Baldwin rolls over Butler, 58-13
WHITEHALL — Butler coach Eric Christy knew his young Golden Tornado team was in for a fight Friday night against a vastly improved Baldwin team.
It took less than 15 seconds to confirm his suspicions.
Baldwin's Jarren Kelly took the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown, setting off a a 34-point first quarter for the host Fighting Highlanders. They never looked back in a 58-13 affair that saw a running clock in the second half.
All told, Baldwin ran just 12 plays in the first half en route to a 58-0 halftime lead. They amassed 242 total yards along the way, scoring at will from all three facets of the game.
Angelo Priore scored on Baldwin's first offensive play, finding paydirt from 55 yards out. A Tyler Gurchak interception on the next drive was returned for a touchdown, making it 20-0. Twenty seconds later, Baldwin quarterback Mason Stahl found Kelly from 40 yards out. That made it 27-0 with less than five minutes gone.
Priore added a 47-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter and finished the game with two carries for 102 yards and two touchdowns.
The hits kept coming for Butler, as Stahl found Nasseer Penn from 73 yards out to start the second quarter. Stahl finished the game 4-for-7 for 149 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
That was followed by two interception returns for touchdowns by Kelly and Christopher Robbins. A Jackson Brandwene field goal rounded out the scoring for Baldwin.
Butler, however, had three sustained drives in the second half, two of which resulted in touchdowns.
“We challenged them at halftime to come back and win the second half,” Christy said. “We outscored them 13-0, and that's a positive. They accepted the challenge and went to it.”
Those drives saw the emergence of sophomore running back Byron Manchester, whose first carry of the night was a 20-yard scamper for a touchdown. Manchester added another score late in the game, this time from five yards out.
“We had a big motto this week of holding a block for six seconds and stay on it, just trying to get the mental state in the right place,” Christy said of this week's practice. “It took a while to get to that tonight.”
Nine different players carried the ball for Butler in the second half, with senior Kyler Callihan racking up a team-leading 77 yards on 19 carries. Butler's committee of running backs amassed more than 230 yards on the ground, which Christy said he saw as a positive.
“We are very inexperienced as a team, but we've got to get rid of the inexperience as soon as we can,” he said. “Times like this you get guys in and see what they can do.”
Christy added Manchester figures to see action earlier in the coming weeks.
“He's got to get his nose in the playbook and make sure he understands all the different sequences and nuances of it,” he said.
Christy said he hopes his team keeps the first half in their minds as they turn their attention to next week's home debut against Mount Lebanon.
“This is week one, a non-conference game, let's keep our focus, let's keep moving forward and get ready for next week,” Christy said. “The competition doesn't get easier. … The guys have to keep plugging away.”
Butler 0 0 0 13 — 13Baldwin 34 24 0 0 — 58First QuarterB —Jarren Kelly 93 kick return (kick blocked), 11:47B — Angelo Priore 55 run (Emma Brandwene kick), 9:10B — Tyler Gurchak 48 interrception return (Brandwene kick), 7:43B — Kelly 40 pass from Mason Stahl (Brandwene kick), 7:23B — Priore 47 run (Brandwene kick), 5:19Second QuarterB — Nasseer Penn 73 pass from Balwin (Brandwene kick) 11:29B — Kelly 36 interception return (Brandwene kick), 10:27B — Jackson Brtandwene 27 field goal, 5:02B — Christopher Robbins 36 interception return (J. Brandwene kick), 2:58Fourth QuarterButler — Byron Manchester 20 run (Emerson Douthett kick), 11:43Butler — Manchester 5 run (kick failed), 1:36Individual StatisticsRushing: Butler, Byron Manchester 5-51, Kyler Callihan 19-77, Chris Mertz 8-30, John Ryan Herold 5-37, Anthony Daviduk 1-9, Darin Skidmore 3-8, Andrew Kline 2-4, Justin Kabay 1-1, Steven Green 2-28. Baldwin, Angelo Priore 2-102, Zach Petit 2-(-2), Mason Stahl; 1-(-7), Luke Loeffert 3- (-8).Passing: Butler, Matt Rairigh 4-8-32-2, Bryan Prescio 0-2-0-1. Baldwin, Mason Stahl 4-7-149-2, Nicholas Petrilli 1-2-5-0, Colton Brain 0-1-0-0. Receiving: Butler, Daniel Hunter 3-26, Mitchell Wong 1-6. Baldwin, Naseer Penn 2-95, Jarren Kelly 1-40, Dre Howell 1-14, Cameron Dougherty 1-5.
