Resilient to the end
This is one in a series of articles previewing Friday night's high school football gamesBUTLER TWP — Butler certainly isn't ending its football season according to plan.The Golden Tornado are ending it at home, however.“We've played pretty good here,” interim head coach Eric Christy. “Obviously, we're hoping that continues.”Butler (2-6) closes the season with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Friday against Canon-McMillan (4-5) at Art Bernardi Stadium. The Big Macs are coming off losses of 48-16 to Bethel Park and 28-14 to Peters Township last week.The latter loss knocked Canon-McMillan out of playoff contention.“This is still an important game for us,” Big Macs coach Mike Evans said. “You always want to win your last game and carry that feeling into the off-season.“We also have a chance to go 5-5 like last year and not take a step backward. That would be 14 wins in three years. This program had three wins in five years before I got here.”While Evans is continuing the building process with the Big Macs, Christy is trying to hold the Tornado together. He is in his second game as interim head coach since Rob Densmore resigned as coach a week ago.“Kids are resilient and this is one more chance for them to go out on the field and play football with their buddies,” Christy said.“Things are pretty positive right now and I know the kids are excited about playing. In the end, this is just a game. Our underclassmen hopefully have a lot of games ahead in their careers, but this closes it out for our seniors.“There's some good kids in this group. I hope a few will get a chance to play at the next level,” Christy added.Lineman Jake Kradel is headed to Pitt and quarterback Luke Michalek — who has been a stellar all-purpose offensive player all season — hopes to play Division I football.Butler will be facing a Canon-McMillan team that has thrown for more than 1,500 yards, but hasswitched starting quarterbacks. Tre Lewis, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, has thrown for 711 yards and six touchdowns, but has also tossed 10 interceptions.Fellow sophomore Jonathan Quinque took over as the starter recently. He has completed 62 of 99 passes for 800 yards.“Jon has only thrown one interception. He's taken better care of the football and he's our guy right now,” Evans said.Greyden Piechnik leads the Big Macs with 20 catches for 261 yards and seven TDs, but Drew Engel may be the more dangerous receiver. He has 18 catches for 330 yards and four scores.“Drew's been hurt much of the year and he's produced those numbers in only three games,” Evans said. “He;'s the best all-around player on our team and he was cleared to return last week.”Eli Turner is Canon-McMillan's top running back with 368 yards rushing. The Big Macs only lost to Mount Lebanon by a touchdown, but also only defeated Shaler by seven points.“And I know Butler really handed it to Shaler,” Evans said. “Those are tough kids up there. I know they're going to play hard and I know they believe they can beat us.”While the junior varsity saw plenty of playing time last week at Pine-Richland, Christy said the varsity will see the bulk of the time Friday.“Our varsity is well rested and ready to go,” Christy said.Canon-McMillan defeated Butler last year, 31-17. The series between the teams is 3-3.
