As Coach Tom Langworthy approached his euphoric team, the players began to chant: “OP, OP, OP, OP.”

Yes, after six games, it is finally OK to talk about Orchard Park, Jamestown’s longtime rival, which arrives for today’s 7 p.m. showdown at Strider Field with plenty on the line.

The unbeaten Quakers (6-0, 5-0) are ranked 12th in the New York State Sportswriters Association Class AA poll, while the No. 25 Red Raiders are 5-1 and 4-1, their only loss coming against Bennett, 28-26, in double overtime. Most importantly, the winner tonight is the division champ and the top seed for the upcoming Section VI playoffs, which begin next week.

The loser, meanwhile, faces several seeding scenarios, pending the outcome of other Class AA games this weekend.

“There could be four teams at 4-2 in the league, but not all of us play each other,” Langworthy said earlier this week. “That’s where it gets hairy. If we win, we’re No. 1. That much is confirmed.”

What also can be confirmed is that the Quakers love to throw the ball.

Senior quarterback Jack Sharp has completed 125 of 204 passes for 1,505 yards, 19 touchdowns and six interceptions.

“He’s really good, he’s got a nice arm, he’s got a ton of experience … and he’s played in some big games,” Langworthy said. “He throws a good ball, he’s poised and he shows that he can run.”

Four of Sharp’s receivers have more than 20 receptions, led by senior Jonathon Lander, who has 23 catches for 377 yards and eight touchdowns. Other favorite targets are junior Charlie Bartolotti (26-314-4), senior Tristan Lancaster (22-322-2), junior Peter Liberatore (20-201-3) and freshman Kegan Mancabelli (17-135-2).

Mancabelli is the team’s leading rusher (79-340-4), followed by junior Tom Sullivan (40-161) and Sharp (18-60).

“They’re going to throw it, they’re going to throw it over 40 times,” Langworthy said. “We’re working on our pass defense. The big thing is we have to keep everything in front of us and we have to be in position. I feel comfortable with our game plan. The other thing we have to continue to improve on is our pass rush. We’ve got to put some pressure on and see if we can get (Sharp) rattled and make him make some inaccurate throws.”

By comparison, the Red Raiders’ offense is of the run-first variety. Junior Savon VanSickle leads the way with 702 yards on 126 carries and 14 touchdowns, followed by sophomore Jaylen Butera (453-57-4) and junior Demarri Jones (246-38-2).

“They can make you miss, they can run you over and they can run by you,” Langworthy said.

While Jamestown doesn’t take to the air a lot — 11 times a game, on average — freshman Trey Drake has had a nice season, completing 38 of 67 passes for 703 yards and eight touchdowns. He has been intercepted twice. Drake’s favorite target is junior Elijah Rojas (14-246-2), followed by Butera (10-186-4), junior Simeon Leeper (9-179-1) and Jones (7-149-1).

Jamestown freshman quarterback Trey Drake has passed for 703 yards and eight touchdowns. P-J photo by Scott Kindberg

“Trey being able to throw to our receivers has really been effective for us and makes our offense complete,” Langworthy said.

Orchard Park, which is coming off a 21-20 victory last week against Lancaster, averages 41 points a game compared to 34 for Jamestown, but the Quakers have been stingier defensively, yielding 12 points per game compared to 21 for the Red Raiders. The top tackler for Orchard Park is Michael Pataky (48). Josh Tonkin leads the Red Raiders with 53 stops.

“They’re good, but I don’t want to be playing a poor team for a title,” Langworthy said. ” I want to feel like we earned this. It’s 6-0 against 5-1 and may the best team win. That’s the way it should go.”

Since 2000, Orchard Park has won 15 of 20 games in the series, but since 2012 the gap has closed considerably. During that span, both teams have won four times, with Jamestown winning twice in 2014 on its way to a state championship. The Quakers have won the last three meetings. The two teams did not play each other in 2018.

“This is the most competitive I’ve seen AA in my experience,” Langworthy said. “I’ve never seen AA this loaded, so for us to come out of this thing after Week Seven as a (one seed) means a lot to me.”