Deacon Simko dives into the end zone for a Butler Gold touchdown. The 11-12-year old football squad has had 12 players score touchdowns through two games and two scrimmages this season.

The numbers are solid. So is the progress.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Butler Area Midget Football League organization is alive and well this season.

Butler continues to play in the United Youth Football League. It has two varsity (ages 11-12) teams, the Butler Gold having 26 players and the Butler Blue 31.

The junior varsity team (9-10) has 42 players, the mites (7-8) 16 players. The flag football program (ages 5-7) has five teams of 11 players each.

“The virus hasn't slowed us at all,” BAMFL president and Buler Gold coach Lance Rihn said. “To the contrary, kids have been anxious to get out and play and the parents have been supportive in that regard.”

The Butler youth teams began practice the third week in July and the Gold varsity team is 4-0 so far this season, including two scrimmages.

Butler Gold won scrimmages against RYPO (Highlands) and South Fayette before beginning the regular season with wins of 26-6 over McDowell and 31-6 over Avonworth.

Butler Blue dropped its opener to Hampton.

“The league has allowed for social distancing on the sidelines, extending them down to both 10-yard lines instead of the 25,” Butler Blue coach Dave Patton said. “People have been socially distant in the stands as well.

“I think the parents wanted their kids to get out on the field, to do something outside, more than the kids themselves. They could see their kids going stir crazy.”

Two guardians per player are allowed in the bleachers and everyone must wear a mask there.

While the Butler Midget teams watch a lot of game film, they do so with no more than 12 players in the room at a time.

Butler High School varsity football coach Eric Christy frequents those film sessions at times. He has a son playing on the BAMFL's junior varsity for the first time.

“They (youth coaches) invited me to come down and I gladly do,” Christy said. “They're part of our program.

“It's not the Midgets. It's not varsity. It's not ninth grade. It's not junior high. We're all Butler.”

Todd Simko, the BAMFL vice president who also coaches the Butler Gold, said the team has come up with various elements to help motivate the kids toward success.

He described the core of kids playing together since age 8 as the most “unselfish, disciplined, hard working, respectful team I have ever coached.”The team has a wrestling championship belt with the varsity saying on it “You Commit, We Win.” A 40-pound chain with a dog bone is awarderd to the gritty player of the week.The team's slogan is “We Eat First,” which Simko says is about “taking care of us first ... I say no scraps, no leftovers, we get it all ... they love it. They embrace it.“We got sweatshirts made this year with that on it.”Team captains are quarterback Kyle Castell, defensive lineman Ethan Deless, fullback-linebacker Eli Shay and running back-linebacker Jake Stevens. They decide the first four plays of the game, set challenges for the team each game and decide curfew for the team on game and practice days.“We hold them accountable,” Simko said of the captains. “We are all in with these kids, on and off the field. You have to show you care about them or they're not going to participate. There's too many things kids can do these days.”Butler Gold has had 12 different kids score touchdowns through four games. The team has run six different formations and more than 70 plays already.Simko's goal is to have 15 different kids score touchdowns this season.“We want everybody involved. It keeps it fun,” he said.He added that Butler loses most of its players in the system from the Midget level to junior high.“Something is being lost there,” Simko said.Former Butler running back Jason Butler is coaching with the Midget program as well as the junior high team this season.“I love that Jason is on board with both,” Christy said. “He can serve as a bridge that way. It helps us all stay on the same page.”Rihn agreed.“We want to keep these numbers and build on them,” he said.“We want to develop kids, sure, but we want to win, too,” Simko said. “To me, it's all about winning. Get that attitude going early.“We've been trying to put an addition on the house (varsity level) and we didn't have the base built yet. We need to get that done.“That's why we're getting so many kids involved on the field,” Simko added.

Butler Gold football player Jake Stevens receives the 40-pound chain for being the team's most gritty player in a recent game.