On any given day, Rocky Butler can be found on the football field - except Sunday. He reserves that day for keeping the Sabbath day holy.

This week, however, things will be different for the Carlsbad Pop Warner football coach.

While Butler will still be going to church, he will be breaking his own rule to appear on the sidelines at Torrey Pines High as his Carlsbad Lancers face the Santa Margarita Eagles in the Wescon Region championship game at 4:45 p.m.

The Lancers and Eagles are competing in the Midget division, which is for 11- to 14-year-old boys who weigh 105 to 140 pounds and 15-year-olds who weigh 105-160 pounds.

Carlsbad is one of three North County teams competing Sunday. The Torrey Pines Golden Falcons play the Tustin Gold Cobras at 9:30 a.m. in the Junior Pee Wee matchup and the Carlsbad Fighting Lancers face another Tustin Gold Cobra squad in the Junior Midget division at 2:30 p.m.

Two years ago, Butler did not go to the Palomar Conference championship game because it was played on a Sunday. This year, though, is different.

While Butler has coached most of this year's Carlsbad team for the past five years, the Lancers' core players have been together for the past two seasons. Those players and their parents supported Butler when his daughter, Michelle, was diagnosed with leukemia in May 2005. Michelle Butler died Oct. 5 at Children's Hospital in San Diego.

"Most of these parents have been with me the last two years, and they've helped our family by cleaning our yard, bringing us meals, and there was thousands of dollars donated by this team, and by Carlsbad Pop Warner and the Palomar Conference," Butler said.

"But (the parents of) this team alone, with only 24 kids, gave us $7,000. They have helped keep us afloat. It's just all the support they have given us, and we have come this far together and they were so good to me, and I just don't want to let them down."

Another reason, according to Butler, was his desire to see this particular team off.

Not only have the Lancers gone unbeaten this year, they haven't lost in the regular season or Palomar Conference playoffs in the five years Butler has coached them, accumulating a 62-0 record.

"I talked to my dad, who is much older and wiser, and he said it is not a decision between a good choice and a bad choice," Butler said. "It's a choice between two good things. Either one would be a good choice, and I've chosen to make sure that I can help these kids the way they helped us. And we have been together for five years.

"It is time to finish this thing together. I can't imagine not being with them on the last game of their Pop Warner careers. I was there for their first game, and I want to be there for the last."

If the Fighting Lancers or Falcons win, they will advance to the Elite Eight and have a chance to play in the 51st Pop Warner Super Bowl, Dec. 1-8 at Orlando, Fla.

Butler's team won't get that chance due to a Wescon Regional rule that gives a team from Hawaii an automatic berth. Each year, the division that gives its berth to Hawaii alternates; this year it is the Midget division's turn.

Still, Butler isn't disappointed.

"We think this year, if we can beat the OEC (Orange Empire Conference) and become the Wescon Champions, that is fine with us," he said. "We get to do it on our own terms, and we don't have to raise $60,000 to go to Florida. We earned the right to go, but we just didn't get the chance to go."

The game marks the fifth straight year Butler's team has reached the championship game. In the previous four, he has lost to a team from the Orange Empire Conference, Santa Margarita's league.

Butler is determined to beat the Eagles.

"It doesn't matter who we face, if it's the OEC, we've got to beat them," he said. "We want to beat them this time. We are really tired of it."

- Contact staff writer Matt Null at mnull@nctimes.com.

AT A GLANCE

What: Wescon Regional Championships

Who: At 9:30 a.m. the Torrey Pines Golden Falcons will host the Tustin Gold Cobras in the Junior Pee Wee division. At 2 p.m. the Orange Empire Conference will face the Palomar Conference in the Challenger Division. At 2:30 p.m. the Carlsbad Fighting Lancers will play the Tustin Gold Cobras in the Junior Midget division and at 4:45 p.m. the Carlsbad Lancers will play the Santa Margarita Eagles in the Midget division.

Where: Torrey Pines High

Cost: $6 for adults and $3 for children ages 5 to 15

Web site: www.wesconpopwarner.com