BUTLER TWP — Lesson learned.

Coming off a 38-7 season-opening defeat at Shaler, Butler plays its football home opener at 7 p.m. Friday, taking on Meadville at Art Bernardi Stadium.

The Golden Tornado trailed Shaler at halftime, 31-0.

“We’re young and part of that was first-game jitters,” Butler coach Eric Christy said. “But Shaler has a very good team. That team can throw the ball and they’ve got athletes. They should win a lot of games.

“I think we wore down a little bit, too. The lesson I took from that game is we need to get more guys ready to play, get different kids involved as starters on either side of the ball.

“Transitioning to go back to the WPIAL, we need to be thinking along those lines, too ... We need to build depth,” Christy added.

Meadville defeated Butler, 21-14, on its way to a 12-2 season that resulted in the District 10 Class 4A championship and a berth in the PIAA quarterfinals. But only seven total starters return from that team and 13 all-region players have graduated.

The Bulldogs opened the season with a 27-14 win over Corry last week. Bradyn Miller rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns while Jordan Lawrence ran for 103 yards and a score. Meadville rushed for 300 yards and attempted only five passes in that game.

“We threw five passes? That’s a lot for us,” Meadville coach Ray Collins said. “We only throw the ball when we want to, usually to keep the safeties back a littlle bit if we notice they’re crowding the box in run support.”

Collins is in his 10th year as Meadville coach and sports a 65-38 record there.

“It’s not that they can’t throw the ball — they will if they have to — but they don’t want to throw it,” Christy said. “Meadville plays smash-mouth football. They've been running that Wing-T for years. Their kids know it and they execute it very well.

“If we don’t show up ready to match that physicality, they’ll jam the ball right down our throats.”

The Bulldogs are using two quarterbacks, both first-year starters in senior Tate Reichel and sophomore Jacoby Thompson. The latter comes in to run a spread package.

Butler first-year starting quarterback Alec Teff threw for 147 yards and two interceptions against Shaler. Landon Lacey had three catches for 66 yards, Braylon Littlejohn two catches for 46 yards, David Graef four for 33.

“Alec made some good reads and we were in position to make plays ... It just didn’t come together,” Christy said. “Now we have a game under our belts, we’re at home, it’s Military Night and Hometown Heroes will be going on. Our kids feed off that type of thing.”

Senior lineman-linebacker Keegan Bracken remains sidelined by an MCL sprain, but may return to the lineup soon. AJ Baker, Butler’s center, was named the team’s Offensive Lineman of the Week.

“Butler has good speed and a big line that moves well and plays physical,” Collins said. “I was impressed with them last year and I’m impressed with them this year.”

Defensively, Meadville is led by cornerback Nic Williams, who had a 101-yard interception return against Butler last season, linebacker Brighton Anderson, free safety Reichel and linebacker Ty Tidball.

“I hate to use the word rebuild, but that’s the reality of it,” Collins said. “But a lot of our new starters did see a lot of varsity time last season. We are in a rebuild, but the situation that way isn’t as bad as it could be.”

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