is 6-foot-10, 315-pound offensive tackle Ben Davidson.

“They run the ball and run right at you,” Luers coach Matt Lindsay said. “There are no frills. Out of 200 plays we've seen (on tape), there have been about a dozen passes. Their forte is to keep the ball away from you and go on long drives. That's their tune and they do that pretty well.”

Lindsay said he doesn't doubt Green is capable of throwing the ball. He believes Rensselaer Central chooses to be relatively one-dimensional because they are so strong at running the ball.

“We anticipate they're going to try to play smash-mouth football,” Lindsay said. “Cass ran the ball on us and I'm sure they're looking at that and figuring that's what they should do.”

Rensselaer Central coach Chris Meeks said his players are well aware that Luers' five losses don't reflect the strength of the Knights' program.

“They do what they do,” Meeks said. “Come tournament time, you can throw out their regular-season record and we know that. At tournament time, they're always one of the top 2A teams. They have outstanding athletes and they know how to win in the playoffs.

“If you're going to go to Indianapolis for the state championship, you pretty much have to go through Fort Wayne Bishop Luers.”

Mattox said he believes the Knights will need to come out with heightened intensity from the very start of the game. They had to fight and claw their way back against Cass last week, trailing the entire game until the second overtime.

Luers' players have been able to put disappointing losses behind them and refocus, and expect to be able to put the thrilling win behind them as well.

“We always say, ‘New week, new meat,' ” Mattox said, then laughed. “That's how we say it. We just move on and forget about last week.”

Kiermaier believes the key to winning the school's 12th semistate title is a time-tested one.

“We have to play 48 minutes of Luers football,” Kiermaier said.