Butler did enough to beat Grimsley – except on 4 plays
Chalk it up to the always-present Rule of Unexpected Results in sports.
“Sometimes you go out there, make a lot of mistakes, and still win the game,” Butler High head football coach Brian Hales says.
And?
“Sometimes it goes the other way,” he added.
Butler’s defense suffocated the Grimsley offense for most of the Whirlies’ 51 plays from scrimmage Friday night.
But Grimsley managed to pull off four big-yardage plays, and that was enough to rally past the Bulldogs 28-21 in the Class 4A West regional finals in Greensboro.
The victory sends Grimsley (9-0) into the 4A state championship game next Friday against East winner Cardinal Gibbons (9-0).
Butler finished 8-2, with the knowledge that it came a few broken tackles away from reaching the finals.
The Bulldogs did plenty of things right. They sacked Grimsley quarterback Alonza Barnett six times and intercepted him twice. On the Whirlies’ 47 non-touchdown plays, they totaled 105 yards’ total offense. On their four scoring plays, they totaled 173 yards.
“They made some big plays, and that was the difference,” Hales says.
The difference-maker was Barnett. He ran 26 yards for a touchdown and completing scoring passes of 58 and 49 yards. The other Grimsley touchdown came on a 40-yard run by Jeiel Melton.
“The kid’s a fantastic player,” Hales says of Barnett. “We knew he would be tough to contain.”
On Barnett’s touchdown run, he broke two tackles behind the line of scrimmage. And receiver Tyson Resper broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage on his 58-yard scoring reception.
Meanwhile, Butler failed to take advantage of two big opportunities in the fourth quarter.
A shanked punt gave the Bulldogs the ball at Grimsley’s 18 with 7:49 left. That series ended with a missed field goal. On the Whirlies’ next possession, Butler’s Donovan Woods picked off a Barnett pass at the Grimsley 34. But the Whirlies held.
Butler got the ball back at its 41 with 1:26 remaining. Quarterback Parish Metzger had been forced from the game moments earlier after his shoulder was injured on a sack. So the Bulldogs ran three plays, then on fourth-and-2 at their 49, they tried a fake punt. Grimsley stopped the play for no gain.
On the next play, Barnett connected with Christian Tutuh for the winning touchdown – a 49-yard pass – with 14 seconds left.
Hales says he told his team to be proud of their season.
“They gave it everything they had,” he says. “Not many people expected us to go this far. All our kids worked hard to get this far.”
THREE WHO MATTERED
Tyson Resper, Grimsley: A 5-9, 155-pound junior wide receiver, Resper caught five passes for 125 yards. That included a 58-yard reception for the game-tying touchdown in the third quarter.
Bryce Dixon, Butler: The Bulldog defense kept Grimsley’s offense bottled up much of the night, and Dixon was a big reason. He had two sacks, batted down a pair of passes, pressured the quarterback at least three times, and had a tackle for lost yardage.
Travis Shaw, Grimsley: The Whirlies’ five-star recruit didn’t have a big statistical night at defensive tackle, but he kept heavy pressure on Butler quarterback Parish Metzger and forced him out of the pocket several times.
WORTH MENTIONING
▪ Butler punter Alex Weber managed a 30.4-yard average on his eight kicks Friday night, despite kicking into a stiff wind on half those punts.
▪ Neither quarterback had a memorable game, statistically. Butler’s Parish Metzger, who was banged up in last week’s game, completed 10-of-27 passes for 119 yards, with one interception. Grimsley’s Alonza Barnett completed 14-of-29 for 215 yards, but he had two passes picked off.
▪ This was the second meeting all-time between the schools. Butler downed Grimsley 20-6 in the 2006 playoffs, in Greensboro.
▪ Butler sacked Barnett six times, with junior tackle Bryce Dixon getting two of those.
▪ A couple of first-half oddities: Butler was called for offensive offsides four times, and Grimsley had a player sent to the sidelines seven times by officials due to equipment issues. Offensive offsides is not seen very often.
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Butler 7 7 7 0 – 21
Grimsley 0 7 14 7 – 28
B: Jake Snapp 31 pass from Parish Metzger (Elijah Swett kick)
B: Eli Sylvester 19 pass from Metzger (Swett kick)
G: Alonza Barnett 26 run (Jake Henry kick)
B: Davion Nelson 1 run (Swett kick)
G: Jeiel Melton 40 run (Henry kick)
G: Tyson Resper 58 pass from Barnett (Henry kick)
G: Christian Tutuh 49 pass from Barnett (Henry kick)
This story was originally published May 1, 2021 at 12:43 AM.
