BETHEL PARK— Sometimes the records don't seem to mean anything.

Bethel Park football coach Jeff Metheny believes this is one of those times.

The Black Hawks (2-1) come to Art Bernardi Stadium for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff against winless Butler Friday. The lone loss on Bethel's ledger is a season-opening 19-16 defeat to North Allegheny.

But Metheny doesn't want to hear about the Golden Tornado's woes, the fact Butler has only three returning lettermen and almost no returning starters.

"Iremember going up there a few years ago when they weren't supposed to be very good and we got walloped (42-14 in 2003),"Metheny said. "Our kids know about that game.

"Certain teams just play well against certain teams. We've always had our hands full with Butler. I doubt this will be any different."

Since that 42-14 loss, The Black Hawks have defeated Butler by scores of 28-24, 28-14 and 35-29.

Metheny is in his 14th season at Bethel and has won more than 120 games at the school. The Black Hawks beat Penn Hills 27-24 and Norwin 19-10 the past two weeks.

Bethel Park comes to town without a lot of experience in its own right. The Black Hawks return only four starters on both sides of the ball.

Quarterback Jeff Stewart, running back Justin Pratt and receiver Tim Picard, who combined for 3,614 yards last season, have graduated. Pratt is playing at Carnegie Mellon, Picard is playing at California (Pa.) University and Stewart walked on at Pitt, but quit during preseason camp.

In their place are 6-foot-3 junior quarterback Erik Olsen, junior running back Lyle Marsh and a trio of solid receivers in Zack Hay, John Schademan and Jay Bruce.

"Erik has a strong arm and he's having a very good season,"Metheny said. "He's already had a couple of 100-yard passing games.

"Not many people know about Lyle Marsh yet, but he's strong, fast and weighs 205 pounds. ... He's become pretty effective."

Marsh had 34 carries for 210 yards against Norwin last week and has 460 yards rushing through three games.

"Our receivers could go five deep,"Metheny said. "They're all very capable."

On defense, the Black Hawks are led by tackles Billy Bair and Rich Doolin, senior nose guard Dan Buckley, inside linebackers C.J. Seitzinger, who also plays fullback on offense, and Adam Lazenga.

Senior Ethan Talbott is back as Bethel Park's punter and kicker.

"We've had some good plays, some bad plays on special teams,"Metheny said. "We've struggled in the extra point area and in field goal protection. That might have cost us the North Allegheny game.

Metheny isn't worried about jumping on Butler early. His team is playing its third road game already and is on the road again next week.

"Our kids have been doing a nice job of staying focused,"Metheny said. "We respect Butler and we know they're going to come at us hard on their home turf.

"All I know is we've gotten our butts kicked up there before. I don't want to see it happen again,"Metheny added.