BUTLER TWP - Butler's injuries are worsening. So is the Golden Tornado's schedule.

Still looking for its first Quad North win of the season, Butler (2-2, 0-2) travels to Martorelli Stadium Friday night for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff against North Hills (3-1, 2-0).

Senior running back Bobby Alexander injured a knee in Saturday's 21-17 loss at Shaler and has a MRI scheduled today. He is sidelined indefinitely.

Alexander has 226 yards rushing with five touchdowns on the year. Tight end Noah Hartung (nine catches, 98 yards) missed the Shaler game with a sore knee.

Veteran offensive lineman Marcus Hough and linebacker Phil Scialabba were hurt early in the season's first game and haven't played since. Ian Haley, last year's team leader in tackles, hasn't played all season and is questionable for Friday's game with a sprained ankle.

"Noah's not at 100 percent and Aaron Dorondo is still ahead of him at tight end because he can run better right now," Butler coach Garry Cathell said. "We have to go with the healthy kid."

Alexander's injury is the most damaging, since backup tailback Michael Bresnahan suffered a broken collarbone two weeks ago in a junior varsity game.

"You have to run the ball to be successful in high school football," Cathell said. "Right now, we're in trouble that way."

The Tornado are trying a number of people in the backfield this week in hopes of developing a tailback. They include junior Mike Golec, converted receiver Cory Haley, junior varsity tailback Dan D'Amore and sophomore Cameron McDonald-Cahill.

Another name joining the mix is senior Brandon Irvin, who enrolled Monday at Butler High School. The prime running back on Butler Area Midget Football League champion Penn Street team a few years ago, Irvin had been attending Glen Mills.

"He's passed all of the initial tests, such as eye contact and meeting with the coaches," Cathell said. "We'll see how he does in contact drills over the next couple of days.

"How quickly he picks things up and how he compares with the other (backs) will determine how much action he'll see. We just don't know very much about him yet."

Cathell does know his team can throw the football. If it has to, it will do so often against North Hills.

"We may throw the ball 40 times," he said. "We'll do what we need to do to stay in this game.

"If we're close in the fourth quarter, (kicker) Chris Haley becomes a real threat. He could kick one through to win it."

Quarterback Nick Monteleone has completed 40 of 77 passes for 521 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. He's thrown for more than 100 yards in each game thus far.

Jordan Roycroft has 11 catches for 174 yards while Andy Strutt has 11 for 135. Fullback Ben Ashcraft had three catches for 38 yards out of the backfield last week.

"Kids worry about how well they play and Ben played very well last week," Cathell said. "We wanted to make him more a part of the offense and that worked well.

"Ben is better suited at fullback. We ran him at tailback in preseason and it's taken him a while to get comfortable again at fullback. We won't move him again."

The Tornado defense hopes to keep North Hills from moving, but has surrendered 641 yards rushing in the past two games. It allowed just 190 in the first two contests.

Quarterback Ryan Lehmeier and fullback Connor Corcoran anchor the Indians' running game.

"Our run defense has been baffling to the coaching staff," Cathell said. "It's the same defense that was so stingy against the run the first two weeks.

"North Hills likes to spread things out and give Lehmeier running lanes. We've got to be disciplined defensively. We can't throw everything at Lehmeier because they have other weapons who can hurt you.

"Hey, we're excited about going down there (Martorelli Stadium). We've got a good game-plan, we'll implement it and see what happens," Cathell added.