HEMPFIELD TWP — Early scoring worked against Butler in Friday night's football game at Hempfield.

The Spartans came out on top of the Golden Tornado with a final score of 31-14.

This is the ninth loss for Butler's team, but it's only the second win for Hempfield as both teams have been met with hard-fought seasons.

“Hempfield wanted to win, too,” Butler coach Eric Christy said, “and we knew they were a solid team.”

Hempfield's Mario Perkins and Nathan Roby made many of the scoring plays, including two in the first half. The second touchdown in the first quarter came from a pass and reception between Blake Remaley and Roman Pellis, two Spartans who didn't see much play in the shadows of Perkins and Roby.

Butler got on the board just before the first half ended with a 91-yard connection between quarterback Kyler Callihan and running back Chris Mertz. The play shocked the Spartans, but it did not affect the Hempfield team going into the second half.

Butler players seemed to get their whereabouts under control a little bit more in the second half, especially with Callihan's plays.

“We had two touchdown passes tonight,” Christy said, “and we haven't had a touchdown pass in two years, so that was exciting.”

Callihan managed to throw one more touchdown pass near the end of the third quarter and a few good passes to advance play throughout the rest of the half, but the fourth quarter remained scoreless for both competitors.

“We had some good things happen and some bad,” Christy said. “That's the way the game goes sometimes.”

Neither one could gain a significant amount of yardage, and both were hit with flags on multiple touchdown attempts.

In the end, the game's early scores were the deciding factor as both teams remained evenly matched until Hempfield's final touchdown midway through the last quarter.

“I mean we wanted to get the win,” Christy said. “but the guys fought hard, battled hard. Hats off to their staff – They kept after it. They've had a long season, too.”

Halfway through the final quarter, Callihan attempted a pass on a fourth down, which was intercepted by Perkins, who then ran 60 yards for a final touchdown, swinging the momentum back to Hempfield to close out the game.

“We've got one more game next week — a home game, senior night,” Christy said. “We want to make sure we honor the seniors, hopefully get a party atmosphere and hopefully get some fans out and get Butler out to support these guys.”

Butler 0 7 7 0 — 14

Hempfield 14 10 0 7 — 31

First Quarter

H —Nathan Roby 14 run (Caleb Kaylor kick), 9:04

H — Roby 26 pass from Blake Remaley (Kaylor kick), 4:18

Second Quarter

H — Mario Perkins 1 run (Kaylor kick), 9:34

B — Chris Mertz 91 pass from Kyler Callihan (Emery Douthett kick), 1:31

H — Kaylor field goal, :13

Third Quarter

B — Logan Donnel 11 pass from Callihan (Douthett kick), 4:25

Fourth Quarter

H — Perkins 60 run (Kaylor kick), 6:24

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Butler, Kyler Callihan 32-83, Chris Mertz 4-7. Hempfield, Mario Perkins 20-96, Nathan Roby 12-11, Blake Remaley 3-5, Cody Sawyer 4-19.

Passing: Butler, Kyler Callihan 6-19-148-3. Hempfield, Blake Realey 9-17-160-0.

Receiving: Butler, Chris Mertz 2-127, Logan Donnel 3-33, Austin Rodgers 1-19. Hempfield, Clay Metz 1-11, Roman Pellis 2-51, Nathan Roby 4-46, Mario Perkins 2-47, Aaron Betnz1-9, Jalen Barrientos-Collins 1-8.