BUTLER TWP — Failure to finish tackles doomed Butler to defeat last week.

The Golden Tornado (2-1) are working hard to see that recent history doesn't repeat itself Friday night.

Penn Hills romped through the Butler defense for 337 yards on 29 carries — 11.6 yards per attempt — en route to a 42-21 victory at Art Bernardi Stadium.

Canom-McMillan, another team that thrives on running the football, invades for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Friday.

"We looked at the films and our defense wasn't properly aligned only one time last week,"Butler coach Jeff McAnallen said. "Every other play, their backs broke tackles and their athleticism took over.

"Canon-McMillan throws the ball maybe five times a game. They have the perfect personnel for a Wing-T and that's what they do."

The Big Macs (2-1) are solid defensively as well, having allowed just 24 points in three games. They are coming off a 10-0 shutout of Woodland Hills, allowing the Wolverines 99 yards and three first downs.

McAnallen figures the team that runs effectively Friday will emerge victorious.

"Our styles are similar and they use their quarterback the way we use Cole (Harvey),"he said "He's a very effective runner for them.

"A big play or a mistake on special teams will probably decide this game. I expect it to be close,"McAnallen added.

Butler is taking its second shot at all-time victory No. 500. When the milestone occurs, Butler will become the 15th WPIALfootball program to win 500 games. New Castle is the WPIAL's all-time leader with 672 wins.

Through three games, Butler has run the ball 120 times and thrown it on just 27 occasions.

"I'd like to throw the ball more,"McAnallen said. "We wanted to throw four or five passes in the first half last week, but we kept getting sacked.

"Penn Hills' kids were so quick and strong coming off the edge, we couldn't stop them. And if you don't burn their blitz with something, they're just going to keep doing it."

The Tornado's prime receivers are Eli Christy, Nathan Neff, Jared Oesterling and tight end Brian Jendesky. The latter two already have caught touchdown passes this year and Jendesky was on the receiving end of a 20-yard screen pass last week that resulted in Neff racing into the end zone with a fumble recovery.

Harvey has completed 15 of 26 passes this season, throwing only one interception.

"We have some packages in place that involve throwing the ball and we'll use them if we need them,"McAnallen said. "But our pass protection has to get better.

"Guys can get open and execution can be there, but it does no good if your quarterback doesn't have time."

Penn Hills sacked Harvey six times.

Most of Canon-McMillan's starters play on both sides of the ball, including stalwart junior fullback-linebacker Mike Hull, the leading rusher in WPIALClass AAAAlast year with more than 1,300 yards.

Hull had 31 carries for 138 yards in the Big Macs' 10-0 win over Woodland Hills last week.

"That No. 49 is a tremendous football player,"McAnallen said. "He's a legitimate Division I, Big Ten-type fullback.

"Defensively, he and No. 40 (Brad Strimel) are all over the field. They've been dominating play from the linebacking position.

"On film, we counted eight or nine guys that go both ways for them. They're only using 13 or 14 players. We need to take advantage of that,"the coach added.

Tornado players Josh Reddick and Cole Baxter suffered minor injuries last week and won't be asked to do a lot in practice this week. McAnallen said both will play Friday.