If there's such a thing as winning an off-season, the Butler High School football linemen are working on it.

The Golden Tornado sent 20 linemen to compete in the Pine-Richland Lineman Challenge Saturday and had a five-man team win the event.

Nate Hartung, Josh Wachter, Adam Pritts, Tom Gaul and Anthony McElhinny comprised one of four five-man squads from Butler at the competition.

"They had to do a lot of different things," Butler football coach Garry Cathell said. "It was a true test of strength."

The competition included a tractor-trailer pull, wheelchair (filled with sand bags) races, bench-press repetitions, an obstacle course, tire throw, tire flip, log press, tug of war and a medicine-ball relay.

Butler's winning quintet bench-pressed 185 pounds more than 100 times in 30 seconds. Hartung did so 36 times.

"We love this," Hartung said. "There are no games yet, so you win whatever you're involved in.

"We all get pretty excited about these competitions because we want to line up and beat everybody," he added.

Hartung, McElhinny, Gaul, Michael Motko and Dan Tatangelo won the Northern Area Football Coaches Association Weight Lifting Championship in late February, combining to lift a NAFCA record 6,005 pounds.

Butler will send a contingent to the Westminster College 7-on-7 competition in July.

"That will be a little less competitive, but not to us," Cathell said. "We have a winning streak going."

Cathell pointed out that the Golden Tornado won five of their final seven games last year. and the weight room has been a busy place since.

Mondays through Thursdays at 9 a.m., 60 football players in grades seven through come in and work out. At 10:15 on those days, another 60 varsity players do the same.

That has been going on since the first Monday in January.

"We've never had this many players in here," Wachter said. "We're psyched for the season. We know we have to be physical to win."

Cathell said 70 players were in camp Monday lifting weights and running offensive drills.

High school football players can't put on pads or hit until August, but voluntary workouts are allowed.

"We had our incoming freshmen up for orientation to our lifting program in December," Cathell said. "We've been going at it pretty steady ever since.

"I have the kids for two hours and 45 minutes each day. We lift for an hour and a half, work on offense for the rest of the time Monday. Do defense one day, speed drills the other two.

"This is the program I put in, but pretty much every program is (high school football) doing something similar. This is what it takes to win these days," Cathell added.

Butler's offensive line helped the Golden Tornado rush for 1,600 yards last season, the most in the section. But leading rusher Calvin Littlejohn has graduated.

"We may not get the big plays Calvin gave us, but we can control the ball, get five yards a pop and move the chains," Hartung said. "That's what we're preparing for.

"We gained all those rushing yards last year without much of a passing game. Defenses geared up to stop our run and still couldn't," he added.

The 400-pound Hartung anchors Butler's line. Wachter and Pritts are both approximately 6-feet-6, 265 pounds.

"We have the skill and power to overpower everyone," Wachter said. "That's the goal. If we can do it in these competitions, we can do it on the field."