Senior Brown accepts challenge for injury-depleted Shaler lacrosse

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, April 20, 2018 | 12:39 AM

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Kevin Brown didn't anticipate picking up a new language during the spring of his senior year at Shaler.

Following many years of playing in the midfield, Brown was called into service to play on defense this spring after Shaler lost two defenders for the season with injuries.

“Me as a middie, I'm just trying to get on the field,” Brown said. “However I can help my brothers and the team, I will. When coach said, we need a ‘D' pole can you help? I said sure, I jumped up. How high? If I need to go out of my way to learn a new position to help the team, I will.”

Brown is still adjusting to his new role for the Titans, who fell to 2-5 overall and 0-2 in Section 4-AAA following a 5-4 loss to Sewickley Academy last Tuesday.

Shaler's defense had held up OK so far, ranking 21st out of 45 teams by allowing 7.86 goals per contest. Brown's biggest challenge has been understanding what coach Bill Wightman expects from him.

“He's played short-stick middie for his whole career, and all of his sudden he's playing low defense,” Wightman said. “He's doing a real good job. We've been spending a little extra time with him to make sure he has the slides down and defense down. Every game he's getting better and better. By moving him down, we are moving guys to fill in the role, and they are doing the same thing.”

At first, the things Wightman was yelling about positioning didn't register. If Brown was filling out a resume, he likely wouldn't have listed his previous defensive experience.

Those skills weren't applicable to the varsity level.

“A long, long time ago when they didn't have long poles,” Brown said when asked if he had played defense before. “It's been since sixth grade. I'm going to say no, because it's been so long.”

Losing to Sewickley Academy was a tough decision for the Titans, but Shaler's postseason hopes are still alive. The Titans played Allderdice in a key section matchup Monday, the results of which were too late for this edition.

If Shaler can persevere through its injuries, the Titans are hoping all of their new players can help them become fluent in stopping other teams' offensive attack.

“Defensively, we had a little bit of ups and downs, but I lost two of my defenders for the rest of the year,” Wightman said. “One with a bad back and another with a concussion. We've been dropping middies down to play defense and everyone is doing their part to help the team. Defensively, I think we've played well. Everyone is stepping up, and we've also had to cancel some JV games because of so many injuries we've had.”

Tags: Shaler