Daniel Wendland
Student Sports Media
On Saturday, Oct. 28, the 12th-ranked Butler football team traveled to Iowa Falls, Iowa to take on Ellsworth. Butler came back with a 48-19 win over the Panthers.
The final score shows a 29-point victory for the Grizzlies, but that may be a little misleading, because the game was actually much more competitive than the score indicates.
Butler (7-2) got off to a quick 14-0 start with a Chris Helbig 28-yard touchdown pass to Josh Wilkes and a six-yard Isaiah Truss touchdown run. However, the Panthers responded with a touchdown pitch and catch of its own, a 20-yard strike from Paris Chambers to Malik Thornton.
The Grizzlies then capped off the first half with a 65-yard touchdown pass from Helbig to Gerrit Prince. Butler went into the locker room with a 21-7 lead.
Grizzlies starting quarterback Helbig had been taken out of the game for what was later divulged as a shoulder injury. With injury to Helbig, back-up Steven Frank got the call.
Shaking off an interception on his first drive, Frank connected with John Brunner for a 28-yard touchdown pass. A bad snap and kick led to a missed extra point the other way, making the score 27-13.
Butler’s fourth quarter was smothering. Frank scored on a three-yard keeper and Hassan Belton took an interception back 47 yards for a touchdown. It was capped off by a 60-yard touchdown run by Isaiah Truss. The Grizzlies outscored the Panthers 21-0 in the final frame.
Despite leaving midway through the third quarter, Helbig finished 10-of-14 for 202 yards along with those two touchdown passes. Isaiah Truss ended up with 113 yards on 13 carries, including the big one at the end that ultimately sealed the deal for Butler.
Perhaps the most important offensive performance was from backup quarterback Frank. The sophomore finished with 60 passing yards and 38 rushing yards for those two crucial scores.
“We were confident in him,” Linebacker Will Honas said. “He does well in practice and stuff, and we know when he goes in that it’s not going to be a huge dropoff, so we’re confident that we can win.”
Defensively, Honas led the Grizzlies with 16 tackles, and Troy Dipre and Charlie Benton had eight apiece.
“At the end of the day, it’s just a team effort,” Honas said. “I’m able to be successful because the people around me are making plays too.”