CANONSBURG — Canon-McMillan football coach Guy Montecalvo called last year's meeting with Butler "a classic trap game."

The Big Macs had just beaten Woodland Hills and were scheduled to play Upper St. Clair the week after Butler. Canon-Mac wound up defeating the Panthers as well.

In between, Butler hung an 18-0 shutout on Montecalvo's team, which made the WPIAL playoffs before being blanked by Shaler in the first round.

"Absolutely one of the worst games one of my teams has ever played," the coach recalled. "We were horrible that night.

"We didn't know a thing about Butler. We weren't prepared well for that game. We didn't know how well (Eli) Christy could run or anything about (quarterback Cole) Harvey.

"We were taken by surprise. I don't know if we're going to win Friday, but I do know we won't be taken by surprise this time," Montecalvo added.

The Big Macs (1-2) will try to snap a two-game losing streak when they host Butler (0-3) at 7:30 p.m.

Canon-McMillan opened the season with a 36-22 win over Trinity as fullback Mike Hull, who is headed to Penn State as a linebacker, scored four touchdowns. Senior quarterback Zach Hoffman threw for 136 yards against the Hillers.

Since then, the Big Macs have lost 21-7 to Central Catholic and 37-7 to Woodland Hills.

"We were tied 7-7 against Central with six minutes to go," Montecalvo said. "Then we rough their punter, they go down and score, and the game got away from us.

"We were just overmatched by Woodland Hills. They've got six Division I players. ... That's one of the best high school teams I've gone up against in a long, long time."

Woodland Hills had a total yardage edge of 368-74 over the Big Macs.

Montecalvo has 223 wins in 30 years as a coach. Most of his years were spent coaching Washington (Pa.) High School.

Canon-McMillan returns only two starters on offense: running backs Hull and Chad Hagan, and the latter was cleared to play only last week after being idle four months with a heart condition.

Hagan will play at Ohio State next season.

"We're thrilled to have Chad back because he's such a great kid. But the reality is it's going to take a few weeks to get him back into football shape," Montecalvo said.

Hull led WPIAL Quad-A in rushing with 1,300 yards as a sophomore, but was limited to 800 yards last year while battling a bad back. He's healthy this year.

The Big Macs' offensive line is totally new. Ian Mahoney is a 200-pound center while the guards are 225-pound Robert Semulka and 230-pounds Mike Blair. Tackles are 275-pound Dominic Broglia and 240-pound Pat Cummings.

"Your running backs could be Walter Payton and Barry Sanders, but you're not going to maximize their production without quality blocking up front," Montecalvo said.

"Our offensive linemen are new to this stream. They don't know where the trout are yet."

Quarterback Hoffman was a member of Canon-Mac's state championship baseball team.

"He can run and throw the ball well," Montecalvo said.

The Big Macs defense returns Hull at outside linebacker, Hagan at free safety, Luke Campbell at end and Keith Farmer at cornerback.

Sophomore kicker Tommy Valerio "has been consistent on PATs," Montecalvo said. "Where we've been hurt is on our kickoffs.

"We kicked off to the wrong side to open the game at Woodland Hills and they returned it for a touchdown. That's not something you want to do in the Wolvarena. It was downhill from there."