MINT HILL A few weeks ago, at home against Ardrey Kell, Butler High's football team needed a long drive to win the game and stay in the race for a third straight Southwestern 4A championship.

Friday night, in a 38-26 come-from-behind win at Independence, the Bulldogs needed an 80-yard drive to seal the title.

With the rain pouring down, and the Bulldogs having trouble slowing Independence's sometimes electric offense, Butler (9-1, 7-0 Southwestern 4A) decided to run. The Patriots (9-2, 5-2) had just scored to close to within 31-26 with 7 minutes, 46 seconds left.

Independence's crowd was going crazy on Senior Night and with the Patriots trying to get in position for a big upset, Butler didn't hide what it was doing. It ran Josh Glisson left. Again and again.

Glisson ran 10 times on a 12-play 80-yard drive, scoring his second touchdown to finish it. He finished with 21 carries for 93 yards and two scores.

"Everybody here, even my 73-year-old mother Audrey from Pennsylvania, knew we were running the ball," Butler coach Brian Hales said. "For these guys to saddle up when the whole world knows what's coming and for them to still execute and go down the field is just a great thing."

Independence was in position for an upset, despite some poor play at key times and a bad break.

The Patriots were up 14-10 late in the first half, but gave up 14 points to Butler in five plays. Led by QB Riley Ferguson (335 yards, 2 TDs), Butler drove 63 yards on four plays for a 17-14 lead; and after intercepting Patriots QB Evan Guest with just over a minute left in the first half, Butler drove 69 yards in four more plays to go up by 10.

"These kids played hard and left their hearts on the field," Patriots coach Bill Geiler said. "They did everything we asked them to. The last four minutes of the first half changed the game, though. We had to stop them twice and didn't do it."

After scoring early in the third quarter, Geiler was down 24-20 and forced Butler to punt. Then, Butler's Malachi Hanes intercepted Guest and returned it 42 yards for a 31-20 lead. The ball appeared to hit the ground, but after a slight delay the referees counted the score.

Credit Independence for scoring on its next possession, setting up Butler's need for a final drive - but the interception changed the game.

"The ball hit the ground," Geiler said. "You know it did. That (ref) was gonna call it and got talked out of it. We get the ball and go score there and they've got to do different things than they did."

Of course, Butler coach Hales saw it differently.

"Oh yes absolutely, that was a catch," Hales said with a broad grin. "Clear as can be. Of course, I'm smiling, we scored a touchdown on that play. And hey this game shows the character of this team. That's a great offense over there, for our defense to stand up the way they did, I'm just flat proud of them."