The Butler Eagle Scoring Trophy is up for grabs.

Forrest Barnes gave Seneca Valley its first winner with a record-breaking season for the Raiders in 2012. The running back racked up 152 points through the first nine weeks of the season to earn the titleon the strength of 23 touchdowns on the ground and one apiece returning and receiving.

Barnes tacked on five more touchdowns while pacing the Raiders to the WPIAL semifinals and finished the season with 1,938 yards from scrimmage.

With Barnes graduated and departed for The Citadel, there are a handful of hopefuls who could claim the trophy.

Mars running back Josh Schultheis is the most obvious choice to supplant Barnes after busting loose for 1,656 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns as a sophomore last season. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound junior finished second in scoring in 2012 and fits the mold of a potential multiple winner. Last season's 140 points through nine weeks would have been good enough to take top honors 13times during the trophy's 23-year existence.

Mars' powerful offense is expected to visit the end zone frequently this season and Schultheis should be the benefactor as the Planets' clear-cut No. 1 running back.

However, despite having all the physical tools with the support of a strong team, Schultheis is far from a sure bet to bring Mars its fourth Eagle Scoring Trophy winner.

Historically, it has been a difficult taskfor WPIAL teams to produce a scoring champ.

Despite owning six of 12 teams in the Butler County area, only seven winners have come from the WPIAL. Of the 24 champions — Karns City's Josh Fiscus and Slippery Rock's Travis Sarver shared the honor in 2003 — 12 have hailed from four District 9 programs.

Karns City leads all area schools with six trophies, while A-C Valley has four to its name. Moniteau and Union have one apiece.

Despite having just two eligible teams, District 10 has produced five winners — Slippery Rock (three) and Grove City (two) — and it appears D-10 could own the top two challengers to Schultheis.

Among returning players in 2013, Grove City running back Foster Reznor was second behind Schultheis with 104 points last season. The Eagles have recently earned the hardware with back-to-back winner Wes Phipps in 2010-11 and are a perennial force on the gridiron.

Reznor — who tallied 740 yards and 11 TDs on 124 carries as a junior — will likely see far more touches with Chad Williams and Harold Price graduated. Unlike Schultheis, Reznor was a big-time receiving threat in 2012 with 11 catches for 200 yards and fives scores.

Despite an impressive résumé, Reznor might not even finish as the top scorer in his district.

Slippery Rock senior running back Frank Conlon exploded onto the scene in the late stages of 2012, averaging over 11 yards per carry with 897 yards and seven touchdowns on just 80 attempts. He collected a robust 285 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries in the Rockets' 46-42 playoff loss to General McLane.

Slippery Rock went undefeated in Region 6 last year — scoring at least 28 points in 10 of 11 games — and Conlon appears primed for a monster season.

Nevertheless, District 9 has a penchant for churning out scoring champions.

Karns City looks like the strongest team among the four, but the Gremlins possess a plethora of weapons and it's unlikely an individual will dominate the ball enough to finish atop the leaderboard.Union and A-C Valley both lost the vast majority of last season's weapons to graduation.

However, Moniteau senior running back Dustin Geagan could be a dark horse to win the trophy.

He set the school record for single-season rushing yardage as a sophomore, but the Warriors struggled in 2012, averaging 229 yards per game. Despite the team's overall lack of production, the lightning-quick Geagan still mustered 973 yards on the ground and scored 78 of Moniteau's 145 points. It's a safe assumption he will see his fair share of carries this year and if the Warriors can bounce back, Geagan could be a serious threat for the scoring title.

Of course, no one knows how the season will unfold.

The Butler Eagle Scoring Trophy could be hoisted by one of the aforementioned standouts. It could just as easily fall in the hands of an unknown up-and-comer.

There's only one guarantee: It will be fun to watch.

The Butler Eagle Scoring Trophy is awarded to the player who records the most points among schools in the Butler County area during the first nine weeks of the season. Following are the year-by-year champions.<B>Year Winner (School) Points </B>1990 Brian Kurn (Freeport) 1041991 Ron DeJidas (Freeport) 1141992 Ron DeJidas (Freeport) 1581993 Rick Belles (Karns City) 801994 Cory Hooks (Union) 1181995 Jeremy Scherer (Karns City) 841996 Jason Hackwelder (A-C Valley) 1321997 Steve Spiker (A-C Valley) 1241998 Mike Leach (A-C Valley) 1461999 Mike Leach (A-C Valley) 1982000 Josh Kniess (Slippery Rock) 1922001 Billy Graham (Karns City) 1862002 Matt Carnahan (Karns City) 1522003 Josh Fiscus (Karns City) 116Travis Sarver (Slippery Rock) 1162004 Josh Fiscus (Karns City) 1162005 Paul Ferrese (Mars) 962006 Bill Bair (Mars) 1502007 Bill Bair (Mars) 2042008 Jono Powell (Slippery Rock) 1022009 James Shope (Moniteau) 1362010 Wes Phipps (Grove City) 1142011 Wes Phipps (Grove City) 1442012 Forrest Barnes (Seneca Valley) 152