BUTLER TWP — When it came to scrimmages, Butler did what was necessary:get better and stay healthy.

The Golden Tornado begin the 2006 football season for real at 7:30 p.m. Friday when they travel to Kiski Area.

"We're happy with where we are right now, but we're not content,"Butler coach Garry Cathell said. "We know there's areas we can improve upon and we learned some of those through our scrimmages."

The Tornado lost 2-0 to Woodland Hills in their second scrimmage last Friday, giving up both scores during 10-yard drills.

"When we were using the sticks, they didn't score on us,"Cathell said. "That's encouraging in that Woodland Hills is ranked third in the state, even nationally ranked in some circles.

"They're a big-play team and we denied them in that regard during that scrimmage."

Butler suffered two injuries of note in its scrimmages. Tight end Aaron Dorondo broke his hand against Gateway two weeks ago, but hasn't missed any practice time since.

Backup quarterback Chris Klutinoty, a sophomore, broke a finger on his throwing hand against Woodland Hills and won't be available behind center for several weeks.

Sophomore Adam Wolfe and senior Adam Zaccari are taking reps behind third-year starter Nick Monteleone at quarterback in practice this week.

Two-way starting lineman Tyler Kristophel returned to practice Tuesday after being held out of the Woodland Hills scrimmage while recovering from knee surgery. Linebacker Eric Petanovich was cleared to begin contact drills after partially severing a finger earlier in the summer.

"We're going into the opener healthy and, knock on wood, that's new for us,"Cathell said. "Dorondo's playing with a cast on his hand, but it's not affecting his performance.

"Eric has had his full gear on for a while now and we've had to stop him from trying to sneak on the field to do things he wasn't cleared to do yet. He's been so anxious to get into the hitting.

"We don't know exactly how we're going to use him yet Friday, but he'll have a week of hitting in and he's in outstanding shape,"Cathell added.

Kiski Area is coming off a 3-7 season and did not qualify for the WPIALplayoffs a year ago. The Cavaliers have a young squad this year, featuring junior Josh Vick at quarterback.

Vick took over during the final four games last year and threw for 308 yards and two touchdowns.

"Their quarterback runs well and we know he can chuck it down the field,"Cathell said. "This will be a typical Kiski team. They have physical kids and they're gonna run the football."

While Kiski figures to run the ball, Butler figures to throw it.

"We'll use the pass to set up the run, but we will run the football," Cathell said. "The game and the opponent will dictate how much.

"We don't have the breakaway back like a Calvin Littlejohn or Bobby Alexander, but we ran some isolation with Ben (Ashcraft) against Woodland Hills and were getting five or six yards a pop.

"We have some nice tailbacks who can make people miss and we have an experienced line to run behind. Some of our linemen started as sophomores when Bobby rushed for 1,000 yards two years ago,"Cathell added.

While Butler doesn't begin Quad North play for a few weeks, Cathell wants to start winning now.

"There's so much we can do offensively. ... We want to try to pick up where we left off last year," he said. "We're gonna run the stuff we need to do to win the game."

<B>7:30 p.m., Friday</B>• <B>Streak:</B> Butler was 3-0 in nonconference games last season.• <B>Statistic:</B> Quarterback Nick Monteleone led the Golden Tornado last season in yards passing (1,793), yards rushing (447) and points scored (54).• <B>Speaking:</B> "We didn't show everything we can do in the scrimmages. That changes now. We'll do whatever stuff we need to do Friday to win the game." — Butler coach Garry Cathell