SHALER TWP — Progress has been the name of the game for the Shaler football team this season — until last week.

"We took a major step backward," said third-year Titans coach Neil Gordon about his team's 28-7 loss at North Hills.

Shaler (2-2, 0-1) hosts winless Butler (0-4, 0-2) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

"Playing at Martorelli Stadium is tough enough," Gordon said. "But we had no containment, bad reads by our linebackers, bad calls by our offensive line, poor tackling, etc.

"We've got all new kids. New kids don't get to be old kids without time. That's what we need right now: time," he added.

Shaler opened the season with a 24-6 loss to Upper St. Clair. Titans starting tailback Ron Wheeler broke his leg on the first play of the game and is lost for the season.

The Titans returned only junior wide receiver Sean Gavin as a starter from last year's offense to start with.

"When an injury like that happens to a veteran team, you adjust and move on," Gordon said. "When you're trying to find starters, it's back to the drawing board."

Gordon shifted tight end J.P. Holtz to tailback. Holtz, a wide receiver last year, has scored three touchdowns in the past two games.

Ryan Mincher, a 6-foot-2 junior, is a first-year starter at quarterback.

"He's a very good athlete, shortstop on the baseball team," Gordon said. "He has good feet and can run the show, but, again, he's a first-year starter. He's learning and he makes mistakes."

Shaler returns three starters on defense: Holtz at linebacker, Zack Schramm at end and Joe Panza at cornerback.

"Those have clearly been our best players on that side of the ball. Experience shows," Gordon said.

Shaler reached the WPIAL quarterfinals in both of Gordon's first two years at the helm. The Titans are 19-7 overall under his tutelage.

After the loss to USC, Shaler defeated Hempfield 35-28 and Bethel Park 22-21 before bowing at North Hills.

"My goal is to get us to where we're 50-50 running and passing," Gordon said. "Right now, we're passing about half as well as we did last year and we're running about half as well. That's not what I had in mind.

"When I was at Penn Hills, we could run the ball 95 percent of the time and win more than our share of games. Those days are gone," he said. "The coaches in this league are too good. If you're one-dimensional, they'll take that away from you just like that."

Gordon won 156 games in 21 years at Penn Hills.

Gordon referred to Butler coach Jim Rankin as "one of the best ever" in terms of high school football coaches.

"They have the right man for the job. It just takes time," Gordon said. "Jim's dealing with a bunch of new kids, too. Not only do they not know him, he doesn't know them.

"He hasn't been there long enough to realize what buttons to push with what kids. But he'll figure it out.

"Best compliment I can pay to Jim right now is to say Butler is getting better each week. And they definitely are," Gordon added.