BUTLER TWP — More than a football game is taking place Friday night at Mt. Lebanon High School.

Butler (0-2) will take on the Blue Devils (1-1) in its Quad County Conference opener at 7:30 p.m. The stadium will also serve as a site of solidarity and support for Mt. Lebanon High School principal Brian McFeeley.

McFeeley was recently diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He has a wife and two teenage boys.

Fans from both teams are asked to wear green to the game. Green T-shirts will be sold at the stadium as one of the fund-raisers to support McFeeley and his family.

The band, cheerleaders, coaches and staff will be participating in this venture.

“It's an awareness thing as well as a way to raise money to help pay medical bills,” Butler coach Eric Christy said. “This is in support of their school district and community.

“We're competitors on the field, but we're still coming together as people.”

Bob Palko is in his first year as Mt. Lebanon head coach. He was 217-73 in 24 seasons at West Allegheny, winning eight WPIAL championships there.

“This will be a life lesson to all of these kids,” Palko said. “You realize what's really important in life. Sometimes we all forget that.

“We're all supporting our school and our community on this night.”

On the field, both teams will be looking to get a conference victory and a positive start.

While the Blue Devils have four starting offensive linemen back — including 6-foot-5, 295-pound two-way lineman J.B. Nelson — Palko said he's still trying to figure out what players belong where.

Joey Daniels, a sophomore, and senior Evan Jones have both seen time at quarterback. Mason Ventrone is a senior running back and one of the top linebackers in the WPIAL.

Receiver Sam LeSota caught 32 passes for 384 yards a year ago. Place-kicker Casey Sorsdal led the WPIAL with 10 fielsd goals as a sophomore a year ago.

“We've got some good football players here,” Palko said. “But in terms of how we're using our personnel, it's a study in progress. We're trying to make sure all the square pegs go in square holes, the round pegs into round holes.

“Being experienced up front is helping us as we figure that out.”

Butler has come out of its first two games with its starters healthy. Golden Tornado quarterback Cooper Baxter ran for 151 yards and threw for 104 in last week's 42-21 loss to Baldwin.

Baxter also threw touchdown passes to Zach Slomers and Justin Kabay.

“We've thrown three touchdown passes in two games,” Christy said. “We only threw three all of lst year and none the year before. I definitely see promise in our passing game.”

Kabay also broke off a couple of solid runs last week.

“I like what Justin is bringing us at running back, but he excels as one of our middle linebackers, too,” Christy said. “We need to spell him some on offense to keep him fresh.

“We have to juggle a number of kids in and out. With a small roster, you have to do that.”

The Tornado struggled to make tackles last week as Baldwin's skilled players shredded a number of them.

“That puts us in a bind as coaches,” Christy said. “We could go harder in practice and work on tackling drills, but you risk injury that way and we can't afford injutries. We're walking a fine line there.

“We continue to teach tackling technique. Hopefully, we'll improve in that area.”

Christy added that Mt. Lebanon “won't be as fast as Baldwin's skilled people were, but they'll still be faster than us.

“Defensively, they play a 34 with very active linebackers.”

Palko is leery of Baxter's growing skill-set.

“That quarterback is showing a lot of promise,” he said. “Butler's still trying to figure it out just like we are.

“That coach (Christy) is from there and has a lot of pride in that town. Their kids have pride as a team as well.”

The Blue Devils lead the series between the teams, 15-9-1, including a 44-21 triumph last year.