BUTLER TWP — Art Walker Jr. has known nothing but success as football coach at North Allegheny. Rob Densmore is trying to create football success at Butler.

Walker and the Tigers have impeded that effort — though Densmore shouldn't feel alone.

North Allegheny has been a thorn in the side of Golden Tornado football coaches for quite some time now.

The teams meet at 7:30 p.m. Friday at NA's Newman Stadium. The Tigers (2-2, 1-1) have defeated Butler (1-2, 0-2) 12 straight times, have shut out the Tornado in five of the past nine meetings while outscoring them 367-24 during that stretch.

“The biggest thing for us right now is just being physical with them,” Densmore said. “We played physical in our first two games. Last game (42-6 loss to Seneca Valley), we didn't.

“I'm going to consider our lack of physicality last week a fluke. We had a bad week of practice. It wasn't a good week for us in general.”

Densmore's wife was in a serious automobile accident Monday which took him away from the football team most of the week. She is on the mend and he is back at practice.

“Family comes first. We always preach that. It has to come first with me as well,” the coach said.

Junior quarterback Brandon Fleeger missed last week's game with a foot injury and he is questionable this week. John Michalek took most of the snaps behind center for the Tornado against Seneca Valley.

Luke Michalek has played some quarterback as well, but is Butler's leading receiver with 10 catches for 140 yards and a touchdown. Dallas Hays and Logan Dubyak are the only other Butler players with as many as three receptions.

North Allegheny has a go-to receiver in senior Niko Mermigas (16 catches-285 yards-4 TDs). Senior quarterback Ethan Meanza has thrown for 365 yards and four scores, run for 251 and four TDs as well.

“If you look at our section, with (Central) Catholic, Pine-Richland, Penn Hills, Seneca Valley, they all have quarterbacks who can run and throw,” Walker Jr. said. “You don't want to be one-dimensional at that position.

“If a quarterback can only run, a defense stacks the line of scrimmage. If he can only pass, you blitz a lot and try to force him to run.”

Michael Pope has rushed for 245 yards and three TDs for the Tigers. Mermigas has run for 108 yards as well.

Butler has used a number of running backs. Luke Michalek has rushed for 86 yards and a touchdown, Dubyak 74 yards and Noah Ryder 52 and two TDs.

“Butler is big up front and they play aggressive on defense,” Walker said. “They'll blitz and come after you.

“I have a lot of respect for Coach Densmore from his years at Pine-Richland. They played with a lot of emotion at Altoona and I expect they'll play that way against us.”

Hays leads the Tornado defensively with 22 solo tackles. Kyle Heller had 16, Ryder 14.

Mermigas, a cornerback, leads North Allegheny with 20 tackles, including 17 solo stops. Middle linebacker Ryan Langdon and defensive end Matt Binz have 26 tackles each.

“North Allegheny always has athletes and they're well-coached,” Densmore said. “They stay in position and don't make many mistakes.

“They run different schemes than Seneca Valley, but they are similar in having a dual threat at quarterback and a go-to receiver. When a quarterback extends the play with his feet, we have to continue pursuit and stay in coverage. We didn't do that enough last week and we're trying to learn from our mistakes.”

North Allegheny bounced back from a 55-14 loss to Central Catholic two weeks ago to blank Shaler, 49-0, last week.

“That loss (to Central) was humbling,” Walker said. “We had a first half where nothing went right for us.

“We've been dealing with injuries, having key people out of the lineup. It's always tough when you don't know if certain kids will be available to play. Hopefully, we're getting past that now.”