BUTLER TWP— Butler is banged up, but it will show up.

The Golden Tornado (3-5, 0-4) will close their football season at 7:30 p.m. Friday against rival Seneca Valley (3-5, 0-4) at Art Bernardi Stadium.

The Butler Eagle Traveling Trophy will be presented to the winner after the game.

Butler decided not to play a crossover game next week.

"It's hard enough getting the kids up right now,"coach Jeff McAnallen said. "We can't reach our goals now and that's disappointing to everybody.

"But I know these kids. Come Friday night, they'll be ready to play some football. The effort has been there all year, and that's not going to change."

Wide receiver Jared Oesterling and tight end Brian Jendesky suffered knee injuries in last week's 24-7 loss at North Allegheny. Cornerback-return specialist Josh Reddick missed that game with a concussion and quarterback Cole Harvey has not been 100 percent for three weeks.

All might be on the field Friday, however.

"We may not know until Thursday or Friday, but as long as guys are medically cleared to play, they're going to play,"McAnallen said. "Nobody wants to miss the last game."

The Golden Tornado's 27-13 loss at Seneca Valley last year snapped their three-year hold on the Traveling Trophy. Butler doesn't want to see the Raiders receive the trophy at Bernardi Stadium.

"This game is about pride," McAnallen said. "Both teams are in the same situation."

Both teams play radically different brands of football, however.

Harvey has completed 52 of 101 passes for 515 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Those numbers comprise about two weeks' work for Seneca Valley quarterback C.J. Brown.

Brown has one receiver — senior Matt Plautz — needing only 25 yards to reach 1,000 receiving yards for the campaign.

"They have great skilled players and they score points,"McAnallen said. "We can't get into a 52-48 or 35-32 game with them like Shaler did. We don't score that many points.

"Everybody gears up to face Brown, saying they're going to hit him, pressure him, put him on the ground, yet I haven't seen that kid get hit. Nobody can get to him.

"Without question, he's the best player and the best athlete in our conference,"the coach added.

McAnallen said Butler's best chance to win Friday is to keep Brown and the Raiders offense watching on the sidelines.

"Teams they've played have scored on them with long plays,"he said. "Again, that's not us. Our breakaway threat is Eli Christy and that's about it. We need to possess the ball and drive the ball.

"Seneca Valley has a very rhythmic attack. When you can throw them off by keeping them off the field, you see some three-and-outs. That's what we need to do."

Christos Klutinoty leads Butler's ground game with 354 yards. Tony Fudoli has 295 yards and six touchdowns rushing while Christy has 269 yards. All three backs are averaging at least 4.4 yards per carry.

Jendesky has 13 catches for 168 yards, Christy 11 for 184. Klutinoty has caught 14 passes out of the backfield.

"We have to grind it out, keep moving the chains," McAnallen said.

Butler has to finish drives as well. The Tornado have scored only 24 points in their last three games.

Defensively, T.J. Lesniewski leads the Tornado with 21 solo tackles and 78 total stops, including 10 tackles for loss. Jordan Emrick has six quarterback sacks.

"I've seen a lot of positive things this year in terms of attitude and desire,"McAnallen said. "But we're still not executing enough in critical situations.

"You have to win conference games and we haven't done that. Our goal is to win in this conference and we're not going to stop until we get there."