Tornado football enjoys D-10
BUTLER TWP — For the next two seasons, Butler High School football will continue its membership in District 10.
So when will the Golden Tornado gridders return to the WPIAL?
Anybody's guess.
“It's just too early to tell,” Butler athletic director Bill Mylan said. “We're still very early in this process. Because of COVID, we basically only played the Erie schools in 2020.
“This move has been good for us. Our players, the school and the community got into it this past year ... We haven't seen that kind of excitement and enthusiasm about football around here in a long time.”
Butler did well at the junior high level in 2021, going 7-2 against primarily a WPIAL schedule after going winless the year before. The junior high team closed the season with competitive losses to North Hills and Pine-Richland.
“We were encouraged by that, but you can only use the junior high games as a slight gage for how the program is progressing,” Butler varsity football coach Eric Christy said.
Butler was one of approximately 12 high school football programs in Western Pennsylvania to field a freshman team in 2021.
“That speaks well for our numbers right now and where we're at in that regard, but we want to keep those numbers up there,” Mylan said. “One of the reasons you can't really go by junior high results to judge the future of the program is you don't know how many of those kids will stay with football.
“Between eighth and ninth grade, ninth and 10th grade, that's when most kids decide what sport they want to stick with in high school. Maybe they see a college future in another sport. There are a lot of variables there.”
The Tornado football roster was in the 20's during the 2019 season — its last in the WPIAL. The team had 79 rostered players in 2021.
Butler finished 2021 with a 5-4 regular season record — its first winning regular season since 1997 — before dropping a 40-21 decision to McDowell in the District 10 championship game.
The Tornado trailed McDowell only 26-21 late in the third quarter before the game got away.
“We felt like we should have won that game,” Christy said. “Coming that close to the District 10 championship has rallied all of us to getting that done.
“There is good football in District 10. We've certainly learned that. We found good competition for ourselves there and our program has clearly benefited from that.”
Cathedral Prep will join Butler, Erie and McDowell in District 10 Class 6A next fall. The WPIAL will only have five teams in 6A.
Cathedral Prep defeated Butler by a 58-7 score in 2021.
“Their addition to 6A definitely makes that division a bigger challenge,” Christy said. “It could add another round of playoffs.
“I'm sure we'll be keeping an eye on what happens in WPIAL 6A down the road, too.”
While it appears likely Butler football will stay in District 10 beyond the next two years, Mylan won't rule out going back to the WPIAL after this two-year cycle is complete.
“We're not ruling out anything,” he said. “If the football program continues moving in a positive direction and we make enough strides to where we believe we're ready, it could happen.”
Christy's focus is on the state of the program rather than which district it belongs to.
“Keep the numbers up and keep things moving in the right direction,” he said. “All we want to do right now is build off the improvement of last year.”
