When is Butler-Seneca Valley football rivalry returning? Hopefully soon, coaches say
Butler’s varsity football team hasn’t beaten Seneca Valley on the football field in 7,224 days. That drought will continue for the time being.
The Golden Tornado and Raiders met every year on the gridiron from 1990-2019, then also clashed in 2022 and 2023. Since then, though, the neighborhood rivalry series has been dormant.
Second-year Seneca Valley coach Don Barclay recently tried to wake it back up, reaching out to Butler seeking a season-opening matchup. The Golden Tornado have squared off with Shaler as its opener for the past four seasons.
“That’s been a good matchup for us, so we didn’t necessarily want to leave Shaler,” Butler coach Eric Christy said. “I like the Seneca Valley (idea), getting that together and finding it, because we were gonna try to see if it would match at another time other than (the first week). ... But that was the only possible available (slot).
“It wasn’t anything (against) Seneca, it was more so respecting the relationship that we’ve got with (Shaler), because that’s been a great game for both of our programs. It’s been really good for both our teams. They win it some years, we win it some years. It’s been a nice rivalry.”
Meanwhile, the Golden Tornado, who this year will play an independent schedule for the third campaign in a row, lost their last 15 clashes with Seneca Valley, the most recent being a 55-0 road defeat. Over the last five times they’d seen one another, Butler was outscored 224-7.
“It’s not a rivalry if only one team wins it,” Christy said. “Seneca’s there. We’ve gotta get to them and be able to put a product out that can beat them. That would be a goal, for sure.”
The Golden Tornado will face off with another Butler County foe, Karns City, on the road Oct. 16. It will mark Butler’s first football run-in with the Gremlins. Christy does see the Seneca Valley series resuming at some point in the future, however.
“Seneca (Valley)-Butler makes a ton of sense,” Christy said. “Hopefully, we’re able to get back into the WPIAL, and that means they would be part of that mix with teams that you’re playing.”
Barclay is rooting for the revival.
“I like what Coach (Christy) is doing over there,” Barclay said. “I know he’s doing good things in the offseason, and it will turn around.”
