PINE TWP — Even Pine-Richland coach Eric Kasperowicz could only shake his head.

“It's been a tough week for them,” Kasperowicz said in reference to Butler, following the Rams' 64-0 Northern Seven football victory over the Golden Tornado.

Butler head coach Rob Densmore reportedly resigned that position in mid-week, leaving offensive coordinator Eric Christy to take the reins of the program for the final two games.

Christy declined to comment on circumstances surrounding Densmore's resignation, saying only that “we'll miss his knowledge and leadership of the program.

“But this had to be business as usual for us. We kept moving forward as planned ... But Pine-Richland has an awfully good football team.”

The Rams (8-0, 5-0) scored touchdowns on their first nine possessions. Their 10th possession ended by taking a knee for two plays inside the Butler 20-yard line, running out the clock.

Kasperowicz had his starters out of the game before the end of the first half. Notre Dame recruit Phil Jurkovec threw for 164 yards and three touchdowns in less than two quarters. All three TD tosses — covering 31, 17 and 40 yards — went to receiver Jason DeFrancisis.

Jordan Crawford rushed for touchdowns of 60 and 38 yards. He had three carries for 107 yards. Vince Buchino had seven carries for 101 yards and two touchdowns, all in the third quarter.

“This was a chance to get some kids varsity time who normally don't get in there much,” Kasperowicz said. “But we'll give our starters a lot of extra reps in practice next week. They only played 20 to 22 snaps tonight.

“It has to be difficult when a coach resigns before the season is over. I don't know what happened there, but that has to be a hard thing for their kids to handle.”

Pine-Richland had two long touchdown plays called back by penalties, but later scored on those possessions regardless.

Butler (2-6, 1-6) crossed midfield once. Brandon Fleeger recovered a botched P-R punt return for the Tornado near midfield. A personal foul penalty a play later gave Butler as first down at the Rams 35.

Luke Michalek carried three times for a first down, but a Michalek pass was intercepted by Tommy Camino at the P-R 27 to end the threat.

Michalek led Butler's offense with 29 yards rushing. The Tornado managed only 42 net yards and four first downs.

Pine-Rich;and had 483 total yards, 364 of those in the first half. The Rams did not attempt a pass in the second half.

“They were very respectful to us,” Christy said. “I can't complain about anything they did. They executed an onsides kick (in the first half), but I'm sure they're working on things for the playoffs.”

Sophomore Anthony Daviduk played quarterback for Butler in the second half, along with younger running backs.

“We don't have a JV game this weekend because of our numbers right now,” Christy said. “We decided to get the younger guys some varsity minutes tonight.

“They pracrtice every day and they deserve to get their time in.”

Butler closes the season with a non-conference game next Friday, hosting Canon-McMillan.

Butler 0 0 0 0 — 0

Pine-Richland 22 21 14 7 — 64

First Quarter

P-R — Jordan Crawford 60 run (Tyler King pass from Dawson Goltz), 8:11

P-R — Jason DeFrancisis 31 pass from Phil Jurkovec (Vittorio Orsini kick), 5:14

P-R — DeFrancisis 17 pass from Jurkovec (Orsini kick), 2:41

Second Quarter

P-R — DeFrancisis 40 pass from Jurkovec (Orsini kick), 2:48

P-R — Kenny White 1 run (Orsini kick), 2:48

P-R — Crawford 38 run (Orsini kick), :00

Third Quarter

P-R — Vince Buchino 3 run (Tanner Littell kick), 10:08

P-R — Buchino 25 run (Littell kick), 5:09

Fourth Quarter

P-R — Connor Kirby 1 run (Littell kick), 10:43

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Butler, Luke Michalek 16-29, Logan Dubyak 3-2, Jacob Tilko 1-3, Trevor Valent 7-(-6), Hunter Neff 2-0, Anthony Daviduk 1-2, Byron Manchester 3-(-1). Pine-Richland, Phil Jurkovec 5-38, Jordan Crawford 3-107, Kenny White 6-29, Cameron Ballay 1-17, Vince Buchino 7-101, Merrick Miller 2-12, Ben McGregor 1-5, Connor Kirby 4-11, Nevan Novitski 1-10.

Passing: Butler, Luke Michalek 0-2-0-1, Anthony Daviduk 1-2-13-1. Pine-Richland, Phil Jurkovec 10-12-164-0, Dawson Goltz 1-1-9-0.

Receiving: Butler, Hunter Neff 1-13. Pine-Richland, Jason DeFrancisis 6-119, Jordan Crawford 2-31, Dawson Goltz 1-4, Ray Falcone 2-19.