BUTLER TWP — The Butler Area Midget Football League plays on.

All three BAMFL teams won their respective United Youth Football League playoff games last weekend at Art Bernardi Stadium and return to action Saturday.

The Butler mites defeated Seneca Valley, 27-0, and will play Hampton at 4:30 p.m. at Art Bernardi Stadium.

The Butler Blue junior varsity defeated Pine Green, 18-6, and will play Seneca Valley at 6:30 p.m. at Art Bernardi Stadium.

The Butler varsity toppled Highlands, 16-0, and will play Pine Green at 1:30 p.m. at Hampton.

A third UYFL playoff game will take place at Art Bernardi Stadium Saturday as Mars takes on Shaler in a junior varsity contest at 2:30 p.m.

“This is the first time since we've joined this league (six years ago) that we've advanced three of our teams past the first round of the playoffs,” BAMFL president Jason Rees said. “We're pretty excited about this.

“Our goal is to get more kids interested in youth football in Butler. Ultimately. we'd love to have two teams at every level.”

This year, the BAMFL features two junior varsity (ages 9-10) teams, one mite team (7-8) and one varsity (11-12) squad.

“We were on the bubble toward having two varsity teams this year,” Rees said. “We had 36 kids signed up and felt like that wasn't quite enough to have a second team.”

Deshawn Cox scored both touchdowns in the Butler varsity win last weekend. He caught scoring passes from quarterback Braylon Littlejohn.

The game was scheduled to be played at Art Bernardi Stadium, but due to weather delays throughout the night, the varsity contest was moved to Memorial Park.

“If we didn't move it, we were looking at midnight before we would have been completed,” Rees said.

Butler varsity coach Jason Butler said “we persevered and got the job done. I was proud of our kids.”

Butler added that the BAMFL's playoff success may encourage other kids to come out for the program next year.

“Most other (youth football programs) are losing kids,” he said. “Our numbers have stayed level and now they're going up. It's a good sign for us and for Butler football in general down the road.”