Tornado clinch playoff spot on the
road
Butler overcomes sluggish start to defeat Erie,
37-20
September 23, 2022 Last Updated:
September 23, 2022 11:42 PM High School
ERIE — Adrien Tate was a thorn in Butler’s side early on in
Friday’s District 10 Class 6A football clash.
Erie’s speedster
returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a score, then
halted the Golden Tornado’s first drive with an interception at his own 20-yard
line.
“We’ve come out flat
on the road this year,” said Butler coach Eric Christy. “We addressed it,
talked about it in practice this week. But I think our guys were so hyped up
for this game early on. We need to find a balance there.”
Butler soon recovered,
however, put up an impressive offensive effort and played dominant defense
until late in the game in a 37-20 victory at Erie Veterans Stadium.
The win clinches for
the Golden Tornado (4-1, 1-0) a postseason berth. Whether or not Butler will
actually appear in the playoffs remains to be seen as the WPIAL has challenged
the team’s ability to compete in the District 10 playoffs. The outcome will be
decided in court.
“We can celebrate, but
not as much because we don’t know how things are going to work out,” said
Butler quarterback Mac Schnur. “We treated this like
a playoff game.”
Schnur played a huge role in Butler’s rebound from
its early deficit. Following Declan Dobson’s 37-yard punt return for a
touchdown, followed by Max Gianneski’s PAT that tied
the game, Schnur hooked up with Braylon
Littlejohn for a 22-yard scoring play that gave the Tornado a 14-7 lead late in
the first quarter.
Schnur finished the game with 151 passing yards and
four touchdowns to four different receivers.
“We have a lot of guys
who can catch the ball and made a point to spread the ball around,” said
Christy.
Ryan Mclister and Dashawn Cox were on
the receiving end of Schnur scoring tosses in the
second quarter, from 40 and four yards, respectively, and Butler enjoyed a 30-7
lead at halftime.
Defensively, the
Tornado stonewalled Erie’s running game, allowing just 13 yards to the Royals
on 17 first-half attempts.
“We came in saying
that no matter what they tried, we were going to shut it down,” said Butler
linebacker JunJun Andrada.
Butler’s lead was
pushed to 37-7 midway through the third quarter when Schnur
hit Landon Lacey on a four-yard scoring pass.
In all, Schnur completed passes to six different targets.
“Our passing game
wasn’t going as well as we hoped the last few weeks,” said Schnur.
“It was good to be
successful with it tonight, plus we got the running game going.”
Butler totaled 187
yards on the ground on 40 attempts.
Two late touchdown
runs from Tate, who took snaps in the Wildcat formation for much of the night,
narrowed Erie’s deficit to 17 points, but the Royals (1-4, 0-2) got no closer.
The win was Butler’s
third straight since losing to Meadville earlier this month.
“We’re 4-1 and that
hasn’t happened in what, 30 years,” said Christy. “Erie’s a good team, but we
knew they struggle throwing the ball and we wanted to force them into that.”
The Tornado renew a rivalry with Seneca Valley next Friday at Art Bernardi Stadium. The teams last met in 2019.
Butler 14 16 7 0 — 37
Erie 7 0 7 6 — 20
First Quarter
E - Adrien Tate 93 kickoff return (Paul Katende
kick), 11:47
B - Declan
Dobson 37 punt return (Max Gianneski kick), 3:11
B - Braylon Littlejohn 22 pass from Mac Schnur
(Gianneski kick), :38
Second Quarter
B - Ryan
Mclister 40 pass from Schnur
(Gianneski kick), 7:49
B - Safety, ball
rolled out of end zone, 5:57
B - Dashawn
Cox 4 pass from Schnur (Gianneski
kick), 3:19
Third Quarter
B - Landon Lacey 4
pass from Schnur (Gianneski
kick), 5:49
E - Tate 22 run (Katende kick), :00
Fourth Quarter
E - Tate 11 run (run
failed), 8:45
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Butler, Landon Lacey 14-51, JunJun Andrada 1-4, Dashawn Cox 9-37,
David Graef 6-31, Braylon
Littlejohn 5-34, Mac Schnur 3-24, Landon Dubyak 1-1, Zane Summerville 1-5. Erie, Adrien Tate 7-24, Kenyatta Howard 5-(-6), Amari Farmer 3-16, Sidney Campbell 4-34, Khazier Noble 4-20, Jaheim Mims
2-(-1), Akil Dixon 3-0.
Passing: Butler, Mac Schnur
11-15-151-1, Landon Lacey 1-1-27-0. Erie, Kenyatta Howard 1-3-(-1)-0, Adrien
Tate 2-3-27-1.
Receiving: Butler, Braylon Littlejohn 3-53, Ryan Mclister 2-67, Landon Lacey 2-10, Dashawn
Cox 2-10, Ian Wilson 2-25, David Graef
1-13. Erie, Adrien Tate 1-(-1), Sidney Campbell 1-14, Gio Crosby 1-13.