Numbers never lie.

The first seven weeks of high school football have produced some downright gaudy ones.

There are some players in the Butler County area who possess stat lines that are simply hard to believe.

Slippery Rock’s offense has been so potent, examples of excellence could consume this entire column. Here’s just a couple:

Jake Whitmer doesn’t always throw the ball, but when he does, the junior quarterback prefers touchdowns to Chris Reeseman. Whitmer has attempted only 20 passes this season and seven — or 35 percent — went for a TD and five of those landed in the arms of his trusty senior receiver.

• There are 55 players with at least 100 rushing yards among 12 Butler County area schools. Slippery Rock owns nine of them. Each boasts at least 7.7 yards per attempt. Shane Kirkwood, Brandon McKnight and Ryan Lauster all average over 23 yards a tote. Lauster needed only 19 carries to accrue an absurd 518 yards.

There is plenty more to admire around the county:

• Josh Schultheis has racked up 1,089 yards on the ground this season. Not only is it more than 300 yards clear of the county’s second-leading rusher, four of our 12 schools don’t have that much rushing yardage as a team. The gridiron equivalent of a locomotive, Schultheis broke the 3,000-yard mark for his career on Friday. Oh, and he’s just a junior.

• Football is a violent game, but NFL quarterbacks often get the glamour treatment. Whether they’re hit high, low or aggressively tossed to the ground — penalty flags fly.

That’s not the case for high school quarterbacks. Some endure the beating of a bruising running back.

Four QBs — Seneca Valley’s T.J. Holl, Moniteau’s Cody Skiver, Butler’s Tom Jendesky and Freeport’s Andrew Romanchak — rank among the top 10 in carries this season. These guys aren’t just great athletes, they’re tough.

• Holl is the most lethal dual threat in the area. The SV junior paces the county in total offense by over 500 yards, thanks to 1,113 through the air and another 548 on the ground.

• Karns City’s Dakota Mohney is another double threat. When the versatile senior touches the ball, good things happen. On 40 offensive touches — 25 carries and 15 receptions — Mohney has found the end zone 12 times. He also returned an interception for a score and is the only player in the county to average at least 40 yards rushing and receiving per game.

• Double trouble also resides in Rimersburg, as Union’s Shane Murphy and Chet Carmichael are the area’s only receivers in the 400-yard club.

• Mars’ Travis Ganter is a big play waiting to happen with 233 receiving yards on just six catches. He’s also the only player to score on a special teams and defensive return this season.

Numbers never lie — these guys are fun to watch.