North Hills buries Butler in 49-0 rout
BUTLER TWP — Field position didn't do Butler any favors Friday night.
Neither did North Hills.
The Indians rolled up 456 yards of offense and the Golden Tornado never got inside the visitors' 25-yard line in a 49-0 Northern Eight football loss at Art Bernardi Stadium.
Butler's deepest penetration was the Indians' 27-yard line, where it turned the ball over on downs with 8:46 left in the game. On the next play, North Hills reserve tailback Matt Reiner raced 62 yards for the final score of the contest.
That's the type of night it was for the Tornado (1-3, 1-3), who managed only two first downs in the first half.
“Field position was a huge factor early in the game,” North Hills coach Pat Carey said. “We were able to keep them bottled up and we kept playing on a short field.”
Five of Butler's six first-half possessions began inside its own 25-yard line. Four of North Hills' six possessions began from beyond the Indians' 46.
North Hills (3-1, 3-1) took a 28-0 lead into the locker room.
Kindhal Taylor, making his first varsity start at quarterback, threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Wagner to cap an 80-yard drive on the game's first possession. Taylor hit all eight of his passes for 112 yards. He did not attempt a pass in the second half.
“Field position had nothing to do with this,” Butler coach Clyde Conti said. “49-0 ... That's self-explanatory.”
Montae Frank had 15 carries for 137 yards, including touchdown runs of 15 and 36 yards. Kevin Koch added a pair of short scoring runs for North Hills.
The Indians even received a 74-yard touchdown jaunt from freshman Nick Santucci. Taylor threw a 44-yard bomb to Shawndale Jones to set up one of Koch's touchdowns.
Taylor, normally a wide receiver, started behind center because of an injury to first-string quarterback Jake Bruder.
“Kindhal is athletic and we felt he could do some things back there,” Carey said. “He throws a very nice ball.”
The Tornado lost two more fumbles — giving them 11 for the season. An early 24-yard run by Robert Burdine was wiped out by a holding penalty and a 28-yard run by Chris Smith ended with a fumble as potential early Butler drives were short-circuited.
“We can't get 11 kids on the field who can execute a play at the same time,” Conti said. “I guess that's on us. We can't teach.”
Tom Jendesky paced Butler's ground game with 65 yards on 16 carries. Smith had 66 combined yards rushing and receiving.
Isaiah DeVaughn returned a kickoff 51 yards into North Hills territory later in the first half, but the Tornado turned the ball over on downs at the Indians' 37.
North Hills shut out Butler for the fourth straight time and extended its winning streak over the Tornado to 13 games.
