How glad do you think Shaler people are over Neil Gordon falling into their lap as coach last year? Gordon was fired at Penn Hills in the winter of 2008 before accepting an assistant coach’s job at Shaler under then coach Jacque DeMatteo. When DeMatteo left in the spring of 2008 to become Hampton’s coach, Gordon was a natural fit for the Shaler job and Shaler gave him the keys to the program.

The numbers show Gordon’s impact at Shaler. The Titans were 8-3 last season, making it to the WPIAL Class AAAA quarterfinals. But look at this year. Shaler finished the regular season with an 8-1 record, the most wins for the Titans in the regular season since the 1998 team finished 8-1 under Frank Rocco.

That ’98 team finished 9-2, winning a first-round playoff game before losing in the quarterfinals. How is this for irony? The team that beat Shaler in the quarterfinals that year was … Penn Hills … under Coach Neil Gordon.

Shaler meets Mount Lebanon in a first-round playoff game tonight.

Since the WPIAL started football playoffs in the early 1970s (previously there were only championship games), Shaler has only won three playoff games – last year, 2000 and 1998. If Shaler wins tonight, that means Gordon will have as many playoff wins in two years as coach, as the school had in previous history.

Sophomore Impact

In the final regular-season WPIAL football stats, two of the top three passers were sophomores, and two of the top six rushers were sophomores. The passers were John Matarazzo of New Castle (second) and Dillon Buechel of Montour (third).

The two sophomore rushers in the top six were Rushel Shell of Hopewell (first) and Damion Jones-Moore of Central Catholic (sixth).

One-Two Punch

Keystone Oaks’ Matt McCann and Jordan Maddox were the only two running backs from one team to rush for more than 1,000 yards in the regular season.

The last team to have two 1,000-yard rushers was Monessen in 2004 – Quinton Martin and Mick Williams. The funny thing is Williams is now a defensive lineman at Pitt.

Going for Gold

The PIAA cross country championships are tomorrow in Hershey and Norwin’s Jenna Gigliotti seemingly has a shot at winning the Class AAA title. She was fifth last year.

If Gigliotti wins a title, she will join a select group of runners. Since the PIAA started having girls’ championships in 1974, only six runners from the WPIAL have won Class AAA championships, and none since 2002. That’s when West Allegheny’s Christine Taranto came home with the title.

The other state Class AAA girls’ champions from the WPIAL are: North Allegheny’s Stephanie Madia (2001), North Hills’ Jill Kern (1990), Baldwin’s Carole Zajac (1989), North Allegheny’s Kathy Byrnes (1976) and Sacred Heart’s Laura Grignano (1984).

Tobacco Road

Hopewell’s Rushel Shell was suspended by the school for tonight’s game against Derry because Shell said he was found with tobacco chew in school earlier this week. We don’t know if anything else was involved, but some people are surprised at Hopewell’s actions for the offense. But a quick check of a few schools shows that they have strict policies for smoking or having tobacco on school grounds. The penalty at some is suspension from school for a few days.

Kalkstein on the Rise

With 200 yards passing tonight, Gateway’s Rob Kalkstein could step into the WPIAL’s elite passing quarterbacks of all time.

Kalkstein, a four-year starter, needs only 200 to reach 6,000 for his career. Only three quarterbacks in WPIAL history have passed for 6,000 yards. They are Sto-Rox’s Adam DiMichele, South Fayette’s Andrew DiDonato and Steel Valley’s Luke Getsy.

Kalkstein needs only 30 yards to move into fourth place all time. Pine-Richland’s Jake Long has 5,830.

On the Run

Even though Thomas Jefferson is undefeated, the Jaguars have not been as dominant this season as years past. One of the main reasons has been an inconsistent running game.

Rob Ruffing, a sophomore who was the starting halfback, has not played the past few games because of a broken collarbone. The Jaguars moved T.J. Matrascia from receiver to running back last week.

"Our running game is not right now where it needs to be, I don’t think," said Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak. "But I think we’re going to be alright. [Matrascia] is not going to carry us, but he’ll be good enough to get us some tough yards."

Where Are They Now?

West Allegheny graduate Tyler Palko, a former quarterback at Pitt, is on the Montreal Alouettes practice squad in the Canadian Football League.

A big football game in the NCAA Division I-AA ranks is tomorrow with No. 4 Villanova visiting No. 1-ranked Richmond. Both tams have starters from the WPIAL. Ross Ventrone, a Chartiers Valley graduate, starts at free safety for Villanova. He has two interceptions and 36 tackles. Matt McCracken, a Mount Lebanon graduate, starts at offensive guard for Richmond. Richmond also has Knoch graduate Josh Shoop, a backup linebacker.