It wasn't exactly cruise control that gave West High a 20-9 road win over Olympus Thursday night. After nearly a half, the Panthers were having trouble just releasing the parking brake.
Enter the human "spark plug," West tailback Ervin Butler.Trailing 9-0 with under two minutes to play, the senior juked his way around blockers for a 90-yard kickoff return touchdown that burned up Oly's momentum for the game. The win gave West (8-1) a second-place finish in Region 6/7 and homefield advantage in next week's interregion playoffs.
"I got mad, they were testing me, `See what Butler can do,' " Butler said of his first of three touchdowns. "I took the ball, saw this big old hole, took it as fast as I can and there it was for a big play."
"Ervin has spark-plugged us five or six times this year," West coach Don Holtry said. "All of the sudden when he busted the kickoff return, that did it. Then the kids started to play." The touchdown started a run of 20 unanswered points to stake the win.
Two turnovers didn't help the Panthers' first half. Meanwhile, the Titans' offense pressed but had only a 43-yard Josh Madsen field goal for a lead.
That was added on to Jake Colton's sweep touchdown from 17 yards out. A missed kick made it 9-0. Butler's return touchdown came on the ensuing kickoff.
"In the first half, I was kind of down," Butler said. "I wasn't really up but we came together to make something happen. After halftime, West grounded out 11 plays and took a 13-9 lead with a 1-yard touchdown romp by Butler.
Olympus didn't surrender any threats in the second half, with two drives going into West territory. But penalties killed the Titans. Three big first-down plays were overruled by holding and clipping fouls, and one drive died at the West 20 with an interception.
Butler added one final touchdown for the hat trick from the 8-yard line with 1:38 to play. That all but erased the damper feeling of last year's defeat to Olympus just before West entered the playoffs.
"Last year we were 8-0 when we lost to Oly," Holtry said. "It totally affected us in the playoffs. We knew we had to earn a spot this time and not walk into it."
In other Region 6/7 action:
Judge 41, Granite 8: The Bulldogs amassed 427 yards of total offense in burying the Farmers. Matt McAffee completed 10 passes for 149 yards and two TDs and ran 8 yards for another score for Judge.
Cyprus 36, Woods Cross 17: Collin Ash rushed for 133 yards and one TD, while Shane Wood added 90 yards and two TDs in guiding the Pirates past the Wildcats. Cameo Sika tacked on a 39-yard TD run for Cyprus.