WEXFORD — North Allegheny football knows winning.

This year, the Tigers also know about growing up.

The three-time defending WPIAL Quad-A championship program returns only three starters from last year's state title team.

“We're going through things that high school teams with a bunch of first-year starters go through,” NA coach Art Walker said.

“You emulate stuff during camp, practices, scrimmages ... Until a kid experiences things in an actual game, there's no adequate preparation.”

North Allegheny (3-1, 2-1) invades Butler (1-3, 1-3) for a Northern Eight game at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Art Bernardi Stadium. The Tigers have not lost to Butler since the Golden Tornado posted a 21-14 win in 2003.

NA has won the last three meetings between the teams by scores of 49-7, 48-0 and 44-0.

“We still have to prove we can win a road game with this team,” Walker cautioned. “Our only road game so far was the (20-6) loss at Seneca Valley.”

The Tigers have defeated Mt. Lebanon 55-7, Fox Chapel 42-7 and Pine-Richland 29-28 at home this year. They held on to beat the Rams when the latter failed to convert a PAT.

“We found a way to win a close game against a good team. That will help in our growth as a team,” Walker said.

Wide receiver-defensive back Elijah Zeise is the lone returning three-year starter on the Tigers' roster. He has 18 receptions for 316 yards and two touchdowns and leads the team with three interceptions.

Zeise is joined defensively by junior linebacker Layne Skundrich, who paces the Tigers with 40 tackles, 28 solo stops and nine tackles for loss.

“Layne led our defense in tackles during the playoffs last year,” Walker said. “That's quite an accomplishment given the number of veteran players we had on that side of the ball.

“This year, we have Elijah, Layne and nine new faces.”

Offensively, quarterback Jeff Clemens has completed 38 of 70 passes for 615 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. Running backs Sean Idowu (35 carries-253 yards-5 TDs) and Josh Bergman (37-214-3 TDs) share the distribution of carries.

“Jeff is a first-year starter behind a new line,” Walker said. “Nick James was our left guard last year, our only returnee up front, and he's been moved to left tackle.

“Jeff is definitely maturing from week to week. We had a few drops against Pine-Richland or his numbers would be even better.”

Despite his team's recent domination of Butler, Walker is not worried about his players taking the Golden Tornado lightly.

“We respect every opponent we play and we spend that entire week preparing for that opponent,” he said. “This is a conference game and those are always important to us.

“We look past no one. Butler has a bunch of tough-nosed kids who are committed to what they're doing. Clyde Conti has some continuity going with his staff now. Turnovers have hurt them in a couple of games, but they'll be more comfortable playing at home.

“We're a young football team. We can't take any thing for granted,” Walker added.