SHALER TWP — Winning and losing doesn't matter — until now.

So says second-year Shaler football coach Neil Gordon, and he should know. Gordon led the Titans to an 8-3 record in his first year, shutting out Canon-McMillan in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs before getting blanked by Gateway 24-0.

Gordon also was 156-72-2 in 21 years at Penn Hills and brings a 4-0 Shaler team to Art Bernardi Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Friday against winless Butler.

"We used those first four games to see what elements of our game need fixed and to try to gauge where we're at as a team entering conference play," Gordon said.

"Now the games count. We're 0-0 and so are they."

Gordon said he didn't learn much about his team from its first three games, wins of 29-14 over Baldwin, 20-6 over Hempfield and 28-7 over Hampton.

"Those wins happened more because of a failure to execute or mistakes made by the other team more than anything we did," Gordon said.

But Saturday's 21-12 win over Mount Lebanon was a different story.

"I was pretty happy with that one," Gordon said. "We went toe to toe against a quality team on a soggy field. They battled North Allegheny tight and beat a good Central Catholic team. By comparison, I like how we held up against them.

"But this is a new week and a much, much bigger game. If you're ranked No. 1 or something, sure, you want to win them all. Otherwise, now is when they count," he added

A few high school football forecasters predicted Shaler and North Allegheny to be the cream of the Northern Six.

Gordon shakes his head at such an assessment.

"People see we have our name players back and figure we should be pretty good," he said. "But everyone else on the field for us is new. We're a relatively inexperienced team."

The name players Gordon referred to are quarterback Tyler Bills, all-purpose back Jesse Della Valle and 6-foot-4, 239-pound linebacker Nick Kurpakus.

Shaler graduated four starting offensive linemen, two tight ends, its top three receivers and its starting tailback. The Titans' defense lost its two linebackers besides Kurpakus, their top three defensive ends, two cornerbacks and a safety.

Bills completed 107 of 185 passes for 1,517 yards last year while Della Valle had 485 yards rushing and caught 27 passes for 524 more yards.

Della Valle rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns against Mount Lebanon. Running back Matt Ramey added 87 yards on the ground.

"That was a breakout game for Ramey and it was good to see," Gordon said. "Della Valle is the type of player who's always in the middle of everything, whether he's catching a pass, running downfield, returning a punt, kickoff or interception — the kid is a player.

"Bills has been really good in spots, but he's been inconsistent so far. Still, I'll take him as my quarterback over anybody else," he added.

And he's a returning starter, just like Butler's third-year quarterback Cole Harvey.

"Having an experienced quarterback is such a plus," Gordon said. "That (Harvey) kid is good, too."