PINE TWP — Clair Altemus is in uncharted waters and doesn't like it.

The 14th-year Pine-Richland High School football coach brings his 0-3 Rams to Art Bernardi Stadium for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Friday against winless Butler.

"In my 40 years of football as a high school and collegiate player and as a coach, I've never been 0-3," Altemus said. "This is a new experience for me as well as our program.

"We're dealing with it. This is the youngest team I've ever had. We're as green as our uniforms."

The Rams have suffered losses of 34-22 to Mount Lebanon, 29-24 to Mars and 21-14 to North Hills to begin the season. Pine-Richland returns only three starters on both sides of the ball.

Pine-Richland owns wins of 21-14 and 28-6 over the Golden Tornado since moving up to Class AAAA and joining the Northern Seven Conference in 2008.

"We've been successful in recent years, Butler has struggled, we've beaten them — throw all that stuff out the window," Altemus said. "It just doesn't apply this year.

"Like I said, we're young and Coach (Jim) Rankin is redeveloping the Butler program. The kids believe in him and his staff and they're making strides. I just hope they wait another week before they put it together because they're definitely getting better," he added.

When Pine-Richland reached the PIAA Class AAA championship game in 2003, Altemus asked Rankin to speak with his players to help them prepare for that experience.

"Coach Rankin was gracious enough to come over and he was great with our kids," Altemus said. "He built that North Allegheny program and handed it off to a younger coach. He'll do the same thing at Butler. Give him time."

Pine-Richland has its usual balance between running and passing this season. Senior tailback Justin Williams has 61 carries for 244 yards. Senior quarterback Andy Borgen has completed 36-of-57 passes for 469 yards, three touchdowns and five interceptions.

"Andy is growing into the position as a first-year starter," Altemus said. "He was our ballboy in seventh grade, so he's been around Kevin McCabe, Spencer Whipple and other good quarterbacks who have come through here."

Senior receivers Colin Ryan and Tommy Berexa have 10 catches for 227 yards and 20 catches for 201 yards, respectively.

"We built our success over the years on having a 1,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard rusher and 1,000-yard receiver most of the time," Altemus said. "Maybe that can happen again."

The difference for the Rams to this point in 2010 is defense. Pine-Richland has allowed 84 points — 28 per game — and returns only linebackers Colin Mincer and Matt Mahood, along with safety Steve Szelong, as starters.

Szelong leads the team in tackles with 28. Mincer and sophomore Brock Baranowski have 19 each.

"Steve leads us in tackles and he plays safety. It's not a good thing when your safety leads your team in that category," Altemus said.

In prepping for Butler, Altemus is prepping his kids for the Wing-T.

"Coach Rankin is a student of that offense. No one knows it better than him," he said. "The angle blocking, reverse direction, speed in the backfield —it's not typical Butler, that's for sure."