Super season
Butler is going to the Super Bowl.
For the first time since joining the United Youth Football League six years ago, the BAMFL is sending one of its varsity teams to the UYFL's Super Bowl championship game.
The Butler Gold team (7-3) will play Pine-Richland White for the league title at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Highlands High School stadium in Natrona Heights.
Butler fielded two varsity teams this season — Gold and Blue — after having one 40-player varsity squad last year.
“We don't turn any kid away and for league scheduling purposes, you have to commit (to one team or two) by late spring,” BAMFL president and varsity gold assistant coach Jayson Rees said. “We had so many kids on one team last year and the 12-year-olds got most of the playing time.
“So, this year, we decided to go to two teams.”
Butler Gold had 26 players on its varsity roster this year while Butler Blue — which won three games and qualified for the UYFL playoffs as well — had 24 players.
“Eighty-eight percent of our (Gold) players were on the field for six or fewer varsity plays last year,” Gold head coach Justin Miller said. “This was an inexperienced team at the beginning of the year that really came together.”
Miller, 40, coached a BAMFL junior varsity team to a 7-3 record and a Super Bowl appearance last year. That team dropped a 48-47 decision to Seneca Valley in the title game.
That was Miller's first year of coaching tackle football in the program. He ran the flag football league portion of the organization the previous three years.
“My son (tight end-defense end Ben Miller) was 11 and on varsity last year.I didn't want to coach him and get accused of Daddy Ball, so I coached at the JV level,” Miller said. “This year, I did want the experience of coaching my son.”
So Miller moved up to varsity, but only three players from his JV team came with him. The bulk of the others played for the Butler Blue team.
“We didn't want to stack one team with all of the top players and leave the other team with little chance of success,” Rees said. “So we decided to put the 12-year-olds on the Gold team and the 11-year-olds on the Blue.
“That seemed to work out well for both.”
The Gold team defeated Hampton, 53-22, in its first playoff game. That was followed by an 8-6 win over previously unbeaten (9-0) Pine Green. That victory marked the first-ever Butler varsity win over a Pine-Richland squad in the UYFL.
Doug Tapager II scored on a 1-yard run for the Gold and Landon Dubyak added the 2-point conversion kick for an 8-0 second-quarter lead. Pine Green scored in the third quarter, but muffed the snap on the PAT kick and Butler's Cooper McTighe fell on the ball.
Pine Green had a first-and-goal at the Butler 8 in the fourth period, but James Musser nailed a runner for a big loss on first down. Pine Green eventually turned the ball over on downs. Butler Gold possessed the ball for the game's final four minutes to seal the win.
Miller said Musser and Joel McCloskey have been standouts defensively this season, Dubyak and Tapager on the offensive side.
“Landon Dubyak has been our go-to guy offensively,” Miller said. “He's run for well over 1,000 yards and has scored most of our touchdowns.
“But every kid on this team has stepped up and contributed. Teamwork has been the key for us.”
Miller said the team has five rules: 1. Focus, 2. Hustle, 3. No whining, 4. Brotherhood and 5. Butler.
“These kids just never quit,” Rees said. “They are much more team-oriented than individually driven.”
Other assistant coaches on the Gold squad include Bill Schultz, Doug Tapager, Joe Rakoci, Josh McCloskey and Neil Purdie.
Butler Gold split with Pine White during the regular season, winning 36-20 and losing 27-18.
