What if it's still unbeaten when the calendar flips to February? As the excitement around the program grows and the attention from the newspapers intensifies, is winning them all such a good thing?

Only one Lancaster County boys' basketball team is facing this question. With two games left in the regular season, Lancaster Catholic is 21-0.

Is this a blessing or a curse? The Crusaders choose neither of the above. They say it's no big deal.

"We try to come out and play every game the same way,'' leading scorer Greg Testa said. "None of us talks about being undefeated. It's not getting to me and I don't think it's getting to the other guys.''

Zach Shedleski puts an even more positive spin on the situation.

"I say it's good,'' the guard said. "One of our goals is to stay undefeated. Other teams might relax right now, but we won't.''

This is the response you would expect from Catholic, which is ranked sixth in the state in Class Triple A in one poll. The Crusaders haven't gotten this far by dwelling on negatives. What team in the midst of a special season is going to acknowledge the pressure that comes with perfection?

The last Lancaster-Lebanon League team to navigate the regular season unbeaten was Hempfield in 1999. Those Knights failed to win district or state titles in Quad A.

They tell a different story about what it means to have zero losses come playoff time. For Hempfield, it was a burden. One the Knights might have been better off playing without.

"You try to enjoy it, but as soon as you win a game you start thinking about the next one very quickly,'' Hempfield coach Warren Goodling said. "It happens all of a sudden. You get off to a good start. It's 6-0, then 10-0, then 17-0. At some point you're thinking maybe a loss would be good for us. Everyone is telling you that.''

Hempfield won its first 29 games, but in the end the expectations became a problem. Close wins started to feel like losses. Everyone started to wonder what was wrong, even though the team was still undefeated.

The Knights stopped arch-rival McCaskey four times in 1999. With each game, the margin of victory became smaller. When Hempfield prevailed over the Red Tornado by two points in the District 3 semifinals, those around the program didn't exult in victory. They worried about the close call.

"People said, "Man, what happened?''' Goodling recalled. "I said, "We just won a Quad-A semifinal game. This is great. We would take that every year.''

That year, everyone wanted more. When Hempfield lost to once-beaten Harrisburg, 56-39, in the district championship, the thud was almost audible.

Just like that, 29-0 became 29-1. It felt as if all was lost, even though the state tournament was a week away.

"The first thought was, "What do we do now,?''' Goodling said. "The whole conversation in the school and the community was that loss. In school the following Friday, people were still talking about the Harrisburg game. It was hard for us not to get caught up in that.''

Hempfield never recovered. It fell to Hatboro-Horsham in the first round of the state tournament.

The dream of claiming Lancaster County's first Quad-A state title ended, just like that. It disappeared faster than the Knights ever could've imagined.

Goodling said the hangover from the Harrisburg loss was at least partly to blame. Daron Pressley, a guard on that team, said the Knights didn't play with the needed urgency, even though the season was on the line.

"We weren't focused,'' said Pressley, now a junior at Millersville. "We were supposed to beat them by 15 and we should've beaten them. You need to focus in States, because it's one and done. If you lose, that's the end of the storybook season.''

Barring an upset tonight against Pequea Valley or Thursday against Northern Lebanon, Catholic will face the same challenges that stood in front of Hempfield.

The Crusaders will enter the quarterfinals of the L-L League playoffs against Solanco Monday as the most talked about team in the area. The Golden Mules will be the first postseason opponent with a chance to change all of that.

Pressley has some advice for Catholic: Savor these moments, but understand what comes with being part of a special team. Expect the best from every opponent every night.

"We had a big target on our backs,'' Pressley said. "Being undefeated, people expect you to win. They expect a lot of good things, and with that comes pressure.''

Catholic could be on a collision course with McCaskey -- the state's top-ranked Quad-A team -- in the L-L League championship game on Feb. 14. It would be the third straight year those teams squared off in the final. The last two meetings were lopsided McCaskey wins.

The Crusaders will be considerable underdogs if that scenario unfolds. If the Section 3 champs manage to claim the first L-L League title in school history, expectations will rise even higher. Catholic is the only Triple-A team in District 3 that has yet to suffer a loss. It's considered one of the favorites in a crowded field.

It's understandable that Catholic coach Bill Southward and his players are trying to downplay all this. There's no sense allowing yourself to get caught up in the hoopla.

"We've talked about our wins,'' Southward said. "We haven't talked about our losses, yet. That's the way we're looking at it.''

Catholic seems equipped to deal with the attention and the expectations. The Crusaders have senior leadership in Testa and Keith Keller, and they have a group of players focused on producing the best season in school history.

Of course, Hempfield didn't look like a team that was about to suffer back-to-back blowout losses after it started 29-0. The way that season ended remains surprising to the 1999 team.

"It just evaporated so fast,'' Goodling said. "It's very tough to go to March 1 and get your first loss, then rebound after that.''

So far, Catholic has won them all. Is it a blessing or a curse? Hempfield would probably say the latter.

The Crusaders will find out for themselves.