BUTLER TWP— There's no margin for error now.

The Butler football team (3-4, 0-3) will try to snap its three-game losing streak — and nine-game section skid dating to last year — when it travels to North Allegheny (4-3, 2-1) for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Friday at Newman Stadium.

"We have to win,"Golden Tornado coach Jeff McAnallen said. "The coaches know it and the kids know it."

Butler can qualify for the WPIALplayoffs with wins over North Allegheny and Seneca Valley to close the regular season and a North Hills victory over North Allegheny next week.

"NA has good skilled kids and so do we,"McAnallen said. "This game is going to come down to who blocks and tackles. Our offensive and defensive line play will be critical this week."

The Tornado's defensive line will be without senior defensive tackle Joe Marak, who suffered a knee injury at North Hills and had a MRIdone Tuesday.

Marak's spot will be taken by a combination of Jake Wachter, Steve Powers and Adam Steiner.

"We'll be rotating six or seven linemen in all night,"McAnallen said. "We have to stay fresh there."

Cornerback, kick and punt returner Josh Reddick won't be available Friday after suffering a concussion near the end of the North Hills game.

Cole Harvey, Cole Baxter or Jake Thompson will replace Reddick on defense. Nate Neff will return punts and Thompson will return kickoffs.

Despite the injuries and must-win nature of this game, McAnallen said his team remains upbeat.

"This week's been no different than any other in that sense," he said. "We're studying the opposition, trying to figure out what will work against them, try to take advantage of their weaknesses and give ourselves our best chance to win the football game."

One way would be getting into the end zone. The Tornado have sustained a few drives of late, but have managed only a field goal in their last six quarters.

"We're emphasizing that this week,"McAnallen said. "We're putting the ball on the 20-yard line and trying to get our offense to raise its level of play at that point. That's what it takes to score touchdowns."

North Allegheny is coming off a 24-20 loss to Pine-Richland, the Tigers' fourth game to come down to the wire.

NAdefeated Penn Hills 25-22 on a last-second field goal, dropped a 30-28 decision to Upper St. Clair and a 28-21 season opener to Altoona.

"They are battle-tested and they love to run the ball," McAnallen said. "They'll run it down your throat all night if you let them.

"They also have No. 13 (Brian Austin) split out wide and they don't try to hide the fact they want to throw the ball to him."

Butler has beaten North Allegheny only once this decade, scoring a 21-14 win at Art Bernardi Stadium in 2003.