Girls Volleyball
10/17
Girls Volleyball dropped their final regular season game to Hempfield by a score of 3-1. Even though the Titans clinched playoffs with a win last week, they did not treat this game as a walkthrough. Shaler came out strong and took the first set from Hempfield 25-23. Hempfield would take the next two sets with scores of 25-21 and 25-19. The 4th set was a close but Hempfield put the game away winning 27-25.
The Titans will get ready for their playoff game next week against Peters Township at Upper St. Clair high school.
Girls Soccer
10/16
The Shaler Area girls soccer team finished their season with a 3-1 victory over Pine Richland. Lexi Tylenda opened up the scoring for the Titans off of a Piper Keane throw, which she buried near post. In the 33rd minute, Tylenda was taken out by a Ram defender inside the box, earning a penalty kick. She picked out the bottom left corner and scored to give the Titans their second goal. Pine Richland scored in the final minute to make it 2-1 going into halftime. In the second half, Caroline Decheck crossed the ball to Lexi Tylenda, who scored her third for the hat-trick to reach the final score.
With the victory, the Titans finish the season with a 7-10 record and improve their win total over last year.
Boys Golf
10/16
The State Individual Finals took place in Happy Valley and featured Titan junior golfer, Jacob Crissman. Crissman would end up finishing his two rounds at +7 and tied for 37th place.
This would conclude the historic season for Boys Golf. Their season was highlighted by a section championship, all six golfers qualifying for the WPIAL Individual Championship, three golfers qualifying the WPIAL Individual Championship, and one qualifying for the PIAA State Championship.
Boys Soccer
10/16
The boys soccer team defeated Hempfield Area by a score of 5-1 on senior night for their first victory of the season. To add to the special night, all five goals came from seniors. In the first half, Luca Wallander scored twice and Dylan Paylo scored once. Although Hempfield scored a fluky goal, the Titans went into halftime up 3-1. In the second half, Wallander buried his third goal of the game for the hat trick and John Lamanna put the exclamation point on the Titans’ dominating performance with a goal to reach the final score.
10/18
Unable to recapture the magic from Monday night, the Titans dropped their last game to Hampton 5-1. Matt Keenan scored off a free kick in the second half to avoid being blanked; but, in the end, Shaler Area could not match up well with the speed and chemistry of the Talbots.
Shaler Area ends its season in disappointment, finishing with a record of 1-16-2. The Titans hope to rebound from their worst season in quite some time next year as a young team hoping to make some noise.
Football
10/20
Shaler Area celebrated the class of 2024 on senior night. Members of the football team, the marching band, and SATV were recognized for all of their hard work over the past four years and beyond.
Moving on to the game itself, the Titans battled tough with the second ranked team in 5A, the Penn Hills Indians. On a rainy night, splash plays would decide the winner of this contest. Led by senior linebacker and Steelers All-Peer Team member Carson Pierce’s 10 tackles, the Titan defense stood tall against Pitt commit Julian Dugger and the Penn Hills offense denying them from multiple times in the redzone. However, a 65 yard touchdown run and a 45 yard touchdown pass by Dugger was enough for the Indians to escape with a 14-0 victory. Even more impressive than the Titan defense was the Indians’ that shut out Shaler Area’s offense. Senior wide receiver Kaden Orga led with five catches for the Titans, but the Penn Hills defense prevented Shaler Area from even reaching the redzone.
Shaler Area Titans Seniors:
QB Keegan Smetanka
WR/CB Joe Desabato
MLB Carson Pierce
RB Nate Rozzo
RB/CB Juilin Tortorea
LB Jordan Winters
WR Peyton Planz
WR TJ Belles
WR/DB Kaden Orga
DE Connor Lunn
WR Sam Himrod
RB/DL Dale Hayden
RB/DL Michael LaBella
WR/DB Abe Cook
OL/DL Brayden Sipes-Marcinik
OL/ILB Ryan Barnhart
C/DL Jace Eswein
OL/DL Jeremy Ullman
OL/DL Anthony Mazza
OL/DL Dom Battaglia
TE/DE Brandon London
