BY CHARLES CHANEY
COFFEYVILLE, Kan. — One of the strongest facets of the game let the Butler Grizzlies down on Saturday night.
Special teams wasn’t so special for Butler in the 31-28 loss to Coffeyville despite 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
The undefeated season is no more but that’s not to put a damper on the season. The Grizzlies still have a conference championship to fight for and more importantly, you’re still in the hunt for a national title if you win your games.
Butler now has lost three in a row against Coffeyville and five of their last six.
Saturday’s rough game was only but a hiccup.
It started early when the Grizzlies struggled to punt and gave Coffeyville the ball inside the Butler red zone—inside their own 20-yard line— after a poor punt. They roughed the kicker on a field goal that was missed but eventually led to a field goal for the Red Ravens.
Butler averaged only 25 yards per punt on Saturday night.
They also had back-to-back mental mistakes, getting into a post whistle argument/altercation with a Coffeyville player AFTER they had interfered with the punt return catch. That 60-yard mistake led to the first touchdown of the game and Butler was down double digits before they really had a strong grip on the game.
It felt as it was never in the cards for the Grizzlies (3-1). They only had the ball for 3½ minutes in the first quarter and that’s why Coffeyville was able to build momentum and former Grizzly Mac Armstrong made Butler pay with multiple big throws to Khris Thomas.
The lone bright spot for the Grizzlies in the first half was Markellus Bass. He finished with 128 rushing yards. He had multiple big runs and every time he tried to side-step or cut back, instead of running to the edge, the Grizzlies would go 3-and-out after that run. It happened four times.
Coffeyville (2-1) built a 17-0 lead right before halftime after an interception led to a Jordan Louie 9-yard run with 2:49 remaining.
The Grizzlies did finally have a response as Tate McNew dropped a pass into the basket of Da’Coldest Crawford for their first connection of the season with 1:01 remaining until halftime.
C’Ville led 17-7 at half.
Butler had a chance out of half to go score with the momentum but would go 3-and-out. Coffeyville responded by going five plays and it was Thomas and Armstrong dropping a dime into the over the shoulder of the defender for Thomas’ second touchdown.
Butler never found a way to finish a drive when it mattered. Butler would drive down the field once again on the back of Bass and McNew, but bad snaps and penalties punished the Grizzlies. A bad snap took them from a second-and-goal on the 1-yard line to a third on the eight. Then, a bad snap caused the field goal opportunity to be botched and Coffeyville survived.
Then, as Butler is trying to drive, a bad snap to McNew and it was bounced off his shin and then it was kicked by an offensive linemen and it bounce into the arms of Coffeyville’s Jack Lanning for the touchdown.
Just not Butler’s night.
Even when they would get a stop, it was Coffeyville’s special teams getting down in coverage and stopping any real chance of a return.
The Grizzlies finally found some offensive rhythm late in the fourth quarter when McNew hooked up with Nolan Chambers twice in the span of two minutes as Butler pulled within 31-21 with 7:15 remaining.
Even as Butler was able to get a stop on fourth down with 1:03 remaining, they would see Crawford wide open on a busted coverage play. It pulled the Grizzlies within 31-28 with 36 seconds remaining.
The deficit was just too much.
The onside kick was recovered by Coffeyville, ending the comeback that saw Butler score 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
McNew finished 16 of 25 for 235 yards and four touchdowns. It appears Butler has found their QB1. He made minimal mistakes and was the driving force to Butler’s comeback in the fourth quarter.
Chambers had two touchdowns to go with 84 yards on four catches. Crawford had 111 yards on six catches and two touchdowns.
Justice Betts had 13 tackles to lead the Grizzlies and Devin Davis had 11 of his own.
Armstrong had two touchdown passes and 171 yards in his revenge game against Butler.
Butler now has two weeks off before they host winless Highland on Oct. 18. Then, they hit one of the toughest three-game stretches you could face in the conference with a trip to Garden City. Then home vs. Hutch and Iowa Western.
Coffeyville 31, Butler 21
Butler 0 7 0 21 —28
C’Ville 3 14 7 7 —31
C – Burgess 37 FG
C – Thomas 26 pass from Armstrong (Burgess kick)
C – Louie 9 run (Burgess kick)
B – Crawford 26 pass from McNew (Rioux kick)
C – Thomas 27 pass from Armstrong (Burgess kick)
C – Lanning 23 fumble recovery (Burgess kick)
B – Chambers 42 pass from McNew (pass failed)
B – Chamber 11 pass from McNew (Bass pass from McNew)
B – Crawford 66 pass from McNew (Rioux kick)
RUSHING: Butler – Bass 16-128; Singleton 7-34; McNew 8-(-4). Totals 31-158. Coffeyville – Louie 14-64; Robinson 20-51; Armstrong 9-20; Vann 1-6; Adams 1-3; Team 1-(-6). Totals: 46-140.
PASSING(C-A-YD-TD-INT): Butler – McNew 16-25-235-4-1; Rioux 0-1-0-0-0. Coffeyville – Armstrong 13-23-171-2-0.
RECEIVING: Butler – Crawford 6-111; Chambers 4-84; Pool 3-28; Bass 1-4; Singleton 1-4; Morris 1-4. Coffeyville – Thomas 3-89; Bost 4-40; Robinson 4-21; Johnson 1-14; Zalusky 1-7.
