Together as Woodland Hills High School running backs, Jo-El Shaw and Miles Sanders have been called "Thunder and Lightning." But they used to be oil and water.

Shaw and his mother moved from Fayetteville, N.C., to the Pittsburgh area four years ago. When Jo-El started school at Woodland Hills Junior High, friendships did not come easily, especially with fellow eighth-grader Sanders.

"When I first came up here, I didn't like anybody," said Shaw. "To be honest, I didn't get along with Miles. What made it worse is Miles played the same position in football as me."

But these days, both Sanders and Shaw say they are as close as brothers. Where they really hit it off is in the same backfield.

Sanders and Shaw haven't just learned to co-exist in the same backfield. They have thrived like few duos in WPIAL history. Just call them the two-headed Wolverine.

It's not often you see WPIAL teams with two senior running backs headed to major colleges. Sanders, ranked among the top running backs in the country, has verbally committed to Penn State and Shaw to Western Michigan.

But that's not the only thing that makes this an unusual duo. Sanders and Shaw were only the ninth duo in the WPIAL since 1979 to each rush for 1,000 yards in the regular season. They were the first Class AAAA tandem to hit the milestone since McKeesport's Guy Hurt and Ricardo Stuvaints in 2002.

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The Wolverines play Central Catholic in tonight's WPIAL Class AAAA semifinals, and Sanders (5 feet 11, 205 pounds) heads into the contest with 1,412 yards rushing; Shaw (6-1, 235) has 1,274. Between them, they have 38 touchdowns (Sanders has 22, Shaw 16) and have both rushed for 100 yards in four different games this season. Between them, they average 10.3 yards per carry. Sanders has 4,377 yards for his career.

Sanders lives in Forest Hills and Shaw in Swissvale. They have bonded -- on and off the field.

"After a few years, we started talking and it was like, 'This is a cool dude,' " Shaw said. "I think it was our sophomore year when we started getting along. We had to, if we were going to play together. Now, we're great friends."

Sanders said, "He's like a brother to me now."

Perennial power Woodland Hills has had its share of talented individual runners and also talented combos. One of coach George Novak's first lethal combos was what Novak affectionately called "The Smurf Backfield." Fon Nanji was 5-8 and Eric Walker 5-6, but they led Woodland Hills to its first WPIAL title in 1996.

"I never compare players, but these two [Sanders and Shaw] are very good," said Novak.

Sanders and Shaw complement each other well. Sanders is the speedy running back who can slash and make moves. Shaw is more of a power back.

Hence, the "Thunder and Lightning" tag.

But the duo morphed into the two-headed Wolverine only the past few years. For one, it was a sort of the Shawshrink redemption. Shaw weighed 250 pounds in ninth grade when he played for the freshman team.

"When we first met years ago, everyone thought he was just a defensive end or linebacker because he was big," said Sanders. "Nobody ever thought he'd be a running back."

Three years ago, Sanders was called up to the varsity as a freshman and rushed for 738 yards. The next year, Shaw saw a little varsity action and had 49 carries for 266 yards.

By the time he was a junior, Shaw had lost enough weight to become a major contributor to the Wolverines. He rushed for 587 yards. This season, his game has gone to another level, and he is about 20 pounds lighter than he was as a freshman.

"Jo-El has worked hard at improving his speed," said Novak. "Basketball has helped him out. He's a very good basketball player, and he has slimmed down. He ran track last year, too."

Shaw also plays linebacker but said he was recruited by Western Michigan to play running back.

As for Sanders' college future, he said he was "still committed to Penn State." But his recruiting story certainly isn't finished because he is still looking at other schools. Sanders has official visits planned to Penn State, Pitt and Alabama. He also is considering visits to Arizona State and Michigan State.

WPIAL Class AAAA bracket
(Click image for larger version)

But college certainly is not foremost on the minds of Sanders and Shaw now. It's Central Catholic and the WPIAL playoffs.

"Both of us have to have a good game," said Sanders. "We owe everything to our line. But our whole offense has to have a good game."

Shaw said: "People feed off us. If we're having a good game, the rest of the team will have a good game also. Central Catholic is a great team. They're great defensively. It's going to be a battle. But I think we can pull it off."

Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1975 and Twitter @mwhiteburgh.

First Published: November 20, 2015, 5:00 a.m.