Sterling effort can't save Butler in loss
BUTLER TWP— After four games and two quarters, Butler football coach Jeff McAnallen found what he'd been looking for Friday night.
The discovery came too late to salvage the game — a 28-14 loss to Erie McDowell at Art Bernardi Stadium — but maybe not too late to salvage the season.
Trailing 21-7 late in the third quarter, the Golden Tornado (0-5, 0-1) put together a 15-play, 80-yard drive that used up 7:14 before Cameron McDonald-Cahill caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Cole Harvey with 5:09 left in the game.
By the time Butler got the ball back, however, there was only 1:36 left and the Tornado had possession at their own 4-yard line with no timeouts. On fourth-and-11, the Trojans' Alex Schmude intercepted Harvey and returned the ball 20 yards for a touchdown.
"We were in a scramble tonight,"McDowell coach Joe Tarasovitch said. "They (Butler) went to double-tights and used their option to take advantage of our back side.
"It's nothing we hadn't seen on film. They just executed it very well."
Butler trailed 14-0 at halftime, managing only two first downs and 47 yards of offense in the first two quarters.
"We won a lot of football games in 10 years (at North Hills) just like that,"McAnallen said of Butler's 15-play touchdown drive. "Our goal every game is to put together at least two 12-play drives and play solid defense.
"That's how games are played in this conference. That's how games are won in this conference."
You can also win a lot of games if you have A.J. Fenton on your team.
Hoping to keep regular quarterback Dave Herbe off the field with a tender ankle, McDowell (4-1) started standout tailback Fenton behind center. He scrambled 63 yards for the Trojans' first score of the night, but returned to his tailback position in the second quarter as Herbe entered the game.
"A.J. is our backup quarterback, but he didn't seem comfortable back there,"Tarasovitch said. "Our offense didn't have its usual spark without Herbe in the game."
Herbe made his presence felt immediately. On a third-and-7 play, he connected with Robert Ward for a 14-yard completion.
On the next play, Herbe found Ward deep down the left sideline for a 54-yard touchdown pass with 6:36 left in the half.
"We played a lot better, but big plays hurt us again,"McAnallen said.
Butler's best chance to score in the first half occurred with 2:36 left as John Scialabba stopped Fenton a yard short of the sticks on a fake punt at the McDowell 43.
Tony Fudoli caught a pass from Harvey that would have given the Tornado a first down deep in Trojans territory, but an illegal shift nullified the play and Butler went three-and-out.
The Tornado did score on their first possession of the second half, putting together a five-play, 53-yard march. A 14-yard run by McDonald-Cahill and a 19-yard gallop by Harvey set up Harvey's 6-yard scoring run with 7:05 left in the third quarter.
Fenton capped a 64-yard drive for McDowell, however, following his own 17-yard run with a 25-yard run into the end zone with 23 seconds remaining in the period.
Fenton had 17 carries for 150 yards and made numerous tackles from his middle linebacker position.
"Our biggest positive tonight was that I challenged the kids to never let what happened last week (a62-13 loss) ever happen again, to play hard and do what we ask them to do — and they did that," McAnallen said.
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