BUTLER TWP — It’s three weeks until the PIAA high school football season.

Butler County teams unofficially kicked off the proceedings Thursday with the third Butler Eagle Football Media Day at Butler High School.

Here’s what Eagle reporters learned about some of the teams as they get ready for opening kickoff Aug. 28.

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A major plot point of the 2025 football season was Butler’s resurgence. The Golden Tornado went 7-3, the best season in nearly 30 years, and there were offseason rumblings of the program returning at long last to the WPIAL.

While the latter didn’t happen, Butler is welcoming the “pressure” and expectations of matching the standard it has now set and continuing to build momentum to an eventual WPIAL return.

“Being humble is a big thing,” senior lineman Jordan Vicari said. “I still think everyone thinks we’re the underdog. Even though we did win, have some success last season, it’s a hard thing because we want to celebrate it but we also want to be super humble and attack every battle like we’re gonna lose.”

“There’s definitely a little pressure there, but all of us are ready for the challenge,” said senior Jake Kollinger, who is battling for an increased role at running back and plays linebacker.

— Jake Merda Adams

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Knoch found itself in an unenviable position the last two years.

“We were the second-smallest Class 4A team in the WPIAL, under 10 boys (in enrollment) from being 3A,” said second-year Knights coach TJ Wiley, who is now preparing his Knights for a return to 3A after going a combined 3-16 as a 4A team over the past two seasons.

Knoch now resides in WPIAL Section 3-3A with fellow Butler County teams Freeport and North Catholic along with Burrell, Deer Lakes, Highlands and Valley.

“What I like about where we are now is we've got a number of geographical rivalries back,” said Wiley. “Schools that either border our district or are very close. We're going up against communities and schools that are just like us. I believe Knoch and Freeport should play every year.”

The Knights and Yellowjackets have played each other 20 times beginning in 1966. The Pike Trophy became part of the rivalry in 2021, with Knoch winning it the last time the teams squared off in 2023.

— Derek Pyda

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Even before NFL Films dropped into NexTier Stadium to film Seneca Valley’s 21-18 season-finale win over North Allegheny last fall — tape that landed within “The Football Town” documentary — the league’s production company had already added Raiders coach Don Barclay to its archives.

“I think I was a captain for a game at Dallas, and I think that was one that I’ve watched a couple times,” said Barclay, who protected now-Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers as a Green Bay Packers offensive tackle from 2012-16. “And then obviously, Aaron’s crazy throws at the end of games. I was in a couple of those. They didn’t single me out personally, but obviously all those games rerun, so it’s pretty cool.”

— Brendan Howe

Players from Union and Allegheny-Clarion Valley high schools joined forces 10 years ago and have since turned the Falcon Knights into one of the most consistent programs in District 9.

For the first six seasons of the co-op, the team’s home games were split between Union’s Vidunas Stadium in Rimersburg and A-C Valley’s football field in Foxburg. The latter was in desperate need of renovations and sat idle since the last game was played there in October 2021.

The A-C Valley School District spent over $400,000 to get the venue back into shape for hosting games, and on Aug. 28 football will officially make its return to Foxburg when the Falcon Knights host Brookville.

New goal posts were installed, but the majority of work came on the field itself.

“We brought in Jeff Fowler, a turf expert and former county agent in Penn State’s extension program,” A-C Valley superintendent David McDeavitt said. “We stripped the top soil, made sure the field had the appropriate slope to it and put the right type of sod on top. We had to make sure the sod rooted properly.

“It was always our intention to play football again at A-C Valley. There’s nothing better than Friday night football in Foxburg.”

A-C Valley will also host games Oct. 2 against Keystone and Oct. 29 against Sharpsville.

“I’m excited to play there,” said Nick Ielase, a senior wide receiver/defensive back from A-C Valley. “I was in seventh grade the last time I saw a game at that field. I grew up playing youth football there.”

— Pyda

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If you’re looking for gloating, you’re not gonna find it in Buffalo Township. Or anywhere else Freeport plays this season, actually.

“We’re not really allowed to trash talk,” Yellowjackets senior center/defensive tackle Cameron Manke said. “Coach finds out about it pretty quick.”

Longtime Freeport coach John Gaillot couldn’t attend media day. He’s led the ’Jackets to an 8-4 record and the WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinals in back-to-back seasons, but he runs a tight ship.

“He’s a no-nonsense kinda guy,” Manke said. “He finds out we trash talk, we’re running. My freshman year, a few people did it and we paid the price for it.”

— Howe

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Coming off a 9-4 season that included a WPIAL semifinal appearance, North Catholic returns only two offensive and three defensive starters.

Coach Chris Rizzo isn’t worried because of the Trojans’ “hidden experience.”

Senior quarterback Will Toprani is a case in point.

Toprani tossed only six passes last season while backing up Joe Felitsky, who threw for 3,388 yards and 46 touchdowns last year.

“Will learned behind some great quarterbacks and coordinators here the past couple of years,” Rizzo said. “He’s a smart kid. He knows the playbook, makes his reads.

“He can make all the throws. Our offense will pick up where it left off.”

Toprani started as a freshman at Ringgold before coming to North Catholic. Felitsky is now at Kiski Prep.

— John Enrietto

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First-year Mars coach Zachary Benedek took over for the Planets in March. He and his wife, Emma, were wed in June, at a chapel at St. Francis University. Quite the eventful stretch, huh?

“I joke that, if I didn’t have her, I wouldn’t have gotten the job,” Benedek, 25, said. “She’s made me such a way more organized person. ... She’s super supportive. I don’t think I’d be able to do it without having her full-on support. If I say I have to do something for football, she’s like, ‘Oh, that’s awesome!’ And then asks me more questions about it.”

— Howe