BUTLER TWP — Final home game of the season, Senior Night, a District 10 Class 6A play-in game looming the following week.

Butler's football team has plenty of reasons to be motivated for its 7 p.m. kickoff Friday against Franklin at Art Bernardi Stadium.

As for the Knights?

“We're limping in there,” second-year Franklin coach Matt Turk said of his team's trip to Butler.

A Class 4A school with a 1-7 record, Franklin is allowing an average of 46 points per game. The Knights are coming off a 37-21 loss to General McLane last week and a 77-0 defeat to Meadville two weeks back — two teams Butler has defeated comfortably this season.

The Golden Tornado (3-4) are coming off a disappointing 58-7 loss at Cathedral Prep.

“We're not taking anybody lightly,” Butler coach Eric Christy said. “We're going to get all of our seniors on the field and in the game early, then get back to our regular mix.

“There just wasn't a good feel to last Friday's game. We kept hearing bad weather reports and the kids weren't sure if the game would be played. Our band didn't make the trip because of weather concerns. Neither did our cheerleaders.

“Our side of the field was quiet. It had the feel of a COVID game from last year. We just didn't show enough energy and playing a high-quality team in that atmosphere ... It was a bad recipe,” Christy added.

Butler put together only one scoring drive all night, doing so on its first possession of the second half. Braylon Littlejohn caught a 9-yard scoring pass from Mac Schnur.

That was it.

“The score was 30-0 at halftime. At least we showed a spark, but there wasn't much there,” Christy admitted.

Markeis Frazier, the Tornado center, was named the team's Offensive Lineman of the Week for the second time this season.

Franklin's lone win is a 23-16 decision over Conneaut Area. The Knights were 1-8 last season.

“We're in the process of rebuilding the program,” Turk said. “This has not been an easy year. We lost two starters to season-ending injuries during the summer and three more (starters) have gone down for the season since.”

One of those is quarterback Cole Buckley, who suffered a wrist injury in Week 4 against Warren. Hunter Marsteller, a junior, is at quarterback now.

While Franklin has used a number of different offensive and defensive formations this year, the Knights primarily use the triple option offensively and a 43 defense now.

“If we switch to a 52, it's because our middle linebacker is relatively small, so sometimes it benefits us to replace him with a bigger lineman,” Turk said.

“We are extremely young. We play a number of freshmen and sophomores, junior varsity players thrust into varsity roles.”

Carson Wible, a senior running back-linebacker, stands out on both sides of the ball for Franklin.

“He does a lot of things for them,” Christy said.

Turk recognizes the challenge that lies ahead for his team.

“Coming down there to play a 6A team will be tough,” their coach said. “Butler is well-coached, they're strong up front and they have a lot of team speed.

“They play good football. It's not that we're trying to figure things out, we're just dealing with all of those injuries.”

Christy said preparing for Franklin will require “more time in the film room.

“They've been running a lot of different stuff. We have to be prepared for just about anything.”

Butler and Franklin have never played each other in football before this season.