BUTLER TWP — The Butler County Bears are headed for the Heartland Football League playoffs.

They hope that means they're staying home.

The team wrapped up its regular season home schedule Saturday night with a 32-7 victory over the Northeast Ohio Disciples at Art Bernardi Stadium. That win improved the Bears to 6-2, a game behind the Pittsburgh Pride in the Northern Conference's Blue Division.

Butler County travels to North Park at 2 p.m. Saturday to face the Pride at J.C. Stone Field.

“It's pretty crazy right now,” Bears coach Kirk Bergbigler said of the division race. “The tiebreaker is points allowed in the division and we don't know how that's going to shake out.

“If we win the division, we'll be the No. 3 seed and will host Erie in a first-round game. As things stand now, we're the 5-seed and would go on the road to play someone in the Cleveland area.”

The Pride has allowed six points in the division. The Bears have allowed 26. If Butler County was to win Saturday by 21 points or more, it would be division champion.

The Columbiana County Scourge — a team the Bears defeated 69-0 in a three-quarter game earlier this season — are no longer in the league. Butler County will close the regular season with a forfeit win over the Scourge in two weeks. The Pride plays the Disciples in two weeks.

“Even if we beat the Pride by, say, seven points ... If the Disciples score 14 on them the following week, we still win the division,” Bergbigler explained.

The Disciples (3-5) have a numbers problem, however. They dressed only 15 players Saturday night after beginning the season with 41.

Head coach Mark Greene said his top-two quarterbacks were injured in a loss to Lima (Ohio) the previous week.

“The injury bug has hit us hard the past couple of games,” Greene said. “We've lost a bunch of guys and it's always tough to find players when you have to travel. That's just the world of semi-pro football.”

New Castle graduate Steve Cupec rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns for the Bears in Saturday's win. Erik Fuhrer tossed a 25-yard touchdown pass to fellow Karns City graduate Cody Williams as Butler County built a 21-0 lead in the first half.

The latter two scoring drives of 37 and 20 yards, respectively, were set up by interceptions from Randall Palakovich and Marcus Stewart.

Northeast Ohio put together a 77-yard touchdown drive late in the first half — highlighted by a 51-yard pass to Joshua Dodson — but did nothing offensively in the second half.

The Disciples netted 10 yards in the latter two quarters. They completed 1 of 12 passes for zero yards during that time.

“We were able to shut them down,” Bergbigler said.

“That's a disciplined team that hits hard,” Greene said of the Bears. “I think they'll do well the rest of the way. We want to win our last couple of games and get healthy for next year.”

Palakovich had an interception, made a brilliant catch along the sidelines for a 17-yard gain, recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for a score and delivered numerous hits defensively for lost yardage.

“He played a monster game,” Bergbigler said.

T'vonn Parchman blocked the punt that was recovered for a touchdown. Moniteau graduate Justin Sanderson and Karns City grad Justin Switzer produced numerous tackles from their linebacker positions and Moniteau grad Jereme Loos led the team in tackles on special teams.

“We played well in all phases tonight,” Bergbigler said. “When Erik has the time, he'll find the open receivers and our line gave him time tonight.

“I was pleased with what I saw tonight. Hopefully, we'll build upon this next week.”

Bears 32, Disciples 7

NEO Disciples 0 7 0 0—7

B.C. Bears 6 15 0 11—32

First Quarter

BCB — Steve Cupec 7 run (kick blocked), 7:05

Second Quarter

BCB — Cody Williams 15 pass from Erik Fuhrer (Williams pass from Fuhrer), 14:50

BCB — Cupec 1 run (Jason Majocha kick), 1:53

NEO — D'Auntai Boss 25 pass from Rayshawn Shannon (Donald Smith III kick), :37.3

Fourth Quarter

BCB — Majocha 24 field goal, 13:36

BCB — Randall Palakovich recovered blocked punt in end zone (Majocha kick), 3:11

Team Statistics

First Downs — Disciples 8, Bears 13

Rushing attempts-yards — Disciples 28-25, Bears 33-130

Pass attempts-comp.-int. — Disciples 7-23-2, Bears 7-19-0

Plays-Yards — Disciples 51-110, Bears 52-227

Penalties — Disciples 4-45, Bears 11-110

Fumbles-Lost — Disciples 2-1, Bears 1-1

Individual Statistics

Passing — Disciples, Rayshawn Shannon 7-13-85-2. Bears, Erik Fuhrer 7-19-97-0.

Rushing — Disciples, Kris Slater 2-(-3), Rayshawn Shannon 10-2, Carl Moore 5-8, Nicholas Aulet 10-28, TEAM 1-(-10). Bears, Erik Fuhrer 3-1, Steve Cupec 18-109, Matt Robinson 3-(-1), Eugene Clark 6-16, Justin Sanderson 1-5, Cody Williams 1-(-4).

Receiving — Disciples, Joshua Dodson 5-60, D'Auntai Boss 2-25. Bears, Antawane Davis 4-65, Cody Williams 2-15, Randall Palakovich 1-17.