Last week's Mid-Atlantic DI games were supposed to tell us much about who is truly strong in the league, and that's exactly what fans found out.

The Pittsburgh Harlequins, in beating Media convincingly showed they are for real, and sit pretty at 3-0. PAC crushed Washington 86-14, but that was expected. NOVA showed they are still contenders with their defeat of Baltimore-Chesapeake.

Now we have a pair of really big games. Unbeaten Pittsburgh host unbeaten Maryland. This should be the one to decide which team can really haul in PAC.

Meanwhile PAC looks at a potential bump in the road with NOVA visiting. PAC kind of has to shake off their blowout of Washington, as it is easy to start thinking all the games will be that easy.

"The main lesson we took away from the game is a need to play the whole 80 minutes," said captain Greg Suellentrop. "At times we become complacent and let in soft tries. Our goals in league games need to be defensively oriented. Each week we talk about shutting out our opponents, but we haven't pulled that together yet. Our inability to finish games let us down last year in the playoffs, and we think if we can make that a priority we'll have more success this year."

The PAC backline, re-arranged a bit, is getting better and the players are starting to understand each other's roles and abilities. Still they are trying to catch up to a forward pack that is experienced, and has been bolstered by some young talent.

"Mainly, we just try to improve each game," said Suellentrop. "This weekend starts the meat of our schedule with NOVA, Norfolk, Media and Pittsburgh upcoming. We'll have a better understanding of who we are and what are potential can be in four weeks.

Idle this week, Norfolk sits at 1-1 and is looking for a surge to get back to the top four.

This weekend's matches:
Raleigh at Media
Baltimore-Chesapeake at Schuylkill River
Maryland at Pittsburgh
NOVA at PAC