BUTLER TWP — On paper, the game does not appear to mean much.

In terms of their football futures, it means plenty to Butler and Canon-McMillan.

The Golden Tornado (2-6) and Big Macs (4-5) will close out their 2016 seasons with a non-conference game at 7 p.m. Friday in Canonsburg.

“We are two teams in very similar situations,” second-year Canon-McMillan coach Mike Evans said. “Everybody wants to look at wins, but you have to believe in the process.

“Without the process, the wins will never come.”

While the Big Macs have won three of their last four, Butler is trying to snap a three-game losing streak. The Tornado have shown vast improvement over the past couple of games, however, rushing for a combined 493 yards in losses to Norwin (35-28) and Pine-Richland (28-13).

“Our line has been physical all year long,” Butler coach Rob Densmore said. “In games where we're not physically outmanned up front, we've been able to move the football.

“Since moving (Dallas) Hays to quarterback, we've got a breakaway running threat at that position to go with (running back) Luke Michalek. And Antonio (DeVaughn) gives us a shifty back, another dimension.

“Our next step is to realize what it's like to finish and win a football game. We're looking for that on Friday,” Densmore added.

Canon-McMillan has other ideas.

The Big Macs are seeking their first five-win season since 2008. Before Evans took over last year, Canon-McMillan was 3-27 over the previous five years.

The team is 7-12 under Evans.

“We have a quarterback who can break the school's single-season passing yardage record, a running back who's gone over 3,000 career yards rushing ... This program just hasn't seen things like that.

“I'm not a big statistics guy, I'm about winning football games. But those are positive things we can build on.”

Quarterback Jordan Castelli has completed 89 of 211 passes for 1,267 yards, 12 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Running back Bryan Milligan has rushed for 821 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Injured earlier in the season, Milligan ran for 1,638 yards and 17 TDs last season.

“Jordan is a first-year starter at quarterback and he's made first-year mistakes,” Evans said. “But he's improving.”

While Castelli has thrown 16 picks, Butler has only three interceptions all season.

The Big Macs have a stellar receiver in Rahmiere Knight with 42 catches for 716 yards and eight touchdowns.

“Their quarterback is a drop-back guy and we're working on getting some pressure on him,” Densmore said. “We're facing an offense with a go-to receiver, so we know where the ball's going on deep routes.

“Of course, Norwin had a go-to guy we knew about and he still hurt us. We have to shore that up.”

Hays has accounted for 648 yards and 12 touchdowns running and throwing during his few games as Butler's quarterback. Michalek has 430 yards and six TDs rushing to go with 17 catches for 197 yards.

DeVaughn has rushed for 308 yards on just 48 carries while John Michalek — who has become Hays' deep target — has eight catches for 165 yards.

“Our quarterback doesn't run like Butler's does, that's just not our offense,” Evans said. “Butler is a physical team that wants to win as badly as we do. This should be quite a game.”

Andrew Engel has seven interceptions for Canon-McMillan. Hays, Noah Ryder and Kyle Heller are leading tacklers for Butler.

Seth McCrea, Jake Kradel, Heller and Ryder have three QB sacks each for the Tornado.

“All due respect to Canon-Mac, we've been closing the season the last few years with Central Catholic,” Densmore said. “It's nice to be finishing up against a team we can be competitive with and our kids are excited about it.”