This is one in a series of articles previewing Friday night's high school football gamesThe playoff chances are gone, but Ron Butschle doesn't believe the effort will follow suit.With last Friday's 49-14 loss to North Allegheny, Seneca Valley's football team realized it won't be competing in next month's WPIAL Class 6A playoffs for the first time in three seasons.It's been a frustrating season for the Raiders (1-6, 1-4), but they still have the opportunity to end the campaign with two straight road wins — at Shaler Friday and at Altoona Oct. 27.“I can't state it enough, how important it is for us to do that,” Butschle said. “I said it before the season and I'll say it again, I've never seen a group work harder than this one has. I'm disappointed because the kids didn't get more of a reward for it.”The Raiders will encounter a Shaler program that has known nothing but struggles the last several years. Dating back to Week 7 of the 2011 season, the Titans are 2-57 in their last 59 games.First-year Shaler coach Jim Ryan returned 10 offensive starters and nine defensive starters from last year, but the Titans dropped to 0-8 overall and 0-5 in Northern Seven play with last week's 49-0 defeat to Pine-Richland.“Even when we played Pine-Richland, one of the best teams in the state, our kids never quit,” said Ryan. “We are not perfect, but the effort is always there. That's something we can build on.”“They do have size up front, especially on defense ... several 260- and 270-pounders,” said Butschle of the Titans. “I know they are struggling, but so are we. This is not a game that we can go into thinking we can just show up and win. We need to play well.”That means playing better in certain areas. Against NA last week, the Raiders turned the ball over five times and had several lapses on defense.“We've struggled getting off the field on third downs,” Butschle said. “A lot of the teams we have played have many guys who play on just one side of the ball. We don't have the depth at this point to do that.”Two bright spots have been senior defensive lineman/linebacker Gabe Miller, who Butschle said, “has stood out in every game,” and junior safety Josh McLean, who has intercepted a pass in each of the last two games.Shaler's biggest offensive threat is junior running back Joey Kremer (5-foot-10, 215 pounds), who has rushed for nearly 500 yards and a 4.5 yards-per-carry average.“He's a big kid, but has enough to make a cut if he needs to,” said Ryan.Sophomore Darin Mizgorski (6-foot-1, 180 pounds) is starting at quarterback after taking over for the injured Hunter Zukowski in Week 4.“It's tough to be starting as a sophomore quarterback in this conference,” Ryan said, “but Darin has done a great job.”The Raiders defeated Shaler last season, 57-6.Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.