There are signs ... and then there are signs.

For years now, followers of Butler High School football have been waiting for the program to turn in the right direction.

Each coaching change brought renewed optimism.

Still, no change.

When the Golden Tornado ended a 14-year WPIAL playoff drought with a postseason berth in 2012, many figured more athletes would come out for football the following year.

It didn’t happen.

Now there’s another coaching change and with it comes more of that renewed optimism.

So what makes this year so different?

Simple. This team can run the ball.

It’s been years since the Golden Tornado chewed up an opponent on the ground like it did to Baldwin last week.

The Highlanders were bigger up front than Butler. They had a 300-pound lineman who is headed to Penn State.

But Butler was more physical. Protecting a lead in the fourth quarter, the Tornado placed fullbacks Jeremy Hanford and Lucas Dubyak in front of tailback Damien Pickett and plowed straight ahead on every play.

Pickett carried the ball 11 times in 12 plays — all eight plays on one possession — and Baldwin was powerless to stop it.

Not since the days when quarterback Nick Monteleone piled up yardage on the ground nearly 10 years ago has Butler been able to run the ball like that. And much of Monteleone’s yardage came on scrambles.

Pickett carried 29 times for 276 yards that night. The only Butler running back who’s approached such a night in the past 15 years is Calvin Littlejohn, who rambled for 242 at Indiana as a sophomore in 2001.

This column was penned before Friday night’s game at North Hills and the Tornado have yet to play North Allegheny, Central Catholic, etc.

The Tornado’s production on the ground may be curtailed.

It doesn’t matter.

A foundation has been laid here.

First-year head coach Rob Densmore isn’t going to deviate from his plans to establish a ball-control, ground-oriented offense to go with a stubborn defense.

He’s seen too many teams win that way. Physically, Butler is under-sized up front.

But that cliche’ of not being able to measure the size of a player’s heart is a cliche’ for a reason.

Knoch wins with a 165-pound nose guard.

Butler can win with fundamental play up front.

Watching the Tornado run for more than 300 yards against Baldwin that night, watching them come up with a goal-line stand after an errant punt snap resulted in a 30-yard loss ... These are things this team hadn’t done in years.

Falling behind 21-0 in the first 10 minutes at Altoona?

That would have wound up a 52-6 loss in years gone by.

Not that night. There’s a new team in town.

The effort is there.

The wins will come.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle