CANONSBURG — The Big Macs are back — and they won't be going away anytime soon.

Canon-McMillan (2-1) comes to Butler (2-1) for a 7:30 p.m. contest Friday at Art Bernardi Stadium.

Coach Guy Montecalvo is in his sixth season at Canon-McMillan after putting together a Hall of Fame caliber career at Washington High. The Little Prexies made the playoffs 18 times in his 23 seasons there, including 10 section championships.

Washington won WPIALtitles in 1993 and 2001 under Montecalvo and claimed the state crown in 2001.

Montecalvo also was a standout track and field coach at Washington and planned to continue coaching the sport there when Canon-McMillan offered him the position as football coach and athletic director.

"They wanted me to coach track, too, but that would have been too much,"Montecalvo said.

The Big Macs won eight games during his first season leading the team in 2003, tying the school record set in 1969. His team won eight games and posted the first playoff win in school history in 2004.

Records of 3-7 and 1-8 followed before the Big Macs went 4-6 last year, losing to Penn Hills in the first round of the WPIALplayoffs.

"We've got six starters back on offense and seven on defense," Montecalvo said. "We haven't scored many points the past two weeks, but we've played some pretty good football teams and we lost a three-year starter at quarterback from last season."

That quarterback, Zane Zembrosky, is starting as a freshman for West Virginia Wesleyan in the NCAA's Division II.

The Big Macs opened the season with a 32-7 triumph over Trinity, dropped a 17-13 decision to Central Catholic, then blanked Woodland Hills 10-0 a week ago.

The lone touchdown of last week's game was a 41-yard interception return by Justin Baker.

"That score was misleading, though,"Montecalvo said. "With two minutes to go, we had 14 first downs to their one. We lost a fumble inside their 10 and we botched up a two-minute drill in the first half.

"We know we've got a pretty talented football team. A few of these kids are going places."

That list starts with junior fullback-linebacker Mike Hull, the leading rusher in WPIALClass AAAAlast year with 1,300 yards as a sophomore. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound Hull has rushed for more than 300 yards this year and was an all-conference linebacker a year ago.

Michigan, Penn State, Pitt and West Virginia are showing ample interest in Hull.

John Corey, a 6-foot-3, 305-pound offensive and defensive tackle, had three sacks against Woodland Hills and is attracting DivisionI interest.

Linebackers Brad Strimel and Jon Pozonsky have committed to West Point. Guard-defensive tackle Butchie Cumpston (5-9, 230) is a third-year starter.

Senior Alex Pihakis (6-0, 240), another two-way lineman, is the only player in Montecalvo's 30-year coaching career to start for him as a freshman.

"We should have a strong team for the next couple of years, anyway,"Montecalvo said. "We run a speed development camp during the summer, two days a week, and the kids have really bought into it, including the linemen.

"This program has benefited from that. We're not very big at all. We looked like a junior high team lining up next to Woodland Hills. But we've got a lot of quick, very tenacious kids up front."

Canon-McMillan averaged 27 points per game last year. The offense is still trying to finish off drives under senior quarterback Steve Roach.

"Butler's quarterback reminds me a lot of Steve,"Montecalvo said. "They have similar ability running the ball.

"Butler is executing a pretty diverse offense. We've seen them in the gun, double-tight, double-wing, empty set, trips — I didn't get home until midnight last night, trying to prepare for those guys."