Numbers game
The numbers didn't add up — on the sidelines or on the scoreboard.
Butler Blue — the Butler Area Midget Football League's consolidated entrant in the United Youth Football League — scored touchdowns on all seven of its possessions Saturday night in defeating the Butler Lil' Tornado Gold, 47-6, at Memorial Park.
Butler Blue had 41 players suited up for the varsity (ages 11-12) match-up. The Lil' Tornado Gold had 19 players in uniform.
“Most of our players are on the new seventh grade team now,” Lil' Tornado coach Bill Halle said. “That's where most of our experienced players went and that's OK.
“I'm excited about both of these teams that were on the field tonight. We're both about feeding the high school football program and I saw a lot of positive things tonight.”
Tre Stephens scored touchdowns on runs of 48, 42 and 44 yards for Butler Blue. Ethan Morton hooked up with Trevor Gahagan for a 28-yard pass play, setting up a 6-yard touchdown pass to Zach Slomers.
Slomers scored on a 54-yard touchdown run and Logan Donnel scored on a 4-yard run. Andrew Kline capped the Blue's scoring with a 78-yard TD run with 2:11 remaining.
Mason Montag booted a pair of two-point conversions and Morton scored on a one-point conversion run to account for Butler Blue's other points.
“We're using the run-and-shoot offense and we will throw the ball,” Butler Blue coach Jeff Tonini said. “The kids had fun tonight. Their heads were down a bit after last week.
“We could feel them coming together a lot more this week.”
Butler Blue debuted with a 12-0 loss to Shaler Aug. 17. The Lil' Tornado Gold squad dropped to 0-2 on the campaign, having lost to defending league champion Saxonburg the previous week.
Brayden Setnar returned a kickoff 64 yards for the Lil' Tornado Gold, getting dragged down by Morton at the Blue's 1-yard line. Two plays later, Derek Salmon scored on a 1-yard run to cut the deficit to 19-6 at the time.
The mercy clock was in effect during the second half as Butler Blue took a 35-6 lead into halftime.
“They were bigger and faster than us,” Halle said. “But we had 12 first-year players on the field tonight and they did an awesome job for us. We'll keep working and we'll get better.
“We were a bit outnumbered tonight,” Halle added, laughing.
The BAMFL had hoped to enter two or three teams in the UYFL this season, but its sign-ups picked up too late.
“We actually have enough for two teams now, as it turned out, but at the time the league schedule was being put together, we only had enough for one,” Tonini said. “We couldn't take the chance on a team getting caught with only 12 or 13 players available on a game night.
“It's a tough job getting all of the kids playing time, but we have that organized pretty well and everyone gets on the field.”
Tonini echoed Halle's sentiments about benefitting Butler High School football down the road.
“I'm in favor of all of us coming together as a community in that regard,” he said. “But he (Halle) runs a quality program and we do, too. Kids are playing football and having fun doing it.
“That's what this is about.”
