Things don't change very much when it comes to Mt. Lebanon football.

Use a lot of backs, use a lot of receivers, play stellar defense - and keep on winning.

That formula has certainly worked against Butler.

Mt. Lebanon (4-3, 3-2) will look to defeat the Golden Tornado (2-5, 0-5) for the sixth time in as many years Friday when they meet at Mt. Lebanon Stadium.

The Blue Devils have outscored Butler 166-26 in their last five meetings, including 35-6 last year.

"None of that means anything now," veteran Blue Devil coach Chris Haering said. "Every year is a little bit different. Our kids have watched a lot of film and they see Butler as very capable of beating them.

"Their quarterback is outstanding. He makes plays and they move the football. And we have not been playing great defense."

Mt. Lebanon is allowing 21 points per game this season, including 39 to McKeesport in Week 2 and 38 to Upper St. Clair in Week 4.

Since then, the Blue Devils - 66-30 under Haering the past nine years - have sandwiched wins of 48-20 over Seneca Valley and 27-14 at Shaler around a 21-14 loss to North Hills.

"Our quarterback (Nick Till) has played better the past three weeks and that's had a lot to do with our improvement," Haering said.

Till, a returning starter, threw for 833 yards and nine touchdowns last year. He has a slew of senior receivers to throw to this year, including 6-foot-4 Derek Jancisin, Jim Bonenberger, Dave Kleifgen and Mike Kurek.

A solid runner himself, Till has senior Mark Sutton and juniors Chip Young and Joe Rodella to hand the ball off to in the backfield.

"We run and catch the ball by committee," Haering said. "It's been an effective system for us. Not only does it keep us fresh late in games, it's kept us fresh now that it's late in the season.

"Ideally, we'll be playing our best football in the weeks ahead."

Young had 13 carries for 80 yards and a touchdown Saturday at Shaler. Rodella rushed for 63 yards while Mark Sutton had 16 carries for 58 yards and two scores.

Defensively, Haering pointed to senior tackle Bill Barringer, cornerback Sutton and junior safety Kyle Wishart as his top performers.

Steve Stombaugh, younger brother of former Blue Devil kicker Brad Stombaugh, handles the place-kicking duties for Mt. Lebanon.

"Our special teams have done a good job," Haering said. "We've continued to improve there the past couple of weeks."

Improvement is the key word in Haering's vocabulary.

"We really don't anticipate the type of year we're going to have," he said. "Our goal is to take each team, each year, and improve week to week."

Last year was the first time since 1995 Mt. Lebanon had a losing season. The Blue Devils still reached the WPIAL playoffs before losing to Woodland Hills in the first round.

"We've improved the little things in recent weeks," Haering said. "We're not having as many breakdowns, we're not turning the ball over as much.

"We're still taking too many penalties - probably seven or eight per game. But the kids keep working hard and it's showing up in our level of play."