Throughout the offseason West Allegheny coach Kevin Amos was preaching to his team about "spreading the wealth."

Considering the lack of offensive wealth the Indians managed to compile in the previous season -- West Allegheny scored just 43 goals in the 2008 campaign -- it was a tough message to sell.

His team bought it anyway and, as it turned out, there was plenty of scoring to go around. The Indians scored 105 regular-season goals and then added 11 more in a playoff run that reached the WPIAL semifinals and the state quarterfinals.

West Allegheny finished 20-3-1 and managed to go the entire season without losing a game in regulation.

If not for a strong Hampton team, West Allegheny might still be playing soccer.

Hampton stopped West Allegheny, 2-1, on penalty kicks in the WPIAL semifinals and ended their season in the PIAA rematch, 1-0 in overtime.

"Ever since last year we were constantly talking about spreading the scoring around," Amos said. "Instead of taking that shot from a bad angle, find another player. We went from 43 to 105 goals in the regular season. They were unselfish all year."

Finding other scoring options was not at all a tough task. There were a number of players capable of finishing. Sophomore Tyler Graziani led the team in scoring. He scored the winning goal against Slippery Rock, 2-1, in the first round of the PIAA playoffs. Sophomore Josh Jaroszynski added the other goal.

"It helps a lot," Graziani said of the multiple scoring options.

"The further you get into the playoffs, the teams get a lot better, and they might be able to shut down one of our players, but we have four or five other guys who are threats to score."

Nick Kolarac led the team in assists in the regular season with 30. Kolarac assisted on both goals in the Slippery Rock win.

Kolarac had at least one point in every playoff game except the 1-0 loss to Hampton.

Corey Cleric and Scott Stawiarski were also capable of filling up the net.

"I know teams tried to focus on our goal scorers during the playoffs, but we had kids step up in different positions," Amos said.

Consider this: In the ninth game of the season West Allegheny matched and then surpassed last season's goal total in an 11-0 drubbing of Waynesburg. The Indians opened the postseason with a four-goal outburst against Belle Vernon in a 4-1 win.

The Indians failed to reach the playoffs last season. Their season ended Oct. 9. This year West Allegheny stretched its season an extra month, playing its final game Nov. 14. To reach the PIAA playoffs West Allegheny had to bounce back from the 2-1 loss to Hampton. It was the Indians first loss in 38 days, the only other team to defeat them was Montour. West Allegheny rebounded from the loss to win, 2-1, against Chartiers Valley in a third-place consolation game and landed a spot in the PIAA tournament.

"It was tough that night after the loss," Graziani said. "But our team did a great job of seeing the positives and moving on."

The season continued on the improvement the Indians showed last season. After struggling through a one-win season in 2004 in Amos' first year on the job, West Allegheny went 4-14-1, 5-13 and 8-12 before a 13-4-1 season last year.

"The overall depth and quality of players we have is great this year," Graziani said.

"We had such a great experience, playing in the [WPIAL] playoffs, playing in the [PIAA] playoffs and winning the section [title]."

Mike White's "High School Sports Edition" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.