Butler’s furious fourth-quarter rally gets No. 7 Bulldogs past No. 4 Charlotte Catholic
Charlotte Catholic dominated Butler on both sides of the ball and built a three-touchdown lead over the host Bulldogs in Friday night’s Southwestern 4A showdown.
Then in a moment, it all changed.
Butler’s Makhi Carr scored three touchdowns of his own in the final nine minutes, 47 seconds, and the seventh-ranked Bulldogs rallied for an improbable 20-19 victory over the fourth-ranked Cougars.
Charlotte Catholic outgained Butler 193-41 in total yardage in the first half and led 12-0 at intermission. The Cougars had the ball for 16 of 24 minutes in the half.
Then after stopping Butler at the Charlotte Catholic 2 on the opening drive of the second half, the Cougars went 98 yards and ate up over nine minutes and scored again, for a 19-0 lead.
Butler appeared to be finished.
“But these guys refused to give up,” said Butler coach Brian Hales, who was treated to a chorus of “Happy Birthday” by his players and assistant coaches afterward. “I told them in the locker room that they could do something they’d never forget.”
Thanks in large part to Carr, they did.
A 5-foot-9, 155-pound senior, Carr took the kickoff after Charlotte Catholic’s third touchdown and dashed 68 yards for a touchdown.
It was 19-7, and the Cougars only needed to run out the remaining 9:47 for the victory.
But a pair of Charlotte Catholic mistakes changed everything.
The first was an errant pass, picked off by Butler’s Phillip Harris at the Bulldog 35. Sophomore quarterback Zach Lawrence guided his team 65 yards, finishing with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Carr. That cut the Cougars’ lead to 19-14 with 4:43 left.
Butler stopped the Cougars on downs, forced a punt and took over at their 30. On the third play of the drive, Lawrence fired a pass down the right sideline. It bounced off Bulldog receiver Dequadre Currence and into the hands of Carr, who dashed for a 47-yard touchdown and the go-ahead points.
The Cougars still had more than three minutes for a comeback, but their second mistake — a lost fumble on the kickoff — doomed them. Butler was able to run out the clock for the victory.
“We have the kind of team that won’t give up,” Lawrence said. “When they stopped us at the 2, we told ourselves that we would have another chance. We made the most of it.”
The victory leaves Butler with a 5-0 record in the Southwestern 4A (8-1 overall). The Bulldogs have a one-game lead over Charlotte Catholic and Independence.
Butler visits neighborhood rival Independence on Oct. 28 after an off week next Friday.
Charlotte Catholic finishes conference play next Friday at East Mecklenburg.
Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle
GAME SUMMARY
Charlotte Catholic 6 6 0 7 — 19
Butler 0 0 0 20 — 20
CC: Jacob Deller 38 pass from Sean Boyle (kick failed)
CC: Griffin Sovine 1 run (run failed)
CC: Sovine 5 run (Jack Rouse kick)
B: Makhi Carr 68 kickoff return (Nicholas Konieczynski kick)
B: Carr 8 pass from Zach Lawrence (Konieczynski kick)
B: Carr 47 pass from Lawrence (run failed)
PHOTOS: Charlotte Catholic at Butler
This story was originally published October 14, 2022 at 10:33 PM.
