BUTLER TWP— An opportunistic defense, a ball-control offense and stellar special teams — it's all added up to a 3-1 start for the Butler football team, putting the Golden Tornado in position to post their first winning season since 1997.

But first thing's first, as Butler opens Northern Six section play at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Shaler (4-0).

"Now is when every game counts,"Butler coach Jeff McAnallen said.

The Tornado are plus-8 in the turnover-takeaway category through four games, intercepting four passes and recovering eight fumbles. Josh Reddick has three of the interceptions and T.J. Lesniewski has recovered four fumbles.

Ryan Soule kicked three field goals in last week's 18-0 win over Canon-McMillan and is 5-for-5 this season.

"Ryan makes all his kicks in practice, makes all his kicks in the games,"McAnallen said. "When the situation calls for it, I have full confidence in sending him out there."

Reddick is averaging 32 yards on four punt returns and 27.8 yards on five kickoff returns.

"The kids have learned and bought into our system,"McAnallen said. "It takes a while to learn a whole new defense and offense.

"We rushed for 205 yards last week and didn't have any one guy rush for more than 50. To me, that's a very good sign."

Butler has rushed for 764 yards as a team, averaging 4.58 yards per carry. Tony Fudoli has 206 yards, Eli Christy 184, quarterback Cole Harvey 167 and Christos Klutinoty 143.

The Tornado have thrown sparingly, with Harvey completing 18 of 30 passes for 185 yards. Klutinoty and tight end Brian Jendesky have combined for 11 of those receptions.

"We haven't thrown as much as I'd like, but the key for us is running the ball, anyway,"McAnallen said. "When Cole drops back and doesn't find what he's looking for, he uses his instincts — and that's to pull the ball down and run.

"He's been effective that way, so I'm not too concerned. Our passing game will come. But we want to do it on play-action. We're not the kind of team that can line up in the shotgun with five wideouts."

McAnallen described Harvey as "a football player who's going to make smart decisions, call audibles and find a way to win."

On defense, middle linebacker Lesniewski leads the Tornado with 15 tackles and 31 assists. Christy has nine tackles and 20 assists from his safety position. Fellow linebackers Luke Gilliland and Nick Elliott have 24 tackles each.

"We're playing a 44 and that's designed for the linebackers to make tackles,"McAnallen said. "Our linemen will get some stops, but sometimes they have to give themselves up by tying up blockers so the linebackers can make plays."

Fudoli is the fourth linebacker and has been a playmaker with two sacks, three forced fumbles, an interception and a 32-yard fumble return.

"We played six or seven offensive linemen last week,"McAnallen said. "Our goal is to get 25 kids playing football on Friday nights and we're very close to that.

"When we spell Tony, we spell him on offense. We need him in that linebacker mix."

Butler has defeated Shaler only once in the past 10 years — a 17-14 decision in 2002 — and scored as many as 20 points against the Titans only once during that stretch.

"This will be a totally different game from last week,"McAnallen said. "Canon-McMillan ran one formation with a number of different plays out of it.

"Shaler uses 15 formations, about 45 different plays. ... We've got a lot to prepare for."