BETHEL PARK — The path to improvement is clear for the Bethel Park High School football team.

Stop being so generous.

The Black Hawks (1-2) entertain Butler (2-1) at 7:30 p.m. in the final non-section tune-up game of the season.

"After we lost the way we did in Week 1, I told the kids we were on a three-week improvement plan,"13th-year Bethel Park coach Jeff Metheny said. "The scores may not show it, but we've gotten a little better each week."

Bethel Park dropped its opener to North Allegheny, 35-7. That was followed by a 30-13 loss to Penn Hills before the Black Hawks rebounded with a 24-23 win over Norwin last week.

Norwin scored what looked to be the tying touchdown with 1:39 remaining, but a bad snap on the PATcost the Knights a shot at overtime.

"We were up 24-10 in that game and we win easily if we don't have a punt blocked and fumble a kickoff late,"Metheny said. "We've been giving the ball away way too much and giving up field position in the process.

"I know we can't afford to hand Butler any kind of field position."

The Black Hawks have already had two punts blocked this season and have been hurt by suspect kick and punt coverage. Quarterback Jeff Stewart threw three interceptions in the team's first two games.

Stewart has completed 18 of 28 passes for 389 yards, but sat out last week with a concussion. He has since returned to practice and Metheny said he will likely play Friday night.

"Jeff has to take care of the ball better,"Metheny said. "He's been making some plays for us, but we can't give the ball away like that.

"Our sophomore (Eric Olsen) played well last week. I was very pleased with his performance."

Olsen completed seven of 11 passes for 143 yards and a touchdown. Tim Picard, Stewart's cousin, is Bethel's leading receiver with more than 100 yards in catches thus far.

Veteran tight end Alex Wojdowski gets involved in the offense as well, along with running back Justin Pratt, who rushed for 918 yards and 11 touchdowns last year.

Pratt has 218 yards rushing so far this season, including 22 carries for 104 yards and two TDs last week.

"We didn't run the ball very well the first two weeks, but we began to open some holes last week,"Metheny said. "If we block well, Justin's proven he can take it the distance.'

Defensively, Wojdowski at end and Picard at cornerback have been standouts. Bethel Park allowed an average of 295 yards to its first two opponents and Norwin quarterback J.T. Redshaw threw for 245 on the Black Hawks last week.

"That's a little misleading because we lost out on a couple of jump balls deep downfield,"Metheny said.

The Black Hawks coach knows Butler's propensity for throwing the football and hopes his team can force the Golden Tornado to throw it often.

"I know they're going to try to run on us, too,"he said. "They're not just gonna come out and throw it on every play. I really like their quarterback. He is going to make a few plays, but we have to make them one-dimensional.

"We have to put some heat on him when they use those four-receiver sets because you can't cover those guys forever. But if we make them throw a lot, eventually we'll get a snap to go over their head, or a few incompletions, or we'll tip a ball and go the other way. Things can happen that way."

Both teams have solid placekickers. While Butler has Chris Haley, Bethel Park has Ethan Talbot.

"He's a soccer player with a strong leg,"Metheny said of Talbot. "Buit their kid just explodes into the ball. He's been sending some kickoffs into the end zone and that makes life easy on your kick-coverage team.

"Butler always seems to have a good kicker."

The Golden Tornado have not been to the WPIALplayoffs since 1998, however — when they suffered a 13-6 loss at Bethel Park in the first round.

Bethel Park has only missed the WPIALplayoffs once (2000)since that time.

"We expect to be there again,"Metheny said. "If we stop giving up points and field position, we'll be fine."