BY CHARLES CHANEY
EL DORADO, Kan. — There’s a certain calm to the way Tate McNew plays quarterback, the kind of stillness that makes chaos look organized.
The Butler freshman dissected Highland with that same poise Saturday, throwing three touchdowns and adding a score on the ground as the Grizzlies rolled to a 38-3 win over winless Highland.
McNew, a Maize South graduate, looked more like a returning starter than a freshman still getting his footing. He completed 9 of 12 passes for 92 yards and three touchdowns, spreading the ball around with the kind of confidence that makes an offense hum. When the pocket broke down, he escaped cleanly, adding a short touchdown run to finish his night with four total scores.
“It was definitely a step in the right direction,” McNew said.
That step looked more like a leap. Butler finished with 387 total yards of offense on just 54 plays, a near-perfect balance of pace and precision. The Grizzlies ripped off 285 yards rushing while holding Highland to just 147 total yards and a single third-down conversion all night.
“I think the most important thing was that he got to play against Coffeeville,and he was out there a whole game,” Woodall said. “Sometimes the best teachers just is getting thrown on the fire and getting punched in the mouth a couple times and that’s how you learn.
“You’re now that I think the third or fourth person to say he just looked completely different, more comfortable and all that. The extra two weeks of practice that we’ve had was huge for him. But that’s who Tate is. He’s not going to back down. He’s not scared of the challenge and those kinds of things. I thought he was super efficient.”
The first drive alone felt like a statement. Butler marched 70 yards in 10 plays, powered by sophomore running back Markellus Bass, who churned out 15 yards on the first play and 16 on the third. McNew capped it off with a 13-yard strike to DeColdest Crawford in stride for the game’s first touchdown.
Less than two minutes later, Bass showed why he remains the engine of Butler’s offense. On the second play of the next series, he burst through a crease, shrugged off a defender and sprinted 68 yards to the end zone. It was 14-0 before Highland’s defense had time to regroup.
Bass finished with 153 yards on 20 carries, his fourth consecutive game of 100+ yards this season.
“I think our guys just decided: let’s go do this,” head coach Kyle Woodall said. “They were pumped to go out first. And we went right down the field and scored.”
The tone was set. They were physical at the line, seamless through the air, patient everywhere else. McNew directed traffic with the ease of someone who’d been in the system for seasons, checking protections, pointing out blitzers and hitting timing routes that kept drives alive.
By the end of the first quarter, Butler had 125 yards to Highland’s 12. By halftime, it was 24-3, and the game already felt out of reach.
Highland’s lone score came on a 37-yard field goal midway through the second quarter, but McNew and the Grizzlies answered immediately. He hit Jordan Morris on a 15-yard out, then connected with Nakai Poole on an 11-yard touchdown with just over a minute left in the half.
Through two quarters, Butler held a 258-63 advantage in total yardage, had scored on four of its five possessions and converted five of six third downs.
“It’s just about finding that urgency and consistency,” Woodall said. “When these guys execute, they do a really good job.”
Highland found little room to breathe against a Butler defense that played its cleanest game of the season. The Scotties ran 29 times for just 71 yards and completed 13 of 23 passes for 76.
The front seven dictated everything. Defensive linemen Zayden Laing-Taylor and Hyrum Vaeono each recorded a sack, while linebackers Dexter Carr and Devin Davis combined for another. Butler’s defense limited Highland to 1 of 15 on third down, and didn’t allow a snap inside its own 10-yard line.
“That’s the standard,” Woodall said. “Doesn’t matter who’s out there. You do your job.”
The Grizzlies’ offense opened the second half with the same methodical control. Semaj Scott, a redshirt freshman running back, ripped off runs of 17, 9 and 32 yards as Butler continued to lean on its offensive line. Scott finished with 106 yards on 10 carries, giving Butler two 100-yard rushers in the same game for the second time this season.
“Bass is Bass,” Woodall said, smiling. “Semaj’s coming on strong. We’re winning the line of scrimmage right now. The backs, the O-line, the tight ends, they’re all meeting together, getting everybody on the same page.”
Midway through the third quarter, McNew rolled and found Crawford again, this time on a five-yard scoring pass to make it 31-3. The throw looked effortless, the footwork balanced, the confidence brewing.
That was the thing about McNew’s night was the calm. No theatrics, no nerves, no wasted motion. Just efficiency.
Early in the fourth quarter, he finished his performance with a 3-yard keeper on a read option, slipping through a crease for his fourth touchdown of the night. It gave Butler a 38-3 cushion and the luxury of letting the reserves close it out.
Behind him, the Grizzlies’ stat sheet told the same story their scoreboard did: clean, efficient football. Butler recorded 21 first downs to Highland’s 7, went 5 of 9 on third down and 5 of 6 in the red zone. The Grizzlies held the ball for just over 30 minutes and outgained Highland by 240 yards.
Even the special teams contributed. Randy Singleton returned five punts for 49 yards, and Rioux went 5-for-5 on extra points.
For Woodall, it was as complete a team win as he’s seen this season.
“I don’t think it was anything that just clicked,” he said. “I think our guys decided: let’s go do this. Let’s compete.”
Highland finished with 20 penalties for 162 yards, and those flags often came at the worst times from erasing third-down conversions, wiping away field position, and extending Butler drives. Every mistake seemed to feed the Grizzlies’ momentum.
And with McNew in command, Butler kept pressing the advantage.
“Honestly, these guys around me make it real easy,” McNew said. “They’ve made the transition really easy. Dylan’s helped me out a lot, and we’ve just been competing. It hasn’t even felt like a big change.”
Butler improved to 4-1, while Highland fell to 0-7. But more important than the margin or the record was how Butler looked. They were balanced, mature, and locked in across all three phases.
For a freshman quarterback who began the season hoping to redshirt, Saturday night was confirmation that the job fits him and that Butler’s offense fits him just as well. Having two weeks off between games benefited him.
“We were itching to get on the field,” he said. “I will say it was really beneficial for me in that spot, just because I hadn’t had a lot of reps.”
Now comes the next test. Butler will face the No. 7, No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in straight weeks. If they’re going to compete for a conference title, let alone a national championship, it starts next week.
Butler travels to Garden City, who was off this week but are currently 5-1 and have outscored their last three opponents, 190-17.
Butler hasn’t won in Garden City since 2014, though it did pick up a road victory there in 2021 before being forced to forfeit due to an ineligible player. The two met again weeks later in the KJCCC playoffs, where Garden City prevailed 27-16.
“It’s a long road trip,” Woodall said. “It’s us against the world. We’ve got to hone in and get our best shot.”
McNew’s answer was simple.
“We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing,” he said. “Worry about us.”
