The North Butler football team had a frustrating night on both sides of the ball falling 48-8 at Madrid in a Class A first round matchup on Friday, as aired on 99 The Wave.
Madrid set the tone for their offense by establishing an option run game. The Tigers led 14-0 after the first quarter on a pair of rushing touchdowns. The Tigers found the endzone twice in the second quarter, with a receiving touchdown and converted a fourth down with a rushing touchdown to take a 28-0 lead into the half. The Bearcats in the first half were forced by the Tigers defensive pressure into a punt and two turnovers.
The Tigers set the running clock rule into effect on the first play of the second half with an 84 yard receiving touchdown to go up 35-0. The Tigers concluded their scoring with two more touchdowns in the half to take a 48-0 advantage. A bright spot for the Bearcats followed, as Camryn Bartels escaped a traffic jam for an explosive 62 yard touchdown run to end the shutout, cutting the score to 48-8 with 5:34 to go in the game. The Tigers ran out the remaining time to close out the win. Head Coach Jordan Vanderloop notes what the Tigers took advantage of to pull away.
“They were causing some issues for us, up front blocking wise. We weren’t very clear on who was the key blocker and where the hole was really going to be at with it. They were able to fill, so we weren’t able to bounce it out or get to where we needed to. It was just frustrating at times because we knew what we had to do with it. We just couldn’t physically get it done,” says Vanderloop. “They were able to find their holes on the defense, able to take advantage of that and exploit it. They were able pull some guys through and have some lead blockers catch our guys out of position at times with motion. They did an excellent job of finding our weak spot and exploiting it.”
The Bearcats were limited to 98 yards of offense. Camryn Bartels had two carries for 71 yards and a touchdown. Peyton Knoll had nine tackles defensively to lead the Bearcats.
North Butler concluded their season at 4-5 overall.
