The 2023 Butler County football season is coming to an end.

A day after the writing of this column, Mars will be trying to extend its season another week by defeating Central Valley in the second round of the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs. Details of that game, of course, are elsewhere on this page.

Every other team in the county has put away its shoulder pads, helmets and other gridiron gear for the final time this year. But before we say goodbye to them, here are a few honors I must dish out:

Coach of the Year: Tim Burchett, Knoch. There are other candidates here, but going from one win a year ago to an eight-win season and a WPIAL Class 3A playoff berth cannot be overlooked.

Coach Burchett and the Knights will readily admit they should have done even more with this season. But most of this team returns in 2024 and these guys will be hungry.

Player of the Year: Evan Wright, Mars running back. This guy was good for more than 100 yards rushing pretty much every week, took control of the Butler Eagle Scoring Trophy race early and never looked back.

Workhorse of the Year: Jack Fennell, North Catholic. He rushed for over 1,300 yards, was a stellar defensive back, returned punts and kickoffs. ... The guy never left the field.

Most Gutsy Performance: Karns City. Not just the Gremlins’ 42-41 playoff loss at Brookville — which could have won the category below this — but the way the Gremlins fought back this season through adversity. After the terrible injury to quarterback Mason Martin early in the season, these kids could have folded the tent.

But that’s not Karns City football.

Not only did the Gremlins fight their way into the playoffs, they won their last two regular season games without a true quarterback, rushing for more than 900 yards total in wins over Bradford and Mount Union, then running for more than 400 yards in a one-point playoff loss at Brookville, a team that beat KC by 30 points only a few weeks earlier.

Most Effective Fill-In: Luke Goodworth, Mars quarterback. When last year’s starter, Eric Kasperowicz, could not play the position thus year because of an injury, all Goodworth did was step in and break the school record for most passing yards in a season.

Most Heartbreaking Loss: Plenty of candidates here, but my selection is Butler’s 20-19 home defeat to Erie. The Golden Tornado lost quarterback Braylon Littlejohn to injury in this game. Noah Ritchie came off the bench, Butler switched to the Wing-T and drove for a late touchdown. A two-point conversion run was stopped, however, but Butler got the ball back in the waning moments.

A fourth-down pass was dropped in field goal range and the Tornado were denied a return to the District 10 playoffs.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle.