For the past two seasons, Skyler Schultz did not play football for Monaca High School -- and that made his brother-in-law unhappy.

This isn't a story about the brother-in-law who runs the drug store down the street wishing his inlaw played for the town's team. Schultz's brother-in-law is Sam Cercone, Monaca's head coach.

"I wanted to concentrate on baseball and basketball; football was never really my favorite sport," Schultz said.

But he played football for the Indians as a freshman and even earned a varsity letter, which is why Cercone kept hoping his brother-in-law would change his mind about playing.

That happened this season. Schultz is one of the reasons Monaca will be playing for the WPIAL Class A title at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Heinz Field. The Indians (11-1) will take on undefeated Clairton (12-0) in the final.

It wasn't so much peer pressure that made Schultz, a 5-foot-10, 160-pound running back/defensive back, decide to give football another try as it was senior bonding.

The boys in the senior class at Monaca, especially the ones involved in athletics, are a close group. The guys who Schultz pals around with made a pact they would play all three sports -- football, basketball and baseball -- together their senior year in an attempt to win a championship.

"We've been playing sports together ever since we were little," Schultz said. "We just decided we'd play everything together as seniors and see what we could do."

Schultz has fit in perfectly in the backfield with Tony Reda and Zach Garber. The Indians don't have a running back who would be considered a breakaway threat, but all of their backs run hard and fight for yards.

Reda, 6-1, 185, leads the team in rushing with 1,081 yards and often lines up at quarterback in place of freshman Matt Bradford, who took over when senior starter Brandon Gaydosh was lost for the season with an injury. Schultz has chipped in with 855 yards and 11 touchdown on 127 carries and Garber has rushed for 778 yards on 98 attempts and scored 11 times.

"We run that 'Hog' offense and it's tough for teams to defense because we have Tony at quarterback and a lot of guys who can run the ball," Schultz said of the unorthodox offensive set Monaca employs as a change of pace. "And we have a pretty good receiver in Andy [Ronczka], so it's not like we can't throw the ball."

Schultz also isn't a bad receiver and has caught eight passes for 100 yards and a score. Ronczka has caught 12 passes for 295 yards and two touchdowns.

No one was happier than Cercone when Schultz said he was coming out for the team.

"He's pretty much a man of his word, so when he said he was coming out I knew he would," Cercone said. "When he didn't have baseball this summer, he showed up for all our meetings and everything."

WPIAL championship games are not foreign to Schultz. His older brother, Ricky, played for Monaca when it went to the Class A final in 2000 and lost to Rochester at Three Rivers Stadium.

Actually, Monaca played in the WPIAL final from 1998-2000, losing twice to Rochester and once to South Side Beaver. Cercone was an assistant coach on those teams.

With the Monaca School District merging with Center and the high schools combining for the 2010-11 school year, the Indians would like to win a WPIAL title this season ... especially with 17 seniors on the 45-man roster.

"I can remember sitting up in a box at Three Rivers Stadium for the championship game in 2000," Schultz said. "I must have been 9 or 10 and it was awesome.

"I don't remember if I thought about wanting to play in a championship game when I got older. But I get chills now just thinking about playing in it."

Baseball is still his first love -- he plays in the outfield for the Indians and might be asked to pitch this spring -- but he's glad he went out for football his senior year.

"This has been great and I just hope we can keep it going," he said.WPIAL Class A final

• What: Monaca (11-1) vs. Clairton (12-0).

• When: 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

• Where: Heinz Field.

• TV: FSN Pittsburgh.