Butler youth football players run out of the tunnel before a Butler High School game in 2022. The 2024 Pennsylvania high school football season kicks off Aug. 23. Butler Eagle file photo

Justin Guido

The start of a new football season means cracking pads, blown whistles and the unofficial start of fall.

It also means something new for the Butler Eagle: a high school football media day.

The Eagle is holding its inaugural media day Friday, Aug. 9, at Butler High School, bringing in varsity teams from across Butler County for photos, videos and to talk with local media about the 2024 PIAA football season.

This is a venture meant to bring a new kind of coverage to the vibrant high school sports scene in the county. But it’s not the only thing readers, online and in print, can expect from Butler Eagle’s sports department this school year.

Friday night will also see the launch of the rebranded sports podcast, Alter Eagle’s “Eye On Sports,” at Butler High School in front of a live audience. Longtime Eagle reporter Derek Pyda is the show’s host, joined by two co-hosts, reporter Brendan Howe and new Eagle sports editor Jake Adams. Friday’s show will include guests from Butler’s football team.

Formerly called “Upon Further Review,” “Eye On Sports” will be made available every Thursday on all podcast platforms and will now extend throughout the school year. The show will cover Butler County high school sports in a new way, with analysis, conversation, previews and interviews of the biggest names from the county.

Longtime readers also can expect plenty of preview coverage over the next two weeks as always. The annual football preview special section will publish Aug. 21, ahead of Aug. 23’s opening kickoffs, and include previews on all 11 area high school teams, as well as Slippery Rock University.

And there are some exciting new changes coming in the written coverage, too. The Eagle is previewing other fall sports again. Readers may have seen a list of some of the top girls tennis top watch this season already, with soccer, volleyball and all the rest planned in the lead-up to the regular season.

Pyda has already looked at this year’s Butler Eagle Scoring Trophy contenders, and coming soon will be the Eagle’s first preseason Sweet 16 offensive and defensive football teams, previewing at who might be some of the top players to watch in 2024.

Print and digital subscribers will be able to find coverage every day on ButlerEagle.com/sports and in the paper.

If you have an interesting story about a player, coach or team in the area you’d like to share with the Butler Eagle’s sports staff, email sports@butlereagle.com or sports editor Jake Adams at jadams@butlereagle.com.