Shaler senior Jesse DellaValle is listed as a wide receiver, but he did not catch a pass last night against North Hills.

"Did he not catch a pass tonight?" Shaler coach Neil Gordon asked after the game, met with nods from those surrounding him. "Oh, geez."

But really, it didn't matter. DellaValle did enough good on the ground to make up for it.

DellaValle ran for 163 yards and three touchdowns to lead Shaler (7-1, 3-1) to a 27-17 victory against North Hills (4-4, 2-2).

"I think the bottom line was Jesse DellaValle," Gordon said. "He's an unbelievable player. He makes things happen when things weren't there."

DellaValle, an all-purpose player, said he can remember a few games where he did not haul in a pass.

"I'm just pleased with the win," he said.

Besides, "I always played running back anyway."

That came in handy late last night.

Up three with eight minutes remaining, the Titans hoped to play keep away from the Indians. They turned to DellaValle, who had 10 carries in a 13-play drive -- including two fourth-down conversions runs and a 6-yard touchdown -- to ice the game for Shaler.

Shaler sits alone in second place in the Northern Six Conference. But for the first few minutes last night, it looked as if North Hills might occupy that position, jumping out to an early 10-0 lead.

"First 10 minutes of the game, we didn't show up and North Hills had their way," Gordon said. "We couldn't do anything."

DellaValle said the Titans were not discouraged.

"We've been down before," he said.

North Hills' defense was equally impressive early, limiting Shaler to just 13 yards of offense on the Titans' first two possessions. At that point, North Hills already had 93 yards of total offense.

But that all changed the next time the Titans got the ball.

The Titans relied on DellaValle for a spark. The all-purpose player forced a pass interference penalty, allowing Shaler to move the chains for the first time in the game. He ran the ball three more times, including a 2-yard touchdown plunge to bring the Titans within a score.

DellaValle added another touchdown toward the end of the first half, a 3-yard highlight reel run that he finished by flipping over a North Hills defender.

"No. 2's pretty good," North Hills coach Jack McCurry said of DellaValle. "He's the difference of the game."

For the rest of the half, North Hills struggled to return to early form. The Indians fumbled three snaps in the first half, including one that gave Shaler the ball near midfield, and failed to score before the end of the half after its early lead.

Shaler led at halftime, 20-10.

"For a period there, we had our way and they couldn't do anything," Gordon said.

Neither team scored in the third quarter, though Shaler threatened, marching the ball inside North Hills' 20.

But with a little more than a minute remaining in the third quarter, North Hills' Brody Zangaro intercepted Tyler Bills's pass attempt on fourth down, giving the Indians a surge of momentum heading into the final quarter.

About five minutes later, North Hills' running back Elajah David scored a 6-yard touchdown run to bring the Indians within three.

McCurry told his players they needed to a stop

"We gotta get a stop," he said. "We gotta get the ball back."

But nobody could stop DellaValle.

"This was the second test of the season," said Gordon, whose Titans lost to North Allegheny two weeks ago. "We got this one."

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