Statue of Liberty key to victory
JEFFERSON TWP — From worst to first, with the defining moment of the championship game being a Statue of Liberty play for a touchdown on 4th-and-21.
Only in America.
Butler Gold, after winning only one game all of last season, won the United Youth Football League's varsity (ages 11-12) Super Bowl Saturday, defeating Pine Green 14-0 at Knoch Stadium.
“Since we started in July, we threw so much at these kids and they just sucked it all in,” Butler defensive coordinator Shane Burchett said. “They're simply football players.
“They play with heart. They play for each other. Total determination ... that's what it takes to do what they did.”
Leading 6-0 in the third quarter, Butler Gold ate nearly six minutes off the clock with the first possession of the second half. But it was facing 4th-and-21 at the Pine Green 46.
“We never punt. My teams have punted once in three years,” Butler Gold coach Todd Simko said. “We were going after it. That was either going to be a big play or it was going to be their ball around midfield.
“Our kids were under-sized and inexperienced at this level last year. From Day One in practice this summer, we were just gonna go for it.”
Quarterback Kyle Casteel took the snap and cocked hjs arm to pass. Just before Kyle started his throwing motion, running back Jake Stevens took the ball out of his hand and raced toward the left sideline.
“There were a couple of blocks and the hole just opened up,” Jake said. “Once I got to the sideline, I saw I was going to score a touchdown.“We were gonna put this championship away. That's all I kept thinking about when I was running toward the goal line.”Simko said the play is called “QB1” in Butler Gold's rather expansive playbook.“One of our players saw the play in a movie on NetFlix,” the coach said. “We put it in. That was the perfect time to try it and the kids really sold it.“We have 110 different plays, 60 different formations we can use. These kids are into this. We study a lot of film and they never get tired of it.“We were prepared for everything Pine was going o try. We were ready for this game,” Simko added.Both teams finished the season 10-2. Pine Green never got inside the Butler Gold 40-yard line.Butler's scoring drives were 10 plays covering 50 yards and 12 plays covering 70. Jake scored on a 3-yard run to snap a scoreless tie with 42 seconds left in the first half.He had 20 carries for 152 yards in the game. Butler Gold had 228 yards rushing to Pine Green's 17, 16 first downs to Pine Green's four.While Jake received the team's weekly “championship belt” for Butler Gold's offensive player of the game, Ethan Deless received the “iron chain” for being defensive player of the game.Ethan reached double-digits in tackles, many of them for loss.“I love the sport and I love playing defense,” Ethan said. “We played with intensity today.”Eli Shay joined Kyle, Jake and Ethan as team captains Saturday.“I've been playing in this league for seven years,” Jake said. “For three or four of those years in a row, my team didn't win a game.“This whole season, winning this championship ... this is like a dream for me.”Butler teams have reached the UYFL Super Bowl game at either the varsity or junior varsity level for four consecutive years.The Butler Mites (ages 7-8) reached the Super Bowl this year as well, dropping a 21-6 decision to Pine-Richland earlier Saturday.“We need to find a way to transition this success to the junior high program and on up to high school,” Simko said. “We definitely have quality football players around here.”Other players on Butler Gold's 25-player roster are Mason Lacey, Andrew Gettinger, Jabaree Jennings, Rashed Sanad, Tyson Pino, Zavyr Gregory, Deacon Simko, Anthony Salmon, Noah Ruby, Paxton Winkler, Sutton Stoner, Kaden Connors, Beau Burchett, Houston Walton, Layne Zmijowski, Griffin Bauer, Zachary Zandarski, Joshua Montgomery, Henry Mclister, Max Byers and Nick Goetz.
