BUTLER TWP — For Butler, Friday night football has been put on hold.

Due to some positive COVID tests on the Golden Tornado roster, Friday night's scheduled game at Erie has been postponed. It will likely be rescheduled later in the season.

Both teams are 0-1 and the game is a key one in terms of determining District 10 playoff teams.

“It's considered a 6A region game in District 10 and those games take precedent over non-region games on the schedule,” Butler athletic director Bill Mylan said. “It may be at the expense of another game, but this one will likely be played at some point.”

Butler was coming off a struggling performance offensively.

“It's strange to talk about playoff ramifications so early in the season, but this game has them,” Butler coach Eric Christy said. “Erie is a 6A District 10 team and so are we.

“The outcome of this game could determine a lot down the road.”

It will just have to wait.

Butler did not practice Monday after the positive COVID tests were discovered. The school district decided on Tuesday to shut down football for the rest of the week.

No other Golden Tornado sporting events are being affected.

“This is confined to the football team,” Mylan said.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Butler will resume football activities Monday.

“All we can do as coaches this week is stay in communication with the kids,” Christy said. “Whether they can get in the weight room and work out on their own ... I'm not sure where that sort of thing stands.

“Everyone faces adversity. Nobody leads a perfect life. This will build character for our team. As far as I'm concerned, we will begin preparing for Meadville Monday.”

Butler hosts Meadville for the Tornado's home opener Sept. 10.

The Tornado scored their only touchdown in last week's 21-7 loss at Kiski Area on an 11-yard Cooper Baxter run with less than a minute to play.

“We hurt ourselves with penalties and missed blocking assignments,” Christy said.

Butler figured to get most of its junior varsity players back from COVID protocol this week — after having only 30 varsity players suited up at Kiski — with the exception of a handful who actually tested positive for COVID-19.

The Tornado did have some bright spots last week. Ethan Babay had a solid game at defensive tackle, as did Baxter and JunJun Andrada at linebacker. Christy said defensive end Jed Wills had a strong game as well.

Butler's Offensive Lineman of the Week award went to senior Jake Pomykata.

“He had a number of pancake blocks and handled his assignments well,” Christy said. “Jake was very aggressive, the type of play you want out of one of your captains.

“(Receiver-defensive back) Lance Slater had a solid game on both sides of the ball. Overall, we're encouraged. We just need to fix our mistakes.”

Butler-Erie became the third Butler County football game affected by COVID-19 this week. On Monday, Moniteau canceled its home game with Central Clarion and the Slippery Rock-Mercyhurst Prep game was nixed due to a COVID situation at Mercyhurst.

Slippery Rock is now playing at Sharpsville at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Erie has scheduled a rematch with Cathedral Prep — which defeated the Royals 49-6 last Friday — for 7 p.m. Thursday at Erie's Veterans Stadium.