NEW CASTLE — Thinking New Castle may look past Butler come Friday night?

Think again.

The Red Hurricane have their own issues to deal with when they come to Art Bernardi Stadium for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Friday.

“No. Not at all,” seventh-year New Castle coach Frank Bongivengo Jr. said of any concerns about his team being overly confident. “This is the first game of the season and nobody wants to start out with a loss.

“It's all about competition. Whether your record is 23-0 or 0-23, you want to win a football game. My kids will be ready to go.”

One kid who won't be on the field for New Castle is Justin Fleo, a slotback who had 534 yards on 88 carries and made numerous big plays a year ago. The senior tore an ACL over the summer and is out for the season.

Fleo was being recruited by Div. I-AA colleges.

“He's already ahead of schedule on his rehab, which is good news,” Bongivengo said. “He's quite a baseball player, too, so we're hoping he's 100 percent healthy and good to go in the spring.”

Even without Fleo, the ‘Canes return six starters offensively. John Matarazzo, a 6-foot-4 quarterback in his third year as a starter, threw for 1,708 yards and nine touchdowns last season. His top receiver, senior Marcus Carter, had 31 catches for 570 yards and three scores.

Junior running back Jalen Holmes, who split time with Fleo in the backfield, is coming off a sophomore season of 864 yards and 12 TDs on 110 carries.

Another starting wide receiver, senior Corey Eggleston, returns as well.

“We'll still run our spread offense and it's a big plus having a third-year starter at quarterback,” Bongivengo said. “We put a lot on our quarterback's plate in terms of running this offense.

“Still, we will miss Fleo a lot. He was a playmaker we could use in a variety of ways. He was the fastest kid on our team.”

New Castle returns only two starting offensive linemen in seniors Chris Avery and Joey Noviello. Avery is the lone returning starter along the defensive line.

“We lost a lot of linemen from last year and have some kids stepping in to replace two or three-year starters,” Bongivengo said. “That's always a concern, how young kids will step in and shore up that line.

“You can't do anything if you can't block anybody.”

Darrian Rice, another senior, will step in for Fleo at slotback. Rice and Carter will also return kickoffs and punts for the ‘Canes.

Besides Avery, linebacker Joey Ambrosini and corners Carter and Eggleston are the ‘Canes' only returning starters defensively.

Junior Nico DeJohn at linebacker and senior Latrell McKnight at end are two newcomers Bongivengo expects good things from.

“We're inexperienced on defense and we're counting on newcomers,” he said. “Our kicking game is always a work in progress. Since we have no soccer program in the high school, we don't really develop kickers.”

New Castle is coming off a 5-4 season — 3-4 in the Parkway Conference — and no WPIAL playoff appearance.

This marks the fourth straight season Butler and New Castle have met in the opener. The Golden Tornado scored a 28-21 win at Taggart Stadium in 2008, suffered a 20-14 loss at home in 2009 and took a 25-0 loss at New Castle last year.

“I've had the opportunity to watch Butler twice on film and they look like a pretty good team to me,” Bongivengo said,. “I think they're going to surprise some people in their conference.

“Their kids are aggressive and fly around the ball defensively. Offensively, they have a nice athletic quarterback and they're beginning to understand what the coaches want them to do.”