The 3 rivalries — new and old — that will define the 2026 Butler County football season
T.J. Wiley wasn’t sure exactly what he was looking at when he was cleaning out his new office last year.
“It was kind of like in the corner, hidden,” the second-year Knoch football head coach said. “Because, again, they hadn’t played in a few years. ... They showed it to me, and I was like, ‘What the heck is this?’”
Encased in a wooden shadow box was a taxidermied fish with a football stuffed in its mouth. Named after a road that cuts through both the Knights’ school district and Freeport’s, the Pike Trophy — and year-round bragging rights — go to the winner of that rivalry series.
Fittingly, as it’s set to resume Sept. 25 after two seasons on the shelf — it’s “all I’ve heard since I got the job,” Wiley said — the prize is now on full display in the same room.
Wiley intends to keep it there.
“Because I know the significance that silly little thing holds to our school and our community,” Wiley said.
While that Butler County gridiron feud recommences this fall, so will another when Mars hosts Seneca Valley to kick the PIAA season off Friday. And for the first time Butler travels up Route 68 to face Karns City on Oct. 16.
The pair of clashes could become the newest county rivalries, joining long-standing duels such as the Gremlins’ annual meeting with Moniteau and the Golden Tornado’s (currently dormant) series with Seneca Valley, which Butler coach Eric Christy and Raiders coach Don Barclay hope to see return eventually.
As Wiley put it, rivalries are the best the sport has to offer. More of them is a good thing.
For Knoch, “that date (against the Yellowjackets) was probably the first one circled on the calendar in my kids’ eyes when the new schedule came out,” he said.
Christy tipped his hat to Karns City’s sustained success. Christy grew up in Fenelton — “a mile from being a Gremlin” — and his program has longed for an annual feud since leaving the WPIAL before the 2020 season. That sort of arrangement can only sprout from a mutual enthusiasm.
Christy expects Diehl Stadium to be jam-packed that Friday night when his Tornado visit Karns City. Fans on both sides should probably bring folding chairs to sit on the hills that hem the field in.
“There’s no possible way we’re all gonna fit in that stadium,” Christy said.
Those who do will include Karns City supporters who show up and sit in the same spot for every home game of every fall, which Gremlins senior quarterback Cole Johnston believes will give his side a leg up.
Meanwhile, Mars and Seneca Valley football haven’t faced off since 1969-70, with the Raiders 2-0 in the all-time series.
Planets junior quarterback Colin Yurisinec, who’s in a competition with classmate Nate Walker, described a rivalry as a game against “a team that we’ve been playing since way back then,” he said. “Every time, it’s always a battle (like), ‘Who’s gonna win this?’”
Asked to give his description, Albany commit and SV receiver/cornerback Julian Hunt didn’t want to speak too strongly. With the proximity between the two crews, “some stuff gets across the bridge,” he said.
“I hate to use the word hatred, but — I’ll say ‘passionate’ — when two teams are so passionate about trying to win, especially against another team, that’s what really creates the rivalry,” Hunt said.
“You do everything in your power to make sure” that your rival doesn’t succeed, Johnston said.
As Wiley put it, there’s “a feel” to it. Everyone involved raises their level of intensity — the players, the coaches, “the trainers probably tape the ankles a little tighter,” he said.
For four quarters, the competition will be heated, but the two sides shake hands and walk away with respect, Christy said.
“I’m not even saying there’s a dislike,” Wiley said of Freeport. “But they’re the guys down the road. They’re the next town down.”
After departing to take over for North Hills, former Mars head coach Eric Kasperowicz said he believes the Planets could be a Class 6A program in the next decade. If that’s the case, Mars would likely become annual conference foes with Seneca Valley, which makes the first meeting in more than 50 years that much more important.
For now, though, it’s a home-and-home series that will also see the Raiders host Mars next fall. This one “would kind of set the tone, I feel like, for future matchups,” Yurisinec said.
As for whether Butler and Karns City could be regular adversaries going forward, Christy isn’t ruling it out.
“Good football’s good football,” Christy said. “We’ve played different levels all of these last couple years and we’ve seen some really good 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A — all different level — teams. ... I think football’s changed a little bit maybe in the last 20 years. Twenty years ago, I think classifications and size really mattered. I don’t think it matters as much these days.”
“I think that there could be a lot of good battles, and I love that we’re the start of it,” Johnston said.
