Butler High’s ‘gritty heroes’ help team past Hickory Ridge, into to NC 4A second round

Regular-season football heroes are gallant and exciting.

In the playoffs, it’s often a lot different. Our heroes are a bit on the gritty side. They make the big plays, but it’s not always crisp and smooth. There are occasional mistakes.

In the end, they overcome.

Butler’s 28-21 first-round 4A playoff victory Friday night over visiting Hickory Ridge was loaded with the gritty heroes – on both sides.

“You win and advance,” Butler head coach Brian Hales said. “Sometimes it isn’t pretty.”

‘We just kept working’

We start with Butler senior D.J. Horton, a standout running back, receiver, and kick returner.

In the first half Friday night, Horton got the ball eight times. He rushed for 12 yards.

“We just kept working at it,” he said. “The O-line and I got locked in and kept working. We didn’t want to go home.”

Early in the second half, Horton caught a short pass from Zach Lawrence and bulled his way 5 yards for a touchdown that put the Bulldogs (9-2) ahead 21-14. On his fourth rush of the half, Horton broke free for a 41-yard touchdown run, giving Butler a 28-14 lead.

He finished with 135 yards on the ground. Horton ran seven times and earned three first downs on a pair of big fourth-quarter drives that enabled his team to hold off the Ragin’ Bulls (6-5).

“Look here at No. 58,” Horton said, pointing to senior center Devin Rivers. “I just got behind him and ran. He cleared the way.”

Tough night for QB’s

Then there were the quarterbacks.

Hickory Ridge’s Caden Haywood, a 6-5 junior, finished with not-so-stellar statistics. He completed 12-of-36 passes, with two interceptions, for 161 yards.

But the Butler defense hounded him all night. Time and again, he scrambled out of the pocket, pursued by Bulldog defenders. At least three times in the first half, Haywood’s passes to wide-open receivers were dropped on what could have been big plays.

Haywood lost his leading receiver, Jalen Harris, early in the game. Harris, the team’s leading receiver with 44 catches for 1,044 yards this season, hauled in a 49-yard toss from Haywood in the first quarter, setting up the Bulls’ opening score. But a few minutes later, he suffered what appeared to be an ankle injury and never returned.

In the final quarter, Haywood led his team to a third touchdown, cutting Butler’s lead to 28-21. On the play that preceded the touchdown, Haywood scrambled out of pressure and ran 8 yards to the Butler 1. He was hit hard and appeared to be hurt. After a few moments, Haywood got up, his dirty jersey showing the grittiness of the night, and hobbled off.

“We knew they wouldn’t be easy to beat,” Hales said afterwards.

Butler’s sophomore quarterback Zach Lawrence, had better stats, completing 18-of-37 passes for 269 yards. But he also was intercepted once and was pressured numerous times.

Hickory Ridge defenders Sylas Mills and Jaylen Ussery hounded Lawrence all night, twice batting down passes at the line of scrimmage.

‘That wasn’t easy’

Butler twice drove the ball deep into Hickory Ridge territory without scoring a touchdown. Both times, the Bulls’ defense made big plays to prevent a score.

“It was the kind of game that linemen would appreciate,” Hales said.

In the end, with Butler clinging to its 28-21 lead, the Bulldogs’ offensive linemen kept plowing ahead.

Makhi Carr ran for five yards and then Horton for 3. On a third-and-2 at the Hickory Ridge 43, Butler clinched the victory when Horton — running behind his 235-pound buddy Devin Rivers — ran for 8 yards, netting a first down that enabled the Bulldogs to go into victory formation.

On a night when few players who saw action left the field with clean jerseys, Hales saw something he liked.

“That’s what playoff football is all about,” he told his team after the game. “That wasn’t easy, but I’m proud of you.”

It probably gets tougher next Friday, when Butler travels to Mooresville (11-1), facing a Blue Devil team that beat Hickory Ridge 40-22 in the regular season and averages about 243 rushing yards a game.

“Next week will be more of the same,” Hales said. “This is what playoff football is all about.”

This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 6:30 AM.