Full steam ahead
BUTLER TWP — For Butler, it's all about momentum.
The Golden Tornado (1-1, 0-1) football team will look to gain some Friday night when it hosts Canon McMillan (0-2) in a non-section game at Art Bernardi Stadium.
Butler returns to Northern Seven play next weekend with its first road game of the season.
“Our kids know we need this game,” first-year coach Clyde Conti said. “We've got a few kids who will be out of there (with injuries), but we can't use that as an excuse.
“You play right through that kind of stuff. When those kids come back, they make you stronger later on.”
Conti would not disclose any names of injured players.
Canon McMillan is coming off a 1-8 season — the lone win being a 19-14 decision over Butler in Week 3 — and began this year with close losses to Trinity (19-18) and Latrobe (9-7).
The Big Macs play a power running game and feature a speed back in senior Kenyadda Brown.
“Their offensive line is back from last year and that No. 35 (Zack Soyring) does a great job at fullback for them.
“If that No. 1 (Brown) turns the corner, he's gone. He's got that kind of speed. They like to run the ball and pound it at you, but I've got a lot of faith in my kids.”
The Tornado offense struggled against North Allegheny last week, managing only five first downs and 29 offensive plays.
“We did some things well, but there's no consistency,” Conti said. “Canon Roskovski made a couple of nice catches early in the game.
“We're still missing blocking assignments and that shouldn't be happening at this point in the season,” Conti added. “We have to know what we're doing no matter who we're putting in there.”
Tanner Wahler deflected a pass into the hands of teammate Demetrius Lockley, who returned it 75 yards for a score last week to prevent Butler from being blanked in a 49-7 loss.
“North Allegheny's new quarterback (Mack Leftwich) turned a very good team into a great team, but we sacked him three times and picked him off once.
“Trevor Wideman gave us solid play at corner and Ryan Hannon gave us a good game at guard after being sick all week. Jarrod Werth has been a good leader at corner as well.
“We've got some good things going on. We just need more of it,” Conti added.
Butler has not defeated a Quad-A opponent since 2008 — when it defeated the Big Macs at Bernardi Stadium.
“There's no excuses at this point,” Conti said. “You put people in position to make plays and it comes down to executing properly.
“We lined up in the neutral zone three times last week and we put the ball on the ground too much. This Canon-Mac team is big and strong up front. we don't need to help them. We need to step up and stop people.”
Conti added that as physical and determined Canon McMillan will be, “other teams in our conference will be better than what we're facing Friday night.
“We're really, really close to succeeding on a lot of things we're doing. Our kids will keep fighting regardless.”
