Winning isn't everything.

It's just common when it comes to Butler County boys soccer.

Six of the eight high school teams in the county are off to fast starts and don't expect to slow down any time soon.

Butler outscored its first three opponents 13-1. Emory Douthett, who doubles as the Golden Tornado place-kicker, has two goals and three assists already while Luca Fusca has three goals.

“We have high hopes for this group,” Butler coach Troy Mohney said. “(Senior) Peyton Seibert broke his hand in our first scrimmage last season and started as a defender all year. Now he's back at goalkeeper for us.

“Carson Knight is a sophomore forward who has two assists. Josh Burlingham is a senior attacking midfielder who missed all of last year with a broken ankle.”

The Tornado moved two midfielders — Luke Shook and Evan Fetter — to defense this year. Remy Pardo returns as an all-section defender and Landon Mohney, who had six goals and 10 assists in 2018, is playing more of a defensive role as a midfielder.

“We want to be able to attack from the outside more,” Mohney said. “This group was undefeated in junior high. We have a lot of very talented players here.”

North Catholic and Karns City are off to 4-0 starts this season while Mars is 4-1.

The Trojans have outscored their opposition 27-5 through four games. Ryan Augustine had 23 goals and 14 assists a year ago while Joe Kearney had 23 goals and 12 assists. Both are senior forwards.

“They read each other very nicely,” North Catholic coach Aaron Kelly said. “They set each other up for goals as well as other teammates.

“Bruce Kopchak (senior MF, 11 goals, 17 assists) is an offensive playmaker, but more of a defensive playmaker. He has an engine that never stops.”

Karns City has rolled up 13 goals in its past two games. Owen Collwell has moved up to forward and been a big scorer early. Nathjan Rondinelli is a center-midfielder with four assists already.

Kaden Scherer, like Collwell a football player as well, anchors the defense.

“We've had different guys step up,” Gremlins coach Jim Grenninger said. “We've got a versatile lineup this year.”

Mars has a pair of big scoring forwards back in junior Dane Beller (18 goals, 15 assists) and senior Austin Rocke (20 goals-19 assists).

Seneca Valley won three of its first four games this season, including a 3-2 victory over North Allegheny.

Midfielder Ben Francis, a senior, scored eight goals a year ago. Luke Rupert, a senior forward, has two goals and two assists so far this season.

“I see our offense being pretty spread out and balanced this season,” Raiders coach George Williams said. “We graduated a lot of quality kids, but we've got a lot of quality still here.”

Among the returning lettermen are senior center back Justin Stopar, sophomore Chase Thomas (moving from defender to midfield), sophomore midfielders Kyle Majeski and Mason Baldwin, sophomore forward Zack Lavelle.

“Beating NA was a big hurdle, but in our section, nothing is a given,” Williams said.

Freeport is 2-1-1 on the season, losing a 5-2 decision to Deer Lakes Tuesday. Senior midfielder Hunter Hardin scored 24 goals and added 15 assists a year ago.

“Hunter is a four-year starter and we're counting on him for offense,” Freeport coach Dave Teorsky said. “He's got great ball skills and he's a 'we' player, not a 'me' player.”

Luke Heider, a senior, is the Yellowjackets' goalkeeper this season after playing defense last year.

“If we put him at a field position, he'd still be one of our best players,” Teorsky said. “Luke is a tremendous athlete.”

Jonathan Merli, a sophomore defender, plays club soccer and anchors the back line for Freeport.

“We've made playoffs the last several years, but we play in a very competitive section,” Teorsky said. “We lost 11 seniors from last year, so we're taking nothing for granted.”

Slippery Rock and Knoch got off to 0-2 and 0-4 starts, respectively, but expect to improve as the season goes on.

The Rockets return 19-goal scorer Ryan Davey at forward, defensive midfielder Ryan Sproat, defender Nathaniel Willison and goalkeeper Duncan McCoy.

McCoy had 13 wins and eight shutouts last year.

“Duncan has stepped up his game even more,” Slippery Rock coach Kyle Hopkins said. “He's more vocal this year as well.

“We won our region title last year and I feel like we can do that again.”

Knoch scored only four goals in its first four games as coach Malcolm Cook has a young squad.

“Our two captains are center-back Adam Walker and defender Stewart Milcic,” Cook said. “They're our leaders. Larry Leasure is a forward who should score goals for us.”