Miami Northwestern football coach Billy Rolle never needed to put name tags on his players' lockers before this season.

The familiarity between players wasn't there as it had been during two previous state championship seasons.

''We had never had a situation with as many young kids that had never started a varsity game as we did this spring,'' Rolle said. ``Some of them had never met until just before spring practice.''

The learning process continues at Northwestern.

But over the past six months, the Bulls have regained the maturity of a state championship-caliber team.

On Friday night, Northwestern will try to move a step closer to winning a third consecutive state championship when it faces Killian in the Region 4-6A final at FIU Stadium.

Northwestern needs three more victories to become the first Miami-Dade County school to win three state championships in a row since the playoff format began in 1963.

''The funny part is they're still not all grown up,'' defensive coordinator Rodney Harris said. ``They're the most playful team we've had here in a long time.

``They look unprepared and make mistakes, but when game time comes, they've learned what it takes to win.''

It took some time, however.

MAJOR TURNAROUND

After a lopsided spring exhibition loss to North Miami Beach, Rolle needed a quick solution to losing 30 seniors, 10 of whom moved on to play for major college programs, including the University of Miami.

The coaching staff took steps to breed familiarity and help the younger players to quickly gain much-needed experience.

They assigned players' lockers according to what position they played.

Rolle also had assistant coaches spend time specifically with each position player within their unit.

''We had the line coaches spending time teaching how to play guard or tackle or center, or the defensive backs with the corners and then the safeties and so on,'' Rolle said. ``And then everything was scrimmaged or put in a real-game situation. It took a while. We needed to walk through everything before we could run through it.''

Senior wide receiver Tyrell Lewis, who caught the game-winning touchdown pass last week against Central, said early victories against Carol City and Booker T. Washington brought the team closer.

''We started to get to know what each of us are capable of, and we started believing in each other,'' Lewis said.

Their faith was put to the test after a heartbreaking loss to Central on Oct. 31 that cost Northwestern its 37-game winning streak and the District 13-6A championship.

Knowing it could not afford another loss, Northwestern made another big adjustment.

Sophomore Teddy Bridgewater moved back to quarterback and senior Wayne Times, who had started the previous three games at that position, moved back to wide receiver.

Bridgewater passed for 404 yards in the next game against Hialeah and Times caught three touchdown passes. During playoff victories against Columbus and Central, Bridgewater has exhibited the poise of a veteran, throwing six touchdown passes and no interceptions, and Times has excelled at wide receiver, quarterback and running back.

''It proved you can't beat us in one area alone,'' Bridgewater said. ``Our identity at the beginning of the season was a running team, but we've gotten good at passing, too.''

TAKING A CHALLENGE

Rolle, who guided Killian to a state championship in 2004, brought many of his assistants with him when he was re-hired at Northwestern last season.

Rolle eventually became the third Miami-Dade County coach to win three state championships, when he coached the Bulls to a mythical national championship last season.

But with players such as Jacory Harris, Sean Spence and Marcus Forston leading the team, Rolle and his assistants heard plenty of critics say they inherited a ``ready-made champion.''

''We took this season as a challenge,'' Rolle said. ``We wanted to see if we were capable of keeping things going with the young team like the one we have.

``Personally, it was a chance for us to see how good of a coaching job we could do. These coaches put in a lot of hard work and the kids have responded.''

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