'25 CLT Kickoff Night - Butler vs Olympic - Powered By OrthoCarolina

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The following is a special presentation of Sports Radio ninety
two point seven w FNZ.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
He's the twenty twenty five Charlotte Kickoff Night powered by
fourth O Carolina, featuring the Myers Park Mustangs against the J. M.
Robinson Bulldogs and the Olympic Trojans against the Butler Bulldogs.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
High School football on WFNZ is brought to you by
Victory Chevrolet.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Now lie from American Legion Memorial Stadium. Let's head to
the press fos for the call of tonight's ash.

Speaker 4 (00:30):
Ye Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Charlotte Kickoff Night powered
by Ortho Carolina. Here on Sports Radio ninety two to
seven wfn Z. It's the opening weekend of high school
football across North Carolina, and tonight we bring you a
marquee matchup under the bright lights of American Legion Memorial Stadium,

(00:51):
the Butler Bulldogs and the Olympic Trojans. Butler takes the
field with a familiar face back in charge as legendary
head coach Brian Hales comes out of retirement to lead
the Bulldogs once again. Olympic Meanwhile, coming off an impressive
eight and three season under Brandon Thompson and is out
to prove they belong among the elite in the Queens City.
Two proud programs, plenty of storylines in a perfect stage

(01:14):
to start the season. Kickoff is just moments away. Butler
and Olympic coming up live here on WFNZ. I'm Kyle
Bailey alongside Anthony Flounder pag Nada here on a Saturday
night as the Captain's Meet at midfield, and we've had
some of the Myers Park and Jam Robinson crowd exit
the building after the first game, Butler and Olympic fans
starting to enter in.

Speaker 5 (01:34):
What are you looking for here tonight? Flounder?

Speaker 6 (01:36):
Yeah, I'm looking for an interesting matchup between these two sides.
What will Butler look like back under Brian Hales? Is
it back to the same Butler that we saw for
so many years prior or does it take him a
little bit of time to sort of ramp it up?
And for Olympic, it's really simple, Kyle, how do you
handle not having your quarterback in this game? Because he
is so valuable to what you do. You're gonna be

(01:58):
using Zier Smith as your core for this one, so
you'd expect a lot of ground game from the Olympic Trojans.
Is that something that they're going to be able to
do successfully or is that something that Brian Hale's crew
can take advantage?

Speaker 5 (02:11):
Jeah.

Speaker 4 (02:11):
Brian Hale's teams famous for being stingy and very tough
on defense, so this could make for a difficult task
for Olympic, not only without their quarterback, which is the
biggest piece of the puzzle. But I spoke with head
coach Brandon Thompson earlier today, he tells me I should
expect to see a lot of ten and twenty personnel
out there on offense tonight. His tight end, Deuced Cross
is down this week and the other tight end, Braylan Walker,

(02:34):
also injured. So they're going pretty much exclusively ten and
twenty personnel tonight without their starting quarterback and both of
their tight ends.

Speaker 5 (02:41):
Out there on the field.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
So Olympic will start this season hamstrung, to say the least.
The Butler Bulldogs are one of Charlotte's true powerhouse programs,
as Anthony alluded, to three state championships in nine, twenty ten,
and twenty twelve and a long line of alumni who've
gone on to Starr in college and even the NFL well.
After longtime head coach Brian Hales stepped away. Last season,

(03:03):
the Bulldogs stumbled to a four and seven record, though
they showed some flashes dealing with injuries, winning four straight
at one point in league play, but finishing with three
straight losses. Now Hales is back on the sideline and
the Bulldogs returned to the meg Power six, looking to
recapture that dominance that once made them the most or
one of the most feared teams in North Carolina.

Speaker 6 (03:24):
Yeah, gonna be tough sledding. That's one of the toughest
conferences in the entire state. They're projected to finish fourth
in that conference this year, so they're certainly going to
have to bring it if and it really starts with
what they're doing tonight, it'll be interesting to see, you know,
in this game. Do you see that that powerhouse defense
sort of return to what Brian Hales is expecting them

(03:45):
to be as the season goes along.

Speaker 4 (03:46):
And we are underway, a high end, over end kick
from the Butler Bulldogs. Olympic takes it and that kick
was fielded by number three Bryce Nixon, the senior running
back in linebacker with a full head steam and he
basically hit a brick wall at about the twenty five
yard line. Not bad field position for Olympic here and

(04:07):
already a collision straight out of the gates.

Speaker 5 (04:09):
Hey, hey, I said it.

Speaker 6 (04:11):
I wanted to see if that physicality was gonna be there.
It certainly looks like it is. Great job by the
Olympic returner there. As you mentioned Bryce Nixon to stay
on his feet, he might be taking some big hits
for the entirety of the night as he leads this
rushing attack for Olympic.

Speaker 5 (04:25):
Well.

Speaker 4 (04:25):
Zaire Smith the quarterback here tonight, as we mentioned, he's
playing in place of Chance Cato and on first down
calls his own number, scrambles right up the gut for
a first down.

Speaker 6 (04:38):
A great job by the offensive line there, clears out
a spot right around the right guard spot, and a
great job by the year Smith to hit the hole
picks up a huge gain here to start out. Are
hoping for some of these explosive plays in the run
game tonight.

Speaker 4 (04:53):
If you're Olympic, fifteen yard pickup on first down out
to the forty yard line, Olympic moving right to left
on your radio dial, balls on the far side hash right,
snap his back. It's a handoff.

Speaker 5 (05:11):
Number three.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
Bryce Nixon, the return man from moments ago, gets his
first carry of the night, picks up a couple.

Speaker 5 (05:19):
Not much room there.

Speaker 6 (05:21):
Good job by the Butler defense to respond there, And yeah,
we're gonna be interested to see all night. They're gonna
be leaning so heavily on this ground game. Is Bryce
Nixon able to find a little bit of room? He
saw a little bit of room on that first play.
But we'll see if that was just a momentary lapse
from Butler or something that will carry over the rest.

Speaker 5 (05:39):
Of the evening.

Speaker 4 (05:42):
Legend Lockwood, Nico Henderson, and Gabe Wilson the three wide
receivers to the near side of the formation here for
Olympic Olympic offensive coordinator Michael Faschetti, pardon me sending in
the play. Sire Smith, number one in the backfield in

(06:03):
the gun, takes the snap, dials his own number again,
scrambling up the middle, shedding tacklers, and picks up another
first down into plus territory. Zyer Smith right out of
the gates here tonight, on the opening drive, has picked
up a couple of first downs with his feet.

Speaker 5 (06:20):
And good job there.

Speaker 6 (06:21):
Looked like the left guard Ladarius Young with a good
block there to spring his quarterback. I'll tell you Smith,
really small, shifty player that's gonna give Butler some problems
if they can't contain him here tonight. He's done a
really great job running through the middle of that defense
so far.

Speaker 4 (06:38):
Early on sixteen yard pickup by Mike Count there for
Zyre Smith, and he'll run it again on first down
and ten, this time from the Butler forty five. Doesn't
quite pick up as many this time, but it is
a gain of four yards.

Speaker 5 (06:55):
Actually, go back it up. We'll call it three.

Speaker 6 (06:57):
And you wonder, you know, this was a team that
was probably prepared airing for Chance Cato to be in there.
So is this sort of throwing them off that, Hey,
we've been preparing for one offense this whole week leading
up to this game, or even more than that, and
now we're having to adjust on the fly to a
full run first offense. That's pretty much what all Olympics gonna.

Speaker 5 (07:18):
Do this evening.

Speaker 4 (07:19):
Second down and seven from the Butler forty three yard line,
here comes a man in motion across the formation.

Speaker 5 (07:27):
Smith fakes the handoff, pulls.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
It out running around the right side, got a couple
of blockers inside the forty down to the thirty seven
and knocked out of bounds officially at the thirty six
yard line. They need the thirty five to move the
chains and keep the drive going, and they'll respot at
actually thirty seven yard line. Thirty five is the yard

(07:50):
to gain. So it's third down and two coming up,
and it's been all zier Smith on this drive.

Speaker 6 (07:54):
Yeah, just couldn't contain the edge there. Looked like number
forty four Gian Stewart was the one that got washed
out there on the edge, and so a great pick
up there.

Speaker 4 (08:04):
Now third and short and zier Smith will run it again.
I think we know what the game plan is here
on the opening driving forward progress will give him enough.
He's driven back by number fifty six za Kai Mitchell,
the junior defensive lineman, with a punishing hit there on
zier Smith there at the end. But Smith's forward progress
moves the change.

Speaker 5 (08:25):
Yeah, it's still effective, that's the thing.

Speaker 6 (08:26):
And he's running right into the heart of this defense.
So right away, I mean, yeah, we know this is
going to be a physical Butler team, especially as the
year goes along.

Speaker 5 (08:35):
But Olympic not afraid to run right at him.

Speaker 4 (08:39):
Fifth designed run for the quarterback Zayre Smith already here
on the opening drive, eight twenty six to play.

Speaker 5 (08:45):
Clock's rolling.

Speaker 4 (08:46):
Still scoreless here in the opening early going easy for
me to say and Zaire Smith four wide receivers, two
to each side of the formation. Incomes a flag and
I believe that's going to be delay. Looks like might
have been signaling false startop. Maybe you're right about that.
Actually you are correct. False start is the call. Five

(09:09):
yard penalty on the Olympic offense. Clock stops at eight sixteen,
and I expect we'll see some of that tonight flound
with a new quarterback in there.

Speaker 5 (09:16):
We And the thing is it's the first week of
the season.

Speaker 6 (09:18):
We've seen a lot of it here so far this weekend,
a lot of procedural penalties and everything like that. Takes
you a little bit of time to settle in. You're
in a different environment, you're not in your home stadium.
You know that might be something that becomes a factor
here tonight for Olympic.

Speaker 4 (09:32):
And this time it's a handoff goes to number three
Brice Nixon. Nixon hit in the backfield, manages to fight
his way back to the original line of scrimmage at
the forty yard line, and that'll bring up second down
and fifteen.

Speaker 6 (09:44):
It looked like Matt Shields, the linebacker coming down there
to make the tackle. Good job by him, Really just
a good job on that edge. We talked about containing
the edge on the other side. Didn't do a great
job that time. Go in the other direction. Looks like
Miles Lacroix, the guy that does a really good job
there on that end containing it.

Speaker 4 (10:03):
Second down and fifteen coming here. Brandon Thompson, head coach.
Now in his sixth season. They've had some pretty high
highs over there. Eight and three last year. Hoping to
get off to a good start this year, but with
a backup quarterback, they're running into some early issues. Sacked
back at the forty five yard line. It's number forty

(10:25):
four Kenyon Stewart, a young man they are very high
on at Butler this year.

Speaker 6 (10:29):
Yeah, comes flying in off the edge. What a great
job to get to the quarterback right there. Immediately pressure
in the face and now third and long for Zayir
Smith in this offense, probably don't want many scenarios where.

Speaker 5 (10:42):
You're gonna have to have him stepping back there to
throw it. So this is not ideal for Brandon Thompson
in this Olympic team.

Speaker 4 (10:48):
Yeah, third down and twenty one clock now down to
six minutes, thirty nine seconds, empty backfield for Smith, and
again another designed run. He'll run it through the right side,
has open field into the second level, but cut down
at the thirty yard line.

Speaker 5 (11:04):
And it was an impressive run.

Speaker 4 (11:05):
Picked up sixteen of the twenty one yards that he needed,
and now suddenly this became much more manageable.

Speaker 6 (11:12):
Yeah, interesting to see what they do here. I would
go for it here because you've had such promise on
this first drive. You gotta stick with Zayre Smith, right,
that's been the most successful thing that you've done with
this offense. So let's see what they do if they
try to get it in his hands to try to
find a way to pick up these five yards that
they need.

Speaker 4 (11:30):
Even with a minus six yard play on the sack
moments ago, He's already up to fifty one yards rushing
on the opening drive of the game, and here he
is on fourth down and five. He'll run it again
around the right side, but Butler was not fooled gang
tackled at the thirty yard line, no gain and a
turnover on downs. Spirited effort there on the opening drive

(11:52):
by the backup quarterback Zayre Smith, who is shifty and
will present some problems running the football tonight. But they
were very one dimensional on that drive.

Speaker 5 (12:00):
That's the thing. They're very one dimensional.

Speaker 6 (12:02):
They're gonna be very predictable, and so now if you're Olympic,
how do you adjust to that. Are there some things,
some wrinkles that you can throw into this offense to
sort of throw off Butler. Well, I have to see
whether or not they're able to do that. But now
we get a chance to look at this Butler offense.
You know, so we talk so much about how good
the defenses were for Butler, but their thing is they
have had some amazing quarterbacks that have rolled through their

(12:24):
program that have had a lot of success.

Speaker 5 (12:25):
We'll see if they continue that.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
Here the junior quarterback Tyler drus Bik out to lead
the Bulldog offense for the first time this evening. It's
a handoff on first down and Donovan Pollard, sweeping around
the right side, coming to the near sideline, ran a
long way to pick up just a yard.

Speaker 6 (12:44):
And good job there, looked like excuse me, Jalen Bernard
got out there, made the tackle for Olympic. Good job
containing that edge, and it'll be second down and long.

Speaker 4 (12:57):
Here Pollard and Juliocande in motion back across, flipping to
the other side of the formation. Drewsbik calls for it,
and it's a handoff to de Marion Thomas, the junior
running back, who doesn't get much stretched out to the
near sideline, gain of about one.

Speaker 6 (13:16):
Damn Bryce Nixon, a guy who played a lot of
linebacker for him last year. This is the one thing
they feel really confident about is their linebacking corps because
they've got so many guys that can be so effective
for them. We'll see how it pans out tonight. But
so far, so good. Stopping the run. Now, let's see
ultimately what happens when Butler tries to drop back to pass.

Speaker 4 (13:36):
Here, third down and eight, already behind the sticks a bit. Here,
here's drews Bik to throw over the middle, has his man,
and we've got a race to the end zone. Number
seven Lucas Culberson two the house sixty nine yards. Butler
on the board, for the first time in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 6 (13:57):
And it looked like the safety's just got sucked up
there a little a little too far up in the
box leaves and a guy open right in the middle
of the seam, and Colberson with a great job to
catch the ball and then afterwards just outrun the Olympic defenders.
That's a blown coverage right there for an Olympic certainly
not what they were hoping to see here tonight. And

(14:17):
the first passing attempt of the night a big one
for the Tyler Drews back and this Butler offense.

Speaker 4 (14:23):
Sixty nine yard touchdown reception and at that time Colberson
straight up the seam looked like a coverage issue. Is
the extra point is blocked? Olympic make it a play
right there, number six Travis p coming off the edge
and got both hands on it, I believe, so extra
point no good. The score remains six nothing but fire

(14:44):
works early Drews bic to Colberson for sixty nine yards
to give the Bulldogs the lead. And I go back
to what I was saying there a moment ago. We
don't have a replay booth up here tonight. But what
I thought I saw was a little bit of a
busted coverage and Colberson found himself both wide open up
the middle and on the other side of the secondary
very quickly.

Speaker 6 (15:03):
Yeah, that's one where your safeties have to be over
the top helping you out there, especially on third and long.
It looks like they were expecting, I don't know, maybe
a run play or something like that. They certainly were
fooled as they come further up and closer to the
line of scrimmage and all of a sudden, there's a
guy running wide open down the seam. If Butler can
get that for most of the evening, they're gonna feel

(15:24):
pretty confident with what they're able to do through the air,
while their run game early on.

Speaker 4 (15:29):
Is struggling well, safe to say, perfect passer rating for
Tyler Drusbik so far here tonight, one for one, sixty
nine yards and a touchdown, and just like that, Brian
Hales team is on top. And that's a feeling they
were used to for a long time under Brian Hales,
a man who is one thirty one and thirty four
all time as the head coach at Butler, averages ten

(15:50):
wins a season as the head coach, and there's the
kickoff back to Olympic fielded again by Bryce Nixon on
the near side. Nixon turns and races to the far sideline,
gets out to the twenty five yard line and chop
down at the twenty seven.

Speaker 5 (16:05):
Well, he loves physicality, huh.

Speaker 6 (16:06):
He gets ran into there by Tyler Den runs him
over and then continues to run there. So Bryce Nixon
certainly loves the physical edge that his coach wants him
to bring to the game. We'll see if he can
do that now on offense, as he is their starting
running back as well as their starting linebacker.

Speaker 4 (16:25):
So do it all type of player for Olympic, no
doubt about it. The Olympic Trojans, as we mentioned eight
and three last years, there's a handoff on first down
and ten from the twenty nine. They gave Bryce Nixon
a bit more of a generous spot that I'd expected
there on the kickoff, but first down run goes to Nixon.

(16:48):
He picks up two.

Speaker 6 (16:51):
Yeah, not much working there in the middle of that
Butler defense. And let's see how this Butler defense settles in,
because that first drive let up a pretty decent mount
of yards, especially to quarterback Zayir Smith. So we'll see
if there's more focus from this group on trying to
slow him down here.

Speaker 5 (17:07):
On this second drive.

Speaker 4 (17:11):
The Trojans, their school colors red and Columbia blue, is
on second down. Zire Smith attempts his first pass of
the night and it was nearly a lateral and only
about five yards and incomplete. In looking for number eleven,
David McAdams.

Speaker 5 (17:28):
Man, that would have been a huge loss.

Speaker 6 (17:29):
So that's actually a good job by McAdams to drop
that one right there.

Speaker 5 (17:35):
Now it's going to be third down and long here.

Speaker 6 (17:38):
Not again, not what you're looking for if you are
Olympic trying to avoid these types of moments here tonight.
You've got a dynamic runner back there at quarterback, but
you don't want to have him converting these third lungs
with his legs.

Speaker 4 (17:50):
Third and eight, he drops it off to Nixon in
the backfield. Nixon trying to do the heavy lifting, and
he does.

Speaker 5 (17:54):
First down.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
Trojans out across the forty yard line and dives ahead
to the four forty six.

Speaker 5 (18:02):
And that's a gain of fifteen.

Speaker 6 (18:04):
Just a nice dump down there into the flats and
he turns it upfield picks up a first down. Very
nice job done there by Olympics needed a play like that.
And if your butler got to tackle a little bit
better there, that's you. You're hoping to get off the

(18:24):
field on third down and Long can't find a way
to do it.

Speaker 4 (18:29):
Balls on the near side, Hash Trojans moving right to left,
zire sends Nixon in motion out of the backfield and
Smith keeps it himself again the eighth designed quarterback run
of the game already with three seventeen left to go
here in the opening quarter, and that one gains well

(18:49):
none back to the line of scrimmage, and that's it.

Speaker 5 (18:51):
A good job by Zidese right there, winning his.

Speaker 6 (18:56):
One on one matchup ends up getting in there to
quarterback Zayir Smith.

Speaker 4 (19:02):
Four wide receiver set three to the far Side's a
mere bullwear Comiron Cuthbertson, David McAdams number eight Jacobe Harris
to the near side. Smith takes the shotgun snap, running right,
has a lane, has the first down inside the forty
tackled at the butler thirty five yard line. A nineteen

(19:26):
yard run for Zayre Smith. And though they are very
one dimensional right now, he's getting it done. Up to
seventy yards rushing here in the first quarter alone.

Speaker 6 (19:35):
He's an electric player. I mean, there's just no way
around it at this point. He seems to find ways
to get into the open field and make plays. And
if you're Butler, you've got to be able to slow
that down as the night goes along. I mean, he's
he dropped back there for a pass. Wasn't a designed
run out of the gate, but hey, he turns, you know,
ends up tucking and running there. You've got to find

(19:55):
a way to slow him down. You wonder if they
start to spy him as the night goes along, to
try to blow.

Speaker 5 (20:00):
Him down a little bit.

Speaker 4 (20:01):
Not much of a passing threat, but averaging seven yards
per carry right now, He'll run it again, this time
the left side, patiently following his blockers inside the thirty
down to the twenty five to the twenty three yard
line and another first down, a gain of twelve for
Zyre Smith and.

Speaker 6 (20:17):
That left side of the offensive line. We're really doing
a lot of work there, Kai Shan Chandler Jenkins along
with number fifty Ladarius Young, really doing a great job there,
and looks like we got to time out here from Butler.
They want to talk it over Brian Hales probably not
happy with what he's seeing from his run defense here
so far.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
No doubt we'll keep it right here as they confer
on the sideline. Quick thank you to our friend Brandon
Gandy and Victory Chevrolet for sponsoring our high school football
broadcast here this season. Brandon Gandy and his team ready
to serve you when it comes to your vehicle needs
new Chevrolet's quality, pre owned or award winning service. You
can count a win when you visit Victory Chevrolet. Go

(20:56):
to Victory Chevrolet dot Com. Brandon's a buddy of mine.
He's put two cars in my driveway. You've probably heard
the commercial shout out to Brandon Gandy, his son a
local area quarterback as well. Go see Victory Chevrolet dot Com.
Kyle Bailey, Anthony pag Nada here with you Saturday evening
high school football from American Legion Memorial Stadium, the Charlotte
Kickoff Night powered by Ortho Carolina. A standing tradition here

(21:19):
in the Queen City, and we are in game number
two of this annual doubleheader. The sun setting on the
Queen City inside the last half hour or so the
skyline is lit up and the music is playing right
now as the players retake the field for an upcoming
first and ten for the Olympic Trojans from the Butler
twenty four yard line. As Zaire Smith continues to run

(21:43):
it effectively, and coming out of the time out, the
snap gets off, but play whistle dead and it looks
like a penalty against the Butler defense. Offside, ye indeed,
offside against Butler. That'll make first and ten for five,
and that'll drive a head coach crazy pretty quickly.

Speaker 6 (22:03):
And that's one of the ways that Olympic can be
effective here tonight is using some of those hard counts
and everything like that, trying to draw Butler offside, just
get some of those yards that you might not necessarily
be able to pick up through your ground game.

Speaker 5 (22:18):
Oh it's this time.

Speaker 6 (22:18):
Smith met immediately in the backfield by four Butler defenders
number six, Vince Nixon, number twenty two, Miles Lacroix, the
last two to finish off Zayre Smith. And it looked
like Zaki Mitchell right up there ends up winning right
off right off the snap right there, and that's why
he's able to get into the backfield, helps drop the

(22:42):
quarterback to the ground, and everybody else helping him finish
it off their great group effort there from Butler.

Speaker 4 (22:47):
Loss of five yards, it's now second down and ten,
and there's another defensive off sides called against the Butler Bulldogs.
And again that will drive a veteran defensive minded head
coach like Brian Hales Craig.

Speaker 6 (23:00):
I mean, you just had a great play there, defensively,
end up dropping the quarterback in the backfield, and then
all of a sudden you come out and take another
pre snap penalty. That's certainly something that he's going to
be talking to his guys about at the end of
the quarter. Here as the Olympic continuing to draw more
time off the clock.

Speaker 5 (23:18):
Here six nothing Butler with the lead.

Speaker 4 (23:23):
Tyler drews Bik a sixty nine yard touchdown pass on
his first attempt to Lucas Culberson.

Speaker 5 (23:28):
The newcomer extra point was blocked.

Speaker 4 (23:30):
Six nothing Bulldogs, but Trojan's looking to answer and Zyre
Smith was on target that time, but it was dropped
over the middle by Nico Henderson at about the eight
yard line and zier Smith not the prettiest ball you'll
ever see got the job done, but Henderson couldn't bring
it in. Wouldn't have mattered anyway. Illegal shift called against Olympic.

(23:52):
That play was coming back no matter what. Yeah, and
that's one of the things.

Speaker 6 (23:56):
So ultimately probably not the worst thing in the world
that he ended up dropping, But I mean, that's one
that you gotta have looked like it was David McAdams
who ends up dropping that ball there, But you know,
that's one that you feel, you gotta feel like he
has to come down with. There aren't gonna be many
times where you're gonna throw the football year, but when
you do, you've got to be able to haul those
catches in. And once again, we're back to second down

(24:17):
to ten after all that, all these different penalties, and
we're back to the original line of scrimmage.

Speaker 4 (24:23):
One two on the clock, second down and ten from
the twenty four yard line. Four wide receivers, three to
the near side. Zier Smith, once again calling his number
around the right side, tough to bring down, breaks free
of two tacklers and fights his way inside the fifteen
close to another Olympic first down.

Speaker 5 (24:45):
Doesn't matter if they're going to the right of the left.

Speaker 6 (24:47):
Zire Smith is having success either way that he goes,
and that is a credit to this Olympic offensive line.
This looks like a team that was prepared to be
without their quarterback here in this opener. They've done a
really good job of run blocking so far. Let's see
if they can continue to keep that up. Nine yard
gain officially third down and one. Zire Smith, right back
to the right side, has another Trojan first down inside

(25:11):
the ten yard line. He goes and sets up the
Trojans first down and goal.

Speaker 5 (25:14):
Yeah, what a great job there.

Speaker 6 (25:16):
Mitchell Johnson the left tower, the right tackle, excuse me,
just absolutely cleans out his guy on the edge right there,
allows his quarterback to pick up a big game.

Speaker 5 (25:26):
This offensive line.

Speaker 6 (25:27):
Doing a lot of work here early on, deserves a
ton of the credit.

Speaker 5 (25:30):
But Zire Smith has been amazing out of the gate.

Speaker 4 (25:35):
Six yards for Smith on that carry, it'll be first
down and goal from the ten, but the clock runs out.
Triple zeros on the board, six nothing Butler on top.
But with a backup quarterback, the Trojans are threatening first
and goal from the ten. When we returned, It's Charlotte
High School Kickoff Night powered by Ortho Carolina.

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Speaker 4 (27:01):
Well, we flipped the field to start the second quarter
here at American Legion Memorial Stadium. It's Charlotte Kickoff Night
powered by Ortho Carolina Game number two Butler and Olympic,
and on the first drive of the night for the Bulldogs,
Tyler drus Bik found Lucas Culberson for a sixty nine
yard touchdown pass extra point was blocked. It's six nothing

(27:21):
an Olympic with a backup quarterback and without both of
their tight ends here tonight. Zyre Smith limited throwing the football,
but has run his heart out already through one quarter
of play. If it weren't for a couple of negative
yardage plays because of sacks, he would already have one
hundred yards rushing through one quarter of play.

Speaker 5 (27:38):
I mean, it's amazing.

Speaker 6 (27:39):
It's two drives of pretty much very predictable offense from Olympic,
but it just doesn't matter.

Speaker 5 (27:46):
Butler has not been able to win up front.

Speaker 6 (27:48):
Olympic has consistently done that here so far, and that's
the reason that we sit where we sit right now.
So a great job by the Olympic Trojans, even without
two tight ends to help them, they have been outstanding.

Speaker 4 (27:59):
So it's first a goal from the ten Olympic now
moving left to right as we see it on the
near side, hash high snap gives the Nixon up the
gut gaping whole touchdown.

Speaker 5 (28:09):
Olympic Trojans.

Speaker 4 (28:10):
Bryce Nixon finds pay dirts for the first time this season.

Speaker 6 (28:14):
There you go and Kai Shan Chandler Jenkins the left
tackle deserves a lot of credit there.

Speaker 5 (28:19):
And same thing with Ladarius Young. Been talking about him
all night.

Speaker 6 (28:22):
Clears that spot out right in the middle of the
field and Dixon Nixon, excuse me, just walks right through
there for the touchdown. Haven't seen him carry the ball
here a lot. It's been a lot of Zayre Smith,
but a very effective carry there on that one for
the touchdown.

Speaker 4 (28:38):
And on for the extra point is number sixty four.
Fernando Zelaya got a strong leg. Brandon Thompson was talking
to me earlier today about him. They trust him implicitly
out to his range, of course, as he punched that
one through pretty casually. But a flag is down. It
looks like that will be against Butler, and for the

(29:03):
third time in about the last ten minutes, Butler jumped
off sides.

Speaker 6 (29:08):
Yeah, that's something that they've got to get under control.
Here for the rest of the night. I mean, you
look at the effect of this running game has been
so far. Can't have penalties adding up. And that's again
one of those things that we've talked about when it
comes to Brian Hales as long as.

Speaker 5 (29:23):
He's been out this.

Speaker 6 (29:25):
With when it comes to discipline, that's one of the
things that should be a staple of what he does.
So he's going to be hammering that into his guys,
no doubt that they need to clean this stuff up well.

Speaker 4 (29:35):
And I would imagine too, this Butler team knows that
they're up against a veteran, physical offensive line and we've
seen evidence of that already tonight. And quite frankly, it's
whyse Ier Smith has been able to find the running
success that he has. And that's because even though Chance
Coda is the regular starting quarterback for this team, that've
got a group up front that can get the job done.
Extra point is up and Zelia is true and for

(29:56):
the first time tonight, Olympic has the lead seven to
six after a ten yard touchdown run by Bryce Nixon.
The Olympic Trojans, in case you've forgotten out of Southwest
Charlotte come into this season with momentum, building off an
eight to three record last year and a return to
the four A state playoffs. Brandon Thompson, now in his
sixth season, has guided the Trojans through highs like an

(30:19):
eleven and one run in twenty twenty two. Last year's
strong conference showing Olympics football tradition dating back decades nineteen
seventy four A state champions and while they're still chasing
a rather state championship game that is still chasing the
program's first state championship. They produced some big time talent,
including players like former Wake Forest star and New York

(30:41):
Giants wide receiver at the Beady Davis wearing the familiar
red and Columbia Bluke, Olympic looks like a team that's
built to contend in one of Charlotte's toughest leagues.

Speaker 5 (30:50):
Yeah, I think they certainly are.

Speaker 6 (30:52):
I mean again this year, they look like they're maybe
the favorite to win that conference again this season, and
that's just a credit to Brandon Thompson and every that
he's done. He's turned them into one of the most
consistent teams in the area during his tenure. So, I mean, yeah,
I think this year again, they look like they're stacked.
If this offensive line can continue to play the way
that it's playing, then I think they are going to

(31:14):
be one of the best teams in the area here.
So I expect big things once again this year from
Brandon Thompson's crew.

Speaker 5 (31:23):
And now there's some question on the field.

Speaker 4 (31:24):
I believe Brandon Thompson of Olympic is not thrilled with
something here. Chatting with the officials. Looks like there's an
argument taking place. I'm not sure if it's about the
spot of the football or what.

Speaker 6 (31:44):
Yeah, it looks like that's what it was, But ultimately
I know it looks like they were trying to decide
would they be able to line up on a certain
hash or not, And that's exactly what they're doing here.
They're gonna right line up on the left hash. From
our perspective, depends on which hash where you're sitting in
the stadium, But it looks like they wanted to pick
out a specific hash to line up on, and I

(32:06):
guess they were thinking for a moment they weren't gonna
let them do it, but now they do so.

Speaker 4 (32:11):
Zeliah tease it up with the forty as flounders said,
kicking left to right. It's on the far hash or
the left hash, depending upon your perspective. High end over
end kick fielded at the one yard line by number
four Donovan Pollard. Pollard gets free at the twenty, breaks
a couple of tackles and brought down at about the
twenty seven yard line. So a twenty six yard return

(32:31):
for Doll Donovan Pollard.

Speaker 6 (32:33):
Yeah, good physical return right there. We've seen a few
of those from Olympics so far. Now Butler has one
of their own. Interesting to see what Butler's offense looks
like here coming out. They weren't able to run the
ball successfully on that first drive, had the big pass play.
Are they going to come out aggressive look for another
big pass potentially right off the bat. Try to see
if they can catch this Olympic defense off guard again.

Speaker 4 (32:59):
Kyle Bailey Anthony the pag Nata with you here live
from Memorial Stadium, Game two of the Charlotte kickoff. Culberson
back out there in the slot. He has a fifty
rather sixty nine yard touchdown. Tonight, Number eight gave Wilson
lining up out wide next to him, drews Beck in

(33:24):
the gun. The give inside handoff up the middle and
it's a short gain on first down.

Speaker 5 (33:32):
It is not much.

Speaker 6 (33:33):
Room right now the interior of that defensive line for
Olympic winning up front.

Speaker 4 (33:41):
No gain on the play to Marion Thomas with the carry,
and now Drew's Bick. Three wide receivers to the near side,
Drews Bik coming toward the sideline to get the play.
It's Culberson, Starling and Wilson lined up to the left
to Mario Thomas to Drew Bick's left. Drews Bik from

(34:01):
the gun, swings it out, finds Coberson makes the catch,
breaks two tackles across the thirty out to the thirty
one yard line and to pick up a four.

Speaker 6 (34:11):
Yeah, a couple of mistackles out there in the open field.
Certainly not something that Brandon Thompson's gonna like, but uh
still able to rally to the football limits the amount
of yards that you get here and now to be
third down in about medium.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
On the near hash, Drewswick turns and gives to Thomas.
Thomas left side has a whole forty yard line stiff
arm forty five to fifty down the sideline, keeps his
feet and nobody's gonna catch him. Touchdown Tomion Thomas, it's
a house call from sixty nine yards twins sixty nine
yard touchdowns for the Butler Bulldogs to start twenty twenty five.

Speaker 6 (34:49):
Just a great job by Thomas off that left side,
an outstanding, outstanding job getting into the open field and
once he gets there, absolutely no one what's gonna catch him.

Speaker 5 (35:01):
Great job to turn on the after burners.

Speaker 6 (35:03):
It looked like number twenty Michael Graham was trying to
run him down, but it had absolutely no chance to
do that.

Speaker 5 (35:10):
And a big touchdown there.

Speaker 6 (35:11):
A couple of explosive plays here for Butler so far
to open this game. That is something that you know,
we're not typically used to seeing Butler a team that
typically just wears you down.

Speaker 4 (35:22):
But still and Butler continues to struggle on extra points
James Vastus, I think that would have been blocked anyway,
but it looked like he kicked the bottom of the
football and has fluttered into the end zone. Consecutive pat
failures for the Bulldogs, but they retake the lead twelve
to seven.

Speaker 6 (35:41):
You wonder how much longer Brian Hales is gonna let
that happen.

Speaker 5 (35:44):
I mean that's twice.

Speaker 6 (35:45):
Now you've scored a touchdown but can't get the extra point.
After a while, you would imagine that he's gonna say,
forget it, We're just gonna start going for two. And
especially with how successful your offense has been in terms
of creating these explosive plays. So we'll see if he
continues to go to it. But that's certainly an area
that needs to get better. And I can imagine your

(36:06):
color analysts from last night probably cringing somewhere at.

Speaker 5 (36:08):
Home right now with the poor special team.

Speaker 4 (36:10):
Yeah, if JJ Jansen's out there listening, this pains his
specialist heart, There's no doubt about that. But back to
back sixty nine yard touchdowns for the Butler Bulldogs to
start this game. At first, it was Tyler Drewspek to
Lucas Culberson down the seam for sixty nine yards on
the very first pass play of Butler's day, and right
there to Mario Thomas sixty nine yards to the house

(36:31):
or run around the left side at a tremendous job
by him as he was running toward the near sideline,
broke a couple of tackles, kept his feet on the
near sideline and then won a foot race to the
end zone.

Speaker 5 (36:42):
And so here we go twelve to seven.

Speaker 4 (36:44):
Already plenty of offense here in this opening game of
the year for Olympic and Butler and now Vastest will
tee it up at the Bulldog forty yard line to
kick it back to Olympic. Vastest approaches. Nice kick, this time,
high end over end, caught at the fire five yard
line and here's the return fifteen twenty twenty five. Is
that Zire Smith? That is Zier Smith quarterbacking and returning

(37:11):
kicks out there tonight.

Speaker 6 (37:12):
Apparently how about that? What can't this fan do? And
he's been very successful in doing it so far. So now,
I mean, if you're Butler, what type of adjustments have
you made? Even though you've only allowed one scoring drive,
You've had two very successful drives here so far from Olympic.
In terms of running the football, You've got to find
a way to slow down this rushing attack, and it

(37:33):
starts with winning up front. Your guys have to do
a better job down there if you're gonna find a
way to win this one.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
So Zire Smith, fresh off a twenty four yard kickoff return,
leads the offense back out. It's first and ten from
his own twenty nine. Smith takes the snap, wobbley duck
to the near side, flat screen pass out to Bryce
Nixon out of the backfield, off target, incomplete, but a
flag down as well.

Speaker 6 (38:02):
They just kind of short armed that one right there.
Looks like it's going to be an illegal shift.

Speaker 4 (38:08):
Second one of those we've seen from Butler here in
the last couple of minutes. That's also one of the
issues with the backup quarterback is not just pre snap
but sending players where they're supposed to be.

Speaker 6 (38:22):
Yeah, some of the things a little a little out
of rhythm here for Olympic, but for the most part
they've done a pretty good job. I mean, the most
penalized team out of the two of these so far
has been Butler. So a good job by Olympics so
far of handling this stuff. But yeah, that's one thing
you've got to find a way to eliminate is these
illegal shifts because it almost cost you a big play earlier.

(38:43):
There was a drop on that play and there it
cost you as well. And here's Smith this time running
around the left side. Bryce Nixon his lead blocker and
Zire Smith tackled at the thirty yard line. That's a
gain of seven and Nixon's doing a good job as

(39:03):
a lead blocker.

Speaker 5 (39:04):
Two.

Speaker 6 (39:04):
That's one thing that's really standing out is that he
is a guy that's getting out in front of his quarterback,
clearing some space for him. The offensive line is doing
their part.

Speaker 5 (39:13):
Two.

Speaker 6 (39:13):
But when you've got a running back that can block
as well as he's blocking for you, that opens up
a lot of lanes as well.

Speaker 4 (39:20):
Ninety nine yards rushing officially for Zayre Smith with nine
to forty three left to go in the second quarter,
and that's including negative six yard play on a sack
and a negative five yard play on a tackle for loss.
You remove those two plays and Zire Smith has one

(39:42):
hundred and ten yards rushing in roughly fourteen minutes of action.
Here he goes again around the left side into the
second level, out across the thirty five to the thirty seven.
Another seven yard gain and Xyre Smith now into triple
digits one oh six on the night.

Speaker 6 (39:58):
Yeah, I'm gonna sound like a broke record probably for
most of the night. But Butler is just not containing
the edges. They are not keeping those edges sealed. The
way that they need to. It's allowing zay R. Smith
to get out in space and continue to run the
ball successfully. They've got to figure out how to start
winning up front. I don't know if they need to
start throwing different guys in there, but as a coach,

(40:19):
you can imagine those guys have to be incredibly frustrated
with what they're seeing so far.

Speaker 4 (40:23):
Third down to two from the thirty seven and Anthony's
all over at four wide receivers again. Brandon Thompson and
company contend to spread Butler out and run with their quarterback,
and Zyer Smith picks up another first down out to
the forty one yard line.

Speaker 5 (40:36):
Game of four. Yeah, going along that left side.

Speaker 6 (40:39):
And I've talked about these guys quite a few times
here already, but I mean, when you've got a couple
of guys like Keyshawn Chandler Jenkins and Ladarius Young, you're
gonna be able to run behind them most of the night.
They are sticking to that, and it's working for big
gains after big gain after big game, and we're seeing
it the whole night.

Speaker 5 (40:59):
This is just I don't a hat football.

Speaker 4 (41:01):
They are spreading Butler out, but as Anthony just said
they're winning up front and have continued to do so
throughout the night. First down and ten from the forty one,
this time's ier Smith takes a snap off and hands
it to Bryce Nixon, and Nixon with a full head
of steam, barrels out to the forty five and a
flag flies in late. That'll be a gain of four
if it stands.

Speaker 6 (41:21):
Yeah, I think it's gonna stand. It looked like a
late flag. I think it might be a face mask
or something along those lines right there close.

Speaker 5 (41:28):
To the sideline.

Speaker 6 (41:28):
I don't think he was out of bounds, but certainly
looked like there was some sort of face mask or
late penalty that came in there. So we'll have to see,
but this should stand on another solid carry over to
that left side of the offensive line.

Speaker 4 (41:43):
Head official hustling out to midfield to give us the call.
There it is personal foul face mask against the Bulldog defense,
and a four yard carry will get fifteen additional penalty
yards tacked on. That takes Olympic across midfield and down
to the Butler thirty eight yard line. So if that's

(42:10):
the case, it'll go down officially as a six yard
run for Bryce Nixon and Nixon only twenty yards total
rushing so far here tonight, but does have a ten
yard rushing touchdown to his name. First and ten from
the thirty eight. Give to Nixon right up the gut,
pinballing off of tacklers inside the thirty down to the

(42:33):
twenty nine.

Speaker 6 (42:34):
Such a physical runner. I mean we've seen it on
the returns that he's had tonight. He's a linebacker playing
running back, and you could see that when you watch
him run, just running through tacklers right there. Just a
great job, and he would expect they're going to continue
to feed him as the Knight goes along.

Speaker 5 (42:50):
They've worn down.

Speaker 6 (42:51):
This defensive line of Butler already with the quarterback run.
Now can they hand it off to their running back
and get similar success?

Speaker 4 (43:00):
And that four wide set moving left to right, three
to the near side, Zira White slips between a couple
of tacklers up the middle and down to the twenty
five yard line. It's a gain of four and a
first down for the Olympic Trojans. This is just had
on a hat football up front.

Speaker 5 (43:14):
I mean, this is what it is. It's an incredibly
physical game.

Speaker 6 (43:17):
And right now Olympic is the more physical team, at
least on the offensive side of the ball.

Speaker 5 (43:22):
They have.

Speaker 6 (43:23):
I mean, they are just going right at this Butler
defense and right now, Butler.

Speaker 5 (43:27):
Just does not have any answers.

Speaker 4 (43:29):
Zire Smith averaging six point three yards per carry here
in the first half, up to one fourteen on the
ground total. Same formation calls for the snap, flips it
far side throws at this time complete and a race
down the sideline and Olympic touchdown from the.

Speaker 5 (43:46):
Twenty five yard line. Number eight. Jacoby Harris takes it
to the house.

Speaker 6 (43:51):
Yeah, that was a great play right there, good short
pass and it's just a mistackle. It's a mistackle in
open space by Butler, and that is the difference, and
that it's why Harris is able to find the end zone.
Great play call there, they have him thrown it. And again,
these are going to be moments where you can catch
Butler off guard because you are so run heavy. Whenever

(44:11):
you throw the football, it's probably going to surprise them
a little bit, right there.

Speaker 5 (44:15):
Really wasn't that it surprised them.

Speaker 6 (44:17):
You just got to make a tackle in the open field,
and unfortunately, Butler wasn't able to do that.

Speaker 4 (44:22):
So Fernando Zelaya, who has kicked it well so far.
Here tonight on for his second extra point attempt of
the evening. Snap's back ball is down, kick is up,
splits the uprights, and we've got a back and forth
affair here at Memorial Stadium, Olympic back on top fourteen
to twelve with six fifty five left to go. It's
Charlotte Kickoff Night, powered by Ortho Carolina.

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Here's Jeff a fifty two year old former JV quarterback
Okay Foss Time.

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For my patent and no look cubidfomrusk.

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Everybody go along, chat.

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Speaker 2 (45:37):
You're listening to Charlotte Kickoff Night on Spots Radio ninety
two point seven.

Speaker 10 (45:42):
Tell usn c.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
B.

Speaker 4 (45:48):
We're having some fun here at Memorial Stadium, fourteen to
twelve with six fifty five left to go, the Olympic
Trojans without their starting quarterback. They're fair and okay, the
backup Zahir White is or here's Smith rather doing the
job here as he has run his heart out in
the opening frame. But right there a touchdown pass from
twenty five yards out to number eight Jacoby Harris and

(46:10):
the Trojans ever taken the lead. Here's the kickoff, high
end over end fielded by number four Donovan Pard Pollard
sprinting out, tried for a big return but caught from
behind and dropped at about the nineteen yard line.

Speaker 5 (46:24):
And if you're Butler, I mean this is the weird thing.

Speaker 6 (46:26):
And we are watching two completely different offenses. Olympic their
strategy is We're just gonna wear you down the entire night.
Maybe we aren't gonna hit these big plays, but we
are going to lean on you. Our offensive line is
going to just wear your defensive line out. And on
the other side, we're seeing explosive plays. That's really the
difference in the game for Butler. So Ken Butler continue

(46:49):
to hit those explosive plays or find more consistency offensively,
and what can Olympic do?

Speaker 5 (46:55):
Can they continue to just wear down Butler?

Speaker 4 (46:57):
And again, Butler's defense a hallmark of Brian Hayle tenure.
Here he's back this season after a gap year. You know,
his top priorities getting this defense in tip top shape.
But so far tonight they've struggled. As on first down,
his offense and his quarterback Tyler Drews Bick he hands
the football off on first down and Olympics defense is
there to make the stop for no game.

Speaker 5 (47:16):
Good job.

Speaker 6 (47:17):
Kenyon White looks like he shoots the gap right there,
makes the tackle.

Speaker 5 (47:22):
Yeah, that's the thing.

Speaker 6 (47:22):
We haven't seen a much running success at least up
the middle.

Speaker 5 (47:27):
We saw it on the edge.

Speaker 6 (47:28):
Maybe that's something that you see Butler do a little
bit more of here. Try to get running to run
the ball outside the tackles, that might lead to more success.

Speaker 4 (47:37):
Thomas in the backfield. And now we've got Drewsick in
the gun with Thomas right behind him. Three wide receivers
Cobrason all by his lonesome to the top of the formation,
Drews Bick rolling his way. Now Drews Bik tucks runs
darting for the for the first down marker and a
flag flies in. I believe Drewsbik picked up the first
down with his feet, took a shove to his back
as he was out of bounds, and this looks like

(47:59):
a late hit.

Speaker 5 (48:00):
Yeah, it looks like it's gonna be a late hit.

Speaker 6 (48:01):
I gotta tell you though, that's one of the first
late hits I've ever seen where the quarterback doesn't actually
go down. Usually the quarterback is going down to the
ground there. So a tough run there from drews Bick.
But yeah, just a late hit there out of bounds,
a guy getting a little too over eager. Good legs
though from drews back on that one certainly looks like
he's a guy that could be a threat with his
legs too.

Speaker 4 (48:22):
An eleven yard run for drews Bick, then additional fifteen
yards tacked on for the late hit, and it brings
Butler's offense and the new line of scrimmage out to
the forty five yard line. So the Bulldogs have scored
twice tonight, already a sixty nine yard passing play in
a sixty nine yard run from de Morion Thomas. Most recently,

(48:46):
he's in the backfield once again, drus Bik in the
offensive line, standing and turning to the sideline to get
the play call. And now drus Bick walks up under center,
comes a man in motion, and it's a rest to Culberson.
Culberson cut down at the forty seven yard line.

Speaker 5 (49:05):
It's a positive play.

Speaker 4 (49:07):
Looked like it had more potential than that, but a
nice open field tackle.

Speaker 6 (49:10):
And Connor Lewis with a great open field tackle right there.
Certainly a play that had more of a chance there
for Butler. You would imagine they want to try to
get to those edges because they had they had a
look right there.

Speaker 5 (49:22):
If you could have.

Speaker 6 (49:22):
Only gotten one more hat on a hat out there
might have allowed you to break one off. But that's
something that I think Butler should be looking to do
for the rest of the night.

Speaker 5 (49:31):
Try to get to the edges when they're running the football.

Speaker 4 (49:33):
Look at rus big under center again, turns toss sweep
coming near side and to Mario on Thomas slips and falls.

Speaker 5 (49:41):
It's a loss of one. He's frustrated.

Speaker 4 (49:43):
I'm not sure how long he would have run, but
he did have a lane to go through right there.

Speaker 6 (49:49):
Yeah, it might not have been a massive game, but
certainly would have been positive yardage. And I think that's
where he's frustrated right there. Just have to be able
to keep your feet. The turf out here is a
little slippery, so that's certainly something that is frustrating for
a guy that's as talented as Thomas.

Speaker 5 (50:03):
The turf monster got him there.

Speaker 4 (50:05):
Now, the Bulldogs moving right to left on the near side,
hash three wide receivers to the top of the formation,
empty backfield screen pass to Thomas. Thomas grabs it, has
some blockers, slips through across midfield inside the forty five
to the forty four yard line, and a Bulldog first down.

Speaker 6 (50:24):
Huge tackle there by Bryce Nixon if that if he
doesn't make that tackle, that is.

Speaker 5 (50:29):
A long long play.

Speaker 6 (50:31):
And you see this is what the dangerous thing is
with Demorian Thomas. He is a guy that when he
gets out in space, he can make big plays happen.
So keep an eye on him for the rest of
the night. You don't want to give him too much space.
If your Olympic four twenty three left to go. Here
in the second quarter, first and ten for the Bulldogs

(50:54):
in plus territory at the Olympic forty four straight drop
for drus Bik fires over the middle and that was
danger sails over the outstretched arms of both the intended
receiver Lucas Culberson and number six Travis p the safety
of Olympic Yeah, good job there by the Olympic defense.

(51:17):
And now here we go.

Speaker 5 (51:18):
Second down and long.

Speaker 4 (51:20):
It's the first in completion of the night for Tyler Drusbik,
who turns to his sideline to get the play call.
Jabe Wilson, the wide receiver nearest us on the near sideline,
dj Starling in motion. Drus Bik takes the snap play action,

(51:40):
rolling out to his left and has to throw it
away big Number ninety Isaiah Ford, the junior little bit
of a shove there at the end of the play
in front of the Butler bench, but no flag comes in.

Speaker 6 (51:54):
Yeah, gotta be careful there him and side big Zion
Mason also getting after the quarterback right there one their
one on one matchups and then drews Beck just had
to get rid of it right there. Good job though
by those boys up front and now creates a third and.

Speaker 4 (52:08):
Long fourteen to twelve. The Olympic Trojans leading this one.
Charlotte kickoff night powered by Ortho Carolina, three point fifty
eight left to go in the first half. This time
four wide receivers dreus Bik and the gun straight drop
pump fakes thought better of it. Wrapped up by a defender,
cannot get away from Shaquan Gooden, and what strength by

(52:33):
the senior defensive lineman drus Bik.

Speaker 5 (52:37):
I thought he was gonna get away.

Speaker 4 (52:38):
Shaqwan Gooden had him by one hand jersey only and
managed to wrangle him enough to bring him down for
the sack.

Speaker 6 (52:45):
Yeah, there are some strong guys up front on both
sides of the ball for Olympic. Great job by Gooden
to hold on to him there and then basically just
pull him backwards and drop him for a sack.

Speaker 5 (52:55):
That's a tremendous job.

Speaker 6 (52:56):
And again it all comes down to winning your one
on one matchups up front. That's what you see right
there from Good and it ends up resulting in a sack.

Speaker 5 (53:04):
Great play by.

Speaker 4 (53:05):
Him, so Vastest out to punt the football away, loss
of four. It's fourth down in fourteen now from the
Olympic forty two. There's another flag as Vastus awaited the snap,
and this one looks like it's going against the Butler Bulldogs.

(53:29):
Kyle Bailey Anthony pag Nada here with you live from
midtown Charlotte Memorial Stadium here on a Saturday night, opening
weekend of high school football. Here in the state of
North Carolina. You often hear teams talk about going one
to zero each week. It is quite literally the case
here in week one. That looked like what an illegal

(53:50):
substitution against That's what I saw.

Speaker 6 (53:52):
That's what I saw. So probably twelve guys on the
field for Olympic at the time of the snap, and
so it's a fourth down in eight.

Speaker 5 (54:00):
Now.

Speaker 6 (54:01):
Don't think this is gonna change anything here for Butler,
but still.

Speaker 5 (54:04):
It does not.

Speaker 4 (54:04):
The punting unit stays on the field. New line of
scrimmage to forty three. We'll see if fastest can use
this to his advantage. High kick, pretty good one, got
a player in the area, and it's downed at the
seventeen yard line by number two Tyler Dent.

Speaker 6 (54:20):
Yeah, not a bad punt there, traps them decently deep
in their own territory.

Speaker 5 (54:26):
And so here we go.

Speaker 6 (54:27):
Olympic coming back out now a chance somehow in this
game where you've let up two huge explosive plays to
take the lead here, I think that certainly is something
that you're gonna If you're Brandon Thompson, you're hoping, can
we take a two score lead.

Speaker 5 (54:40):
That'd be a miracle.

Speaker 4 (54:43):
Let's pause ten seconds for station identification.

Speaker 12 (54:48):
You're listening jud jelln ufnc FN Harrisburg and HD Sween Charlotte.

Speaker 13 (54:54):
Dambi the home that Charlotte's choice man.

Speaker 4 (54:59):
The Olympic Trojans get the football back with two fifty
three left to go here in the first half, leading
fourteen to twelve, four wide receiver set, and they're feeling
frisky as Zire Smith throws the football on first down,
swings it out a screen pass. The number three Bryce
Nixon doesn't go for much, stopped at the line of scrimmage,
and that'll bring up second down and ten. And I

(55:21):
stand corrected. That was number seven Comyron Cuthbertson making the
catch right there.

Speaker 6 (55:25):
Yeah, And I think this is what you're gonna see
pretty much all night from Olympics offense.

Speaker 5 (55:29):
If they are gonna throw the.

Speaker 6 (55:30):
Football, it's gonna be a lot of short passes, a
lot of quick short passes to get the ball out
of Zayre Smith's hands. See if you can make plays
in the open field, basically just an extension of the
running game.

Speaker 4 (55:41):
That's the way they're going to use their their passing game.
Four wide man in motion. Zier Smith takes the snap.
It's all eye candy. He's running it right up the
middle and doesn't get much gain of about one maybe.

Speaker 5 (55:54):
Yeah, we'll call it one.

Speaker 4 (55:55):
That brings up third down and nine, and now we
have a time out taking by the Butler Bulldogs. It
stops the clock at two five. If you're just tuning in.
Zire Smith is quarterbacking the Olympic Trojans tonight, standing in
for the expected starter this season, Chance Coda, who is
not playing this evening an injury.

Speaker 5 (56:13):
As we understand it.

Speaker 4 (56:15):
Both tight ends also not playing tonight for Olympics, so
they don't have the option of anything with a tight
end in the formation. All ten and twenty personnel, a
lot of three wide, four wide receiver formations, and you
can tell the game plan here tonight.

Speaker 5 (56:29):
Anthony has just spread them out and let Zier.

Speaker 4 (56:32):
Smith use his athleticism, and thus far it has worked
and worked beautifully because Zire Smith has run for one
hundred and fourteen rather excuse me, one hundred and sixteen
yards here in the first half.

Speaker 5 (56:43):
Yeah, not sure if.

Speaker 6 (56:44):
This is what Brandon Thompson thought was gonna happen when
he found out that his quarterback was not going to.

Speaker 5 (56:49):
Be available for this game, but it has worked out.

Speaker 6 (56:52):
And I mean you talked about it to two tight
ends not being available either doesn't allow you to really
play with a lot of guys up front. You're basically
just with the five guys on your offensive line telling them, hey,
you got to go out there and run block. And
they have done such a great job here so far.

Speaker 4 (57:07):
Out of the gate tonight, third down and nine out
of the timeout, and this one whistled dead right as
the play gets going. Another defensive penalty, another off side call,
against the Bulldogs. By my count, that's number four so
far here in the first half.

Speaker 6 (57:22):
Just head scratching. It's one of those things where you've
got to watch the ball. You've got to be, you know,
going off of what the center is doing, not focused
on anything else.

Speaker 5 (57:32):
And this is this is frustrating if you're Brian Hales.

Speaker 6 (57:35):
This is one of the things that's a staple of
your teams is being disciplined and the fact that you're
not seeing that tonight certainly has to be leaving him
scratching his.

Speaker 4 (57:43):
Head, and especially coming out of a time out right there,
particularly irritating for a head coach. But now it's third
down and four from the twenty three yard line. See
if Smith can get it with his feet yet again
around the left side. Immediately tackled, hit at the line
of scrimmage. Forward progress gave him a yard out to
the twenty four Butler's defense.

Speaker 5 (58:05):
Not fooled at all that time.

Speaker 6 (58:07):
Yeah, and another time out here for Brian Hales, trying
to give them some chance, a chance to get the
football here. Give him a two minute drill here to
close out the half. Good job, looked like Tyler Dent
right there, ends up coming up and making the tackle.
So you see the response there from Butler a little
bit better that time, loading the box a little bit more,

(58:28):
trying to find a way to slow down that running game.

Speaker 5 (58:30):
That's my thing.

Speaker 6 (58:31):
If I'm Butler, I'm loading the box up here, and
I'm daring them you want to beat me, beat me
throwing the football. That's got to be the strategy here tonight,
because so far Olympic has just ran it down your
throat that you've got to hell have more guys in
there to help try to slow down this running.

Speaker 4 (58:48):
Game down here at the sideline. That's television's Nick Carbony
roaming the sidelines here at Memorial Stadium, WCNC, NBC Charlotte
sports director, sports anchor and weekly fit on The Kyle
Bailey Show.

Speaker 5 (59:01):
That's me here on wfn Z.

Speaker 4 (59:03):
Nick is one of the finest TV men and reporters
in our region.

Speaker 5 (59:07):
Great guy, We love him dearly.

Speaker 4 (59:08):
And I also look down here at the near sideline
for Butler right in front of us, and I see
Tyler Drews Bick getting some throws in with Nico Henderson
Number eleven. Nico Henderson, the junior backup quarterback for this
Butler team. We're told to expect to see Nico Henderson
at some point, maybe tonight, but certainly this season. And
he's over there staying warm right now, and it looks

(59:29):
like there's a chance he could be going into this game.
When their offense retakes the field, he's chatting it up
with his offensive lineman. They're giving him encouragement. So we'll see.
Drews Bick is very interesting, but it would be interesting
to see if they find a way to use Nico Henderson.
They some rumors there's a package for him out there.
We'll see what they do offensively. It's not as if
Butler has struggled a ton tonight. A couple of chunk
plays have them with twelve points on the board, two touchdowns,

(59:52):
but also two pats blocked here tonight, fourteen to twelve
Olympic on top.

Speaker 5 (59:56):
It's fourth down and four and the offense out.

Speaker 4 (01:00:00):
But it looks like Zyer Smith is going to try
to draw the Butler defense off side, and given their
track records tonight, who could blame him and Brandon Thompson,
But I cannot imagine they're gonna snap this football.

Speaker 6 (01:00:12):
Yeah, good job being disciplined here by Butler after you
had the issues earlier.

Speaker 5 (01:00:16):
In the night. I don't mind that. I don't mind that.

Speaker 6 (01:00:18):
If I'm an Olympic, I say, hey, let's see if
we can go out there get a free first down.
You can't get it now, you punt it away. Still,
you have to like the way that you've played here
in this first half. The other thing is they've done
a great job of bleeding the clock. That's what they
wanted to do in this game. Limit the possessions that
Butler has on the other side.

Speaker 5 (01:00:36):
Now, unfortunately, you've given up.

Speaker 6 (01:00:38):
Two explosive plays that will put the football right back
into your hands.

Speaker 5 (01:00:41):
Let's find a way to limit those.

Speaker 6 (01:00:43):
But if you can do that, you're doing exactly what
you want to do to the clock tonight.

Speaker 5 (01:00:47):
Absolutely right.

Speaker 4 (01:00:48):
So Brandon Thompson uses a time out, one fifty four
on the game clock. Olympic will come out of this
timeout and punt the football back to Butler.

Speaker 5 (01:00:57):
Bulldogs trailing by two.

Speaker 4 (01:01:00):
And as we've talked about Brian Hales back on the sideline,
it's his fourteenth year overall as the head coach here
at Butler.

Speaker 5 (01:01:07):
First year back took a gap year.

Speaker 4 (01:01:09):
If you will, one thirty one and thirty four record
in his tenure as the Bulldog's head coach, averaging ten
wins a year. Was the offensive coordinator at Butler first
back in nine and twenty ten state championship teams, then
got the head coach and won one of his own
in twenty twelve. There's the punt takes a high hop

(01:01:30):
and a four to tuitous Olympic bounce across midfield and
comes to rest at the Butler forty seven yard line.
So the Bulldogs will get tremendous field position to start
this drive with one forty left to go in the half.

Speaker 6 (01:01:45):
Yeah, and if I'm them, I'm trying to come out here.
You can still sort of run your offense here to
a certain extent. Not sure exactly how many timeouts they
have left, but still you feel like there you can
pretty much run your offense. We've seen drews Beck drop
back make some nice throws throughout the night. But de

(01:02:05):
Morion Thomas, I think is the guy that you're leaning
on here heavily down the stretch here. Try to get
it to him out in space and let's see if
he can make a play.

Speaker 5 (01:02:16):
Coming up.

Speaker 4 (01:02:17):
The victory Chevrolet halftime Show here live from American Legion
Memorial Stadium. We'll take a look at some of the
other scores across the high school football scene here in
Charlotte as last night things got underway with a bang
in uptown to keep pounding. High School Classic over at
Bank of America Stadium. I had the pleasure of calling
that doubleheader with Carolina Panthers long snapper JJ Jansen huff

(01:02:40):
in South Point. In the opening game, Husky's held on
for a fourteen to ten win Ethan Royle a couple
of rushing touchdowns. He was the What a Burger player
of the game, earned himself free What a Burger for
a year as a result of it. And in the
second game, the Grimsley Wirlies, defending state champs out of Greensboro,
came down and visited the defending state champion Western West

(01:03:02):
Charlotte Lyons and certainly the biggest game in the state
last night, one of the biggest games in the country.
Grimsley won that one in overtime twenty eight to seven.
Is right there, Tyler Drusbik on first and ten nearly
picked off on the near sideline by Travis.

Speaker 6 (01:03:16):
P Yeah, that was close. Great job by p to
drump to jump that one right there. Good job flushing
the quarterback out of the pocket. I think that was
a designed rollout, but still just trying to find a
way to get someone open there along the sidelines. No
one was tries to force that one in there, and
Travis p almost with the interception.

Speaker 4 (01:03:36):
After completing his first three passes of the night, the
first of which was a sixty nine yard touchdown, Drusbik
has now misfired on his last three, three of six
for eighty three yards and a touchdown here in the
first half. That end completion stopped the clock at won
thirty three. It's second down and ten from the forty seven.
Drusbick straight drop, gonna keep it himself right back up

(01:03:57):
the gut, slides and gives himself up. He gets across
midfield and down to the forty seven of the Olympic
Trojans game of six.

Speaker 6 (01:04:07):
You could see they're trying to go fast here, trying
not to have to use the timeout.

Speaker 5 (01:04:14):
Clock continuing to run.

Speaker 4 (01:04:16):
Unfortunately, we don't have any timeout indicators on our scoreboard
right now. Third down and four, drews Bik rolling out
throws against his body complete at the forty four yard line,
but just short of the marker, and.

Speaker 6 (01:04:35):
You'd imagine here, with where this is at, you'd go
for it. And it looks like that's what they're gonna do.
On fourth and one.

Speaker 4 (01:04:43):
Gave Wilson making the catch that time, that was a
gain of three and now fourth down and one clock
and now twenty nine seconds. Drus Bik un takes the snap,
gives to Demarion Thomas. Thomas tries to go around the

(01:05:04):
right side, he's stuffed. That's a turnover on downs. But
you're right, a flag comes in and we've got a
face mask against Olympic.

Speaker 6 (01:05:13):
Wow, that's a huge penalty.

Speaker 4 (01:05:18):
Trojan's bail out. Butler, I'm not quite sure what that
play was intended to do, Tyler. Drusmik walked up under center,
looked like he might do a bit of a tush push,
maybe possibly just a traditional quarterback sneak, but instead he
came out of the it came out and turned and
gave to Tomorion Thomas, and Thomas shifted to the right,
got a little tricky right there and ran himself into trouble.

Speaker 5 (01:05:40):
But a face mask bails them out.

Speaker 6 (01:05:41):
Yeah, that's one where if you're Thomas, you're taking that
hand off. You can't be trying to find on a hole.
You can't be trying to be patient in the hole.
You've got to be aggressive. You've got to come out
and be running straight for that first down.

Speaker 5 (01:05:55):
And now we've got another penalty.

Speaker 4 (01:05:57):
At a false start aforementioned to Mario Thomas got a
running start CFL style and that is not allowed in
American football, at least not our version. Five yard penalty
backs up the Bulldogs to the thirty four of Olympic
twenty point eight seconds left to go in the opening half,
fourteen to twelve, Olympic on top and the defense looking

(01:06:19):
to hold here first and fifteen, Dreus Bik takes the
snap empty backfield, straight drop, pressure in his face, drops
it off complete to number four Donovan Pollard, and Pollard
runs out of bounds at the twenty nine yard line.
That's a gain of five.

Speaker 6 (01:06:36):
Yeah, not a bad play right there. Again, really likes
throwing to his left. That's certainly something that he's more
comfortable with than anything. Good job to find a little
five yard game right there, get you back to the
original line of scrimmage, and most importantly, you get out
of bounds.

Speaker 4 (01:06:51):
Clock stops fourteen point seven seconds left. It's second down
and ten drews Bick looks over to his head coach
for the call.

Speaker 6 (01:07:00):
One thing to remember here is, even if they wanted to,
the kicking game has not been effective so far, so
a field goal pretty much completely out of play here.

Speaker 4 (01:07:09):
Drews Bik takes the snap, rolling out right, turns it loose,
heaves it deep down the field but out of bounds,
way off target, looking for Donovan Pollard, and another flag
comes in in the backfield, this one in the area
of holding, and that is precisely what it is.

Speaker 6 (01:07:23):
Yeah, Yeah, got a little holding there on the rollout.
It's what's gonna happen, especially when you're rolling out to
the right or left side. It's going to happen where
alignment is locked in with somebody and ultimately he ends
up pulling that guy down to the ground when he's
locked in on the pads. There just got to be
a better throw though from drews Beek let his receiver

(01:07:43):
way too far out of bounds. That's one that's got
to be there for him as the night goes along.

Speaker 5 (01:07:48):
If they're going to hit.

Speaker 6 (01:07:49):
Some of these big plays, and continue to move the
ball down the field against this Olympic defense.

Speaker 4 (01:07:55):
Yeah, Pollard had a step on the defender got opened,
but that ball was five yards out of bounds to
Anthony's point. And now with seven and a half seconds
left to go, it's second down and twenty had a
time out taken by Brandon Thompson. He wants to talk
it over with his Olympic defense. And I think this
one's as simple as hey, don't let anybody behind you

(01:08:17):
with seven and a half seconds left to go.

Speaker 6 (01:08:18):
Hey, you'd imagine this is gonna be some sort of
deep pass here. I mean, I know it's second down,
but yeah, maybe a couple of shots to the end zone.
If your butler looked like drews Beck has the arm there,
it's just a matter of accuracy for him. So if
you're if you're an Olympic, yeah, that's the thing that
you're looking for here.

Speaker 5 (01:08:37):
Don't let anybody get behind you.

Speaker 6 (01:08:39):
Don't let what happened on that first drive of the
game happen again where there's a blown coverage.

Speaker 5 (01:08:43):
Gotta be smart here.

Speaker 4 (01:08:45):
Kyle Bailey, Anthony pag Nada here with you for the
Charlotte Kickoff Night Powered by Ortho Carolina. Orthough Carolina's expert
orthopedic expertise is all around you, from urgent care to
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Speaker 5 (01:08:58):
Of the way.

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Ortho Caro, your better choice for musculoskeletal care. Teams back
on the field again, seven and a half seconds remaining,
Olympic up fourteen to twelve the Bulldogs of Butler with
the football trailing by two. This game has been pretty
much even, except for a couple of block to extra
points that has the Butler Bulldogs.

Speaker 5 (01:09:22):
Trailing. Snaps back to Drew's beck.

Speaker 4 (01:09:25):
Heaves it near side into double coverage and I don't
know where he thought he was going with the football,
but number three DJ Starling, I think had different ideas.
And the clock hits zero. That's the end of the
first half. Butler thinks they should have a little time left,
but the officials disagree. Fourteen to twelve. The shorthanded Olympic

(01:09:46):
Trojans go into the locker room with a lead. Dare
I say, unexpected, but playing well and playing physically, and
the first half sets up for a lot of fun.
In the second half, we'll talk about what we've seen
and what we think we'll see coming up the the
night if a Victory Chevrolet halftime show. On the other side,
Charlotte Kickoff Night powered by Ortho Carolina.

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Now let's head back out to American Legion Memorial Stadium.

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Speaker 5 (01:14:13):
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It's more than just football.

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Speaker 4 (01:14:45):
I understand it. Eight orthopedic urgent care centers across the region.
I know when I'm out. I see them all over
the place. It's very comforting, by the way, to see
so many Eutho Carolina centers out there. How is that
different from going to let's say, the er.

Speaker 5 (01:14:58):
Great question.

Speaker 17 (01:14:58):
Our orthopedic urgent offer fast, direct access to expert care
without long weights or high cost of the emergency room.
Instead of bouncing between referrals, you walk in and get
seen by orthopedic specialists who deal with sports injuries and
muscular skeletal issues every day. It's part of our commitment
to increasing access. So whether you're a student athlete, weekend warrior,

(01:15:21):
or just took a bad step, we make sure expert
care is never out of reach.

Speaker 4 (01:15:25):
All right, so I fall on the weekend warrior category.
I think anyway, certainly, you know suffered my fair share
of injuries. But what kind of injuries, what type are
best suited for orthopedic urgent care, and when should someone
go to the you know, the the er instead?

Speaker 5 (01:15:39):
Sure?

Speaker 17 (01:15:40):
Yeah, orthopedic urgent care is great for sprains, strains, dislocations,
minor fractures, and sports injuries anything involving bones, joints, muscles,
tendons or ligaments. But if you're dealing with chest pain,
difficulty breathing, or severe bleeding. Those are still emergencies that
are best treated in the emergency.

Speaker 4 (01:16:00):
All right, So you know I was excited to talk
about this a couple of years ago. We've continued to
talk about it the hurt app. Tell us more about that.
What is it and how does it support athletes and
families in our community.

Speaker 17 (01:16:11):
Yes, it's such a great resource. The hurt app is
all about immediate access. It connects users with an orthopedic
expert in under three minutes, right from their phone or computer.
You describe the injury, upload photos if needed, and get
real time guidance on next steps, whether that's heading to
your urgent care, seeing a specialist, or managing it at home.

(01:16:33):
Sometimes it's just peace of mind and you want advice
on what you should do.

Speaker 5 (01:16:37):
It's a simple tool that.

Speaker 17 (01:16:38):
Breaks down barriers to care, especially those in high stress
moments when you're just unsure what to do.

Speaker 5 (01:16:45):
Well, it's great to see you again.

Speaker 4 (01:16:46):
We appreciate you your partnership, love seeing you out here each
and every year. Leanne Calledwell, director of Outreach for Ortho Carolina,
joining us here on the halftime show.

Speaker 5 (01:16:54):
Thank you so much, Thanks for having us. There you go.
It is fourteen to twelve. Your score.

Speaker 4 (01:16:57):
The Olympic Trojans lead the Butler Bulldogs. Here at halftime
with about eight minutes on the clock before second half kickoff.
We'll come back. We'll give you our thoughts. We'll take
a look at the numbers as well. It's Charlotte Kickoff Night,
powered by Ortho. Carolina met Jeane.

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When things look bad, choose better. From your first appointment
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Speaker 2 (01:21:02):
You are listening, Come at Charlotte Kickoff night on Sports
Radio ninety two point seven ufn Z.

Speaker 4 (01:21:13):
Live for Memorial Stadium. It's a beautiful night. We've had
a string of those here in Charlotte. The weather's been fantastic.
It's halftime between Olympic and Butler, and the Trojans lead
at fourteen to twelve.

Speaker 5 (01:21:26):
A couple of.

Speaker 4 (01:21:26):
Bulldogs out on the field warming up. Olympic Trojans now
starting to trickle out, and the clock's been reset to
three p forty three four minutes roughly, let's say, as
the players start to head back out for the second
half of action. Kyle Bailey, Anthony pag Nada here with you,
bringing you the action, and we appreciate you hanging out
with us here on Sports Radio ninety two to seven
wfn Z for an annual tradition, and that's the Charlotte

(01:21:49):
Kickoff Night powered by Ortho Carolina. Big Banks to Lee
and Caldwell for stopping by there in the previous segment.
It's the Victory Chevrolet Halftime Show. And let's take a
look at the numbers. And let's start with the Olympic Trojans,
who this game fourteen to twelve. As I mentioned a
moment ago, Anthony here Smith is the backup quarterback.

Speaker 5 (01:22:07):
We've talked about that during the broadcast.

Speaker 4 (01:22:09):
Chance Cato is supposed to be this team signal caller,
but Smith has stepped in and he's literally done it
all with his legs mostly. He's also returned kickoffs here tonight.
But he rushed for one hundred and seventeen yards in
the first half, average five point eight yards per carry,
and also as a twenty five yard touchdown pass to
his name.

Speaker 6 (01:22:26):
Yeah, and I mean the passing game is just an
extension of the running game, that's all. It is a
lot of short passes, just seeing guys make plays in
the open field. But as a runner, he's just been tremendous,
and I think one of the things that you're really
looking for is you know whether or not.

Speaker 4 (01:22:41):
They Okay, what are you point out? I'll give you
how we got quarterbacks at are warming up here telling
you to take a look at him. I am, I am,
look at him. I'm trying to break down the game here.

Speaker 5 (01:22:50):
But yeah, I mean, I think what we've seen is
the offensive line right there. I don't know what you
want me to.

Speaker 6 (01:22:57):
Do, but yeah, I mean, I think you've seen a
running game really wear down Butler for most of the night. Now,
I like the way that Butler responded on that last
drive there that the Trojans had Offensively.

Speaker 5 (01:23:12):
We'll see if that's something that can continue. But yeah,
I mean, I think right.

Speaker 6 (01:23:16):
Now, you know, the Trojans, with how limited they've been,
they've still been able to make some stuff happen, and
they've put.

Speaker 5 (01:23:22):
Up more yards of total offense than the team on
the other side.

Speaker 4 (01:23:25):
They sure have Jacoby Harris, by the way, the recipient
of that twenty five yard touchdown pass from Zahir Smith
in the running game, As I mentioned, Smith has well,
he's carried most of the load one seventeen on the ground,
but also, Bryce Nixon has twenty nine yards rushing. He's
averaging four point eight yards per carry and has a
ten yard touchdown. I'm surprised, maybe a bit they didn't

(01:23:47):
go to Nixon Moore in the first half to alleviate
some of the punishment on their quarterback, but Brandon Thompson
just continued to go back to the Smith. Well, I
wonder if Nixon sees a few more touches here in
the second.

Speaker 6 (01:23:58):
Half, probably I would expect to see him a little
bit more, very physical runner. So that's certainly somebody that
can wear down the team on the other side. That's
what you're hoping to do here in this second half.
Take some of the time off the clock if you're Olympic,
and yeah, maybe take a little bit of pressure off
of Zaier Smith.

Speaker 5 (01:24:14):
Because here's the thing, we have no idea.

Speaker 6 (01:24:16):
How long they're gonna be without chance Cato, And this
has been really the name of the game, Kyle. Here
in this first weekend of high school football, we have
seen a lot of big names that have been on
the sidelines with injuries so far, and you know, we
see it here with Olympic tonight. They are showing some
great fight just like a lot of the other teams are.
But yeah, you're certainly hoping to limit some of the

(01:24:37):
shots that Zaier Smith is taking because he's a guy
that you need moving forward, especially if Cato is gonna
be out long term.

Speaker 4 (01:24:44):
All right, on the Butler side, let's take a look
at the stats here. Tyler drus Bik, the quarterback, finished
the first half ninety one yards passing. He finished five
of nine for ninety one yards, and of those ninety
one yards, sixty nine of them came on a touchdown
pass to Lucas Culbers in the first touchdown of the
night and the first touchdown for the Butler Bulldogs. Also

(01:25:04):
the next drive sixty nine yard touchdown run for running
back the Marion Thomas. So they've gotten some big, chunk
plays tonight. But outside of those chunk plays, you know,
it's kind of been tough sletting.

Speaker 6 (01:25:16):
Yeah, that's the thing is, outside of those big plays,
really their offense has been largely ineffective. So how do
they find a way to become a more consistent offense?
Are they going to be able to block better up
front and run the ball at this Olympic defense? I
think that's certainly something that they want to do but
they haven't really been able to do to this point.
Now you're hoping in the second half that maybe your

(01:25:38):
guys can wear them out or are you going to
be able to air the ball out a little bit here?
We You know, with Tyler drews Beek, I think he's
had moments where he's looked already certainly has shown that
he at he has a strong arm, but not necessarily
the most accurate arm. We'll have to see whether or
not he's a guy that stays in in this entire
second half, or if Nico Henderson's.

Speaker 4 (01:25:59):
A guy that maybe gets Now I'm gonna tell you
watch Nico Henderson throw the football. That's what I was
pointing out. We got the quarterbacks warming up right now.
We got a fourteen to twelve ball game, Olympic leading
Butler with two and a half left to go before
the second half. This is the Charlotte Kickoff Night powered
by Ortho Carolina.

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Speaker 21 (01:27:27):
Ortho Carolina Sports Radio ninety two seven wf and z
it's Charlotte Kickoff Night powered by Ortho Carolina.

Speaker 4 (01:27:46):
Kyle Bailey, Anthony pag Nada, Josh Barlow still in the building,
although I think he's watching the race right now, then
that's okay.

Speaker 5 (01:27:52):
We don't blame him for doing that.

Speaker 4 (01:27:53):
We have a fourteen twelve Olympic on top of Butler
right now. Second half action just about forty seconds way,
and we'll see if the Butler Bulldogs can find a
way to clean some things up in the second half.
You have to believe Brian Hales is not thrilled, especially defensively,
with so many penalties by my count, five off side penalties. Specifically,

(01:28:14):
they're the first half by a typically not only physical
but discipline Brian Hale's bulldog defense. That has not been
the case so far here tonight.

Speaker 6 (01:28:22):
Yeah, and that's certainly something that they've got to get
cleaned up here. I mean, with the success that you've
allowed Olympic to have on offense, the lack of sustained
success that you've had on the offensive side of the
ball yourself, I mean, you've got to find a way
to not shoot yourself in the foot here and keep
backing yourself up or allowing Olympic to get those free

(01:28:43):
first downs or those free yards. So hopefully that's something
that gets cleaned up here in the second half for Butler.
Expecting a pretty good second half between these two sides.

Speaker 4 (01:28:52):
And if your Olympic I'd have to think you're looking
to do a lot more of what you did in
the first half. I mean, you feel like you're winning
the battle up front really on both sides, definitely both
sides of the football. And so you're askings of here Smith,
the backup quarterback, take care of the football, no unnecessary risks,
and keep doing what you're doing.

Speaker 6 (01:29:08):
Yeah, And I mean so far that's really been the
game plan that they've had for him is just, hey,
keep it out of trouble. I mean, we've seen it
a lot of short passes, a lot of just the
ball in his hands.

Speaker 5 (01:29:19):
But we've said one of.

Speaker 6 (01:29:20):
The things that you've got to look to do here,
Screw to limit that hits on him here in.

Speaker 5 (01:29:24):
This second half.

Speaker 6 (01:29:24):
Expect Bryce Nixon to take a decent amount of carries
here in the second half. And if you're that offensive line,
just keep doing what you're doing up front and finding
those holes for your running back or your quarterback, and.

Speaker 5 (01:29:36):
That can lead you to a win here.

Speaker 4 (01:29:38):
All right, So both teams back on the field. The
Butler Bulldogs will start the second half with the ball
and for Olympic it's Fernando z Eliya. He'll see the
football up with the forty yard line crowd getting hyped.
Here nine to thirty nine pm Eastern time is win

(01:29:59):
the second and half. We'll get underway dj Starling back
to receive the kick as is Donovan Pollard and Starling
driven backward into the end zone for a touchback. And
that's such a nice thing to have at the high
school level, a kicker like Fernando Zelia night and day

(01:30:21):
differences in the kicking situations here tonight, Anthony but Zeliah,
we've seen him consistently being at or into the end
zone all night long.

Speaker 6 (01:30:28):
Yeah, I don't think it's that James Vastus is bad.
I think we've seen either some bad snaps or just
poor protection up front. And that's really been the name
of the game for Butler tonight on special teams. But yeah,
when you've got a guy on the other side that
you can rely on like Zeliah, that's certainly something that
is a big weapon for you, as we saw in

(01:30:49):
the first game with James Remsen for Myers Park.

Speaker 5 (01:30:53):
And here we go.

Speaker 4 (01:30:54):
Nico Henderson is the quarterback to start the second half
for the Butler Bulldogs, getting his first action of the night,
and he turns and hands off on first down to
number four or excuse me, number zero, de Marion Thomas.
So Nico Henderson is the quarterback to start the second half,
and I like it.

Speaker 6 (01:31:11):
Kyle, you mentioned we saw this in the game yesterday
South Point in a Bank of America stadium against tough.
Their offense really didn't do much in the first half,
couldn't get one of their biggest playmakers involved.

Speaker 5 (01:31:23):
So what did they do.

Speaker 6 (01:31:24):
They put him at quarterback, Nico Harrison, not necessarily a
guy that is, you know, making plays anywhere else on
the field.

Speaker 5 (01:31:30):
But they go to a backup quarterback.

Speaker 6 (01:31:32):
Maybe this jump starts this offense, gives them a little
bit of life, all right.

Speaker 5 (01:31:36):
So Henderson in the backfield. He's got Thomas with.

Speaker 4 (01:31:38):
Him, DJ starling back there as well, two wide receivers
to the top of the formation.

Speaker 5 (01:31:45):
Butler moving right to left.

Speaker 4 (01:31:47):
Not surprised that Hale's leaving two backs in the backfield here,
at least in the early going with Henderson to get
him comfortable. Now checking their wristbands, Henderson communicating the play
to the line of scrimmage, in the middle of the
field line of scrimmage the twenty three yard line, Thomas
in motion, Henderson whips it out far side to Pollard,
makes the catch, cuts it inside out to the twenty

(01:32:08):
five tackled out of bounds at the twenty seven yard line.

Speaker 6 (01:32:13):
A nice job by Pollard to make a man miss there,
pick up a decent gain and now gets you into
third and manageable here. Now, let's see what Nico Harrison has.
What is that arm or Nico Henderson has. Let's see
what that arm brings, because certainly you're hoping for a
little bit more than what you saw from your starting quarterback.

Speaker 5 (01:32:32):
Drews Beck.

Speaker 4 (01:32:34):
We've got a tighter formation this time. Balls on the
far side, Hash Lucas, Cuthbert Culberson the loan wide receiver
split out wide to the near side. Henderson and the
backs checking their wristbands again. Henderson looks back, communicating to Starling,
the only back in the backfield for the back behind him,
brother flag comes in. Blaye does not get Off'm gonna.

Speaker 6 (01:32:55):
Be a false start on a Butler. Not what they
wanted there. That'll back him up. So you go from
third and medium manageable situation to now third and long.
Certainly not what Brian Hales wants to see, and those
penalties keep popping up.

Speaker 4 (01:33:09):
They sure do. Eleven oh four on the clock. Third quarter,
Olympic leading Butler fourteen to twelve. New quarterback for the Bulldogs,
Nico Henderson. New formation, three wide receivers, two to the
near side, empty backfield. The Marion Thomas lines up as
an h back here in this formation, Henderson back to

(01:33:32):
the gun, brings Starling in motion. And now all whistle
and what do we have here but timeout time time
out by Butler. I believe Brian Hales wants to get
on the same page as his junior quarterback, Nico Henderson.
Unsure as to how much more we'll see if Tyler
Drewsbeck here in the second half. The first half certainly
wasn't bad. There was the big sixty nine yard touchdown

(01:33:55):
pass to open up the scoring, but not much else
in the passing game after that. Did complete couple of
short balls passes of ten yards, four yards, three yards,
and five yards nearly an interception as well there late
in the first half. So you'd have to think that
if Henderson can take the bull by the horns here
and get the offense moving.

Speaker 5 (01:34:14):
This might just be his gig for the rest of
the game.

Speaker 6 (01:34:16):
Yeah, the rest of the game, and it could be
the rest of the season, depending on how things work out.
I think they're looking for a quarterback to emerge here
out of these two guys. And I think you saw
Drew's beck hit the you know, the early one down
the seam to a wide open receiver. Now let's see
what Henderson has and if he's able to show a decent,

(01:34:37):
you know, a good arm here for Butler are getting
needed here.

Speaker 5 (01:34:40):
On third down and.

Speaker 4 (01:34:41):
Long, Henderson's same formation, straight drop, pressured, flushed out of
the pocket, coming near side, dumps it off to Culberson.
Culberson makes the grab at the twenty seven and knocked
out of bounds after a gain of five.

Speaker 6 (01:34:58):
And flush the quarterback out of the pocket to his left.
But I thought, just looking at the two quarterbacks, I
thought he looked more comfortable throwing the ball there, Henderson did.
I think that's certainly something. Looks like we got an
Olympic player down here.

Speaker 5 (01:35:13):
We sure do.

Speaker 4 (01:35:14):
James Vastus, by the way, is out to punt the
football as Culberson's catch there, well, short of the line
to gain fourth down and four with the Bulldogs on
their own twenty six yard line, and so they'll convene
on the near sideline as the Olympic defender is being
tended to by the training staff.

Speaker 5 (01:35:36):
Yeah, huge opportunity here.

Speaker 6 (01:35:37):
If Butler is going to punt this one away, then
you will get it back in your offense's hands. Chance
to use some clock first of all, but more importantly
take a two possession lead. That would be huge for
them if they were able to do that. So, if
you're Brandon Thompson, you have to be satisfied with what
your defense did here coming out continuing to pay well

(01:36:00):
outside of those two plays that you've allowed that have
scored touchdowns for Butler.

Speaker 4 (01:36:05):
Trying to see who the player down on the field
is being tended to by the training staff, and that
appears to be number six, Travis p the defensive back,
and that's a that's an obvious cramping situation. The trainer
was down there feeding in water and beating on the
hamstrings a little bit.

Speaker 5 (01:36:25):
Well, now they've got the pickle juice that they can
give to you.

Speaker 6 (01:36:28):
Back when we were shots with Mount Olive, uh now,
now we had to do uh.

Speaker 5 (01:36:34):
Back then, we had to do mustard.

Speaker 6 (01:36:36):
Oh yeah, that was That was the classic way to
get a cramp uh situated.

Speaker 4 (01:36:41):
So got to get the sodium in you. Yeah, the
pickle juice is clutched though. We were talking about that
the other day. We were out WF and Z at
the Quail Hollow Tournament a couple of years ago, formerly
the Wells Fargo Championship, and we had a sponsor with
US mount Olive pickle Juice. Yeah, and they weren't They
didn't bring pickles. They brought little shot bottles of pickle
juice to keep people hydrated and from cramping.

Speaker 6 (01:37:03):
Yeah, we did many of those, and I think though, well,
let's see, the one guy that was the most grossed
out by it was my host currently now wasn't at
the time, but Walker Male completely grossed out by the
pickle juice.

Speaker 4 (01:37:16):
All right, fourth down and four to go from their
twenty six Butler will punt the football, low snap.

Speaker 5 (01:37:22):
He's in trouble hast.

Speaker 4 (01:37:23):
This man in his face gets a foot on it
and it's still rolling. Picked up with a full head
of steam by Kenyon White at the thirty five yard line.
He's tackled at the thirty three did the ball come loose?
What a mess that snap was at the feet of
number eighty eight James Vastus, the punter. He couldn't get

(01:37:45):
it until the last moment, got a half kickaway scooped
up by Kenyon White. An incredible field position for the
Trojans here is they'll start out first and ten on
the Butler thirty three line. Just uncharacteristic mistakes and slopping
this from a Brian Hales coach football team.

Speaker 5 (01:38:05):
And the special teams have been a disaster all night.

Speaker 6 (01:38:08):
It seems like every time that they need to have
something go right on special teams, it doesn't.

Speaker 5 (01:38:12):
And so this is another one of those moments.

Speaker 6 (01:38:15):
And a great job by Vastest to even get a
punt off there. Good awareness though by Kenyon White to say, hey,
I'm gonna come up field this right here and try
to turn this into something instead of letting the ball
just continue to roll. And so now Olympic with great
field position, looking to build off of what was a
pretty solid first half from all standpoints.

Speaker 4 (01:38:36):
Dangerous territory here for Butler, trailing fourteen to twelve, facing
a backup quarterback and a team without any tight ends.
They're a run first team, nearly completely one dimensional, and
Zahir Smith on first down to ten from the thirty
three takes the shotgun snap and charges forward for a
pickup of one.

Speaker 6 (01:38:59):
Yeah, if you're Olympic, this is what you're trying to do,
continuing to run the football right at this Butler defense.

Speaker 5 (01:39:07):
But this Butler defense sort of starting to respond.

Speaker 6 (01:39:09):
You're seeing some other guys on the field here that
weren't playing out there earlier. That are you hoping to
wear this run game down the other on the other side,
as Olympic tries to do the same to them.

Speaker 4 (01:39:23):
Second down and nine, it's a handoff to Bryce Nixon
in the backfield, and Nixon gobbled up, I mean just
smashed as soon as he took the football. Number one,
Tyler Dent comes screaming out of the scrum, trying to
fire up his defensive teammates. Big play tackle for a
loss and a loss of four yards.

Speaker 6 (01:39:41):
Yeah, just shot one of the gaps right there. Just
seemed like there were too many bodies there to put
a hat on. They seem to just let him walk through,
and there's nowhere to go. And now third and long.
This is the scenario that you want to get this
Olympic offense into if you're Butler's defense.

Speaker 4 (01:39:57):
Third and twelve from the thirty six straight dropped for Smith.
Smith in trouble, escapes left side, dumps it off, had
a man but incomplete. A flag flies and that might
be an illegal downfield pass. I believe he was across
the line of scrimmage. He was awfully close to it.

Speaker 6 (01:40:15):
And I'll tell you he had a wide receiver wide
open that he was hoping to hit right there. So
that was that was awfully close, had a great chance
on that play, and it looks like, yeah, it looks
like it is gonna be on Olympic as the Butler
defense is celebrating right now.

Speaker 4 (01:40:32):
Yeah, that was an illegal forward pass. So here Smith
was in trouble in the backfield. That elusiveness that we've
seen all night long allowed him to escape trouble momentarily,
and as he was sprinting toward the far sideline, saw
a receiver come open, tried to throw against his body.
It was across the line of scrimmage. That's a loss

(01:40:53):
of down and that'll bring up fourth down and a
country mile for Olympic and they will know doubt have
to punt the football here.

Speaker 5 (01:41:02):
Yeah, good stop.

Speaker 6 (01:41:04):
If you're Butler, that was exactly what you needed after
basically what almost amounts to a turnover due to the
mishap on special teams. And so now I mean, if
you're Butler, you're getting the ball back. You've still got
an opportunity to take a lead in this game. You feel,
you know, decent now that you've got Nico Henderson in
for a drive, maybe he sort of settles into this

(01:41:25):
game a little bit. Still an opportunity here for Butler,
even though you haven't played your.

Speaker 4 (01:41:29):
Best game to this point. Gave vott On to punt
for the Trojans. The scene, you're standing with his heels
on the forty six yard line. Accurate snap, he grabs it,
high kick down the far sideline. Starlin catches it at
the fifteen live ball runs out of bounds at the

(01:41:50):
seventeen yard line. So that's where Nico Henderson presumably will
come back out for his second series of work. No,
I take that back. We've got Drusick in the huddle.
Let's see who comes out here. Looks like we got
both quarterbacks in the huddle. So yeah, we'll have to
see who comes out with the offense. If I'm them,
I'm sending Henderson back out. I mean I thought they are.

Speaker 6 (01:42:10):
He looked more comfortable throwing the football there, and I
think that's exactly what they're gonna do. And that's the
reason why they're going to do it, is because he
looks like he's the more comfortable quarterback of the two.

Speaker 5 (01:42:21):
You gotta at least see if he can move this
offense more consistently.

Speaker 4 (01:42:24):
I agree there were some obvious jitters, some nerves there
on that opening drive, as he had some difficulty getting
the offense lined up. But he's back out there for
his second drive of the night, second drive of the
third quarter for the Bulldogs. It's an end to round
gift to number three DJ Starling. He's out and as
a Bulldog's first down across the thirty out to the

(01:42:46):
thirty four yard line.

Speaker 5 (01:42:48):
This is what I've been telling you all night, Kyle.

Speaker 6 (01:42:50):
I wanted to see them get more to the edges
because I think that's where they've had the most success.
I understand there have been some plays that they have
run on the edge that haven't necessarily worked, But when
they've been able to get out on the edge. It
really has led to success that time they go around
the left side pick up a big game. I would
like to see him go back to something like that
here and they do seventeen yards for Starling. This time

(01:43:12):
it's Culberson, same play off to the races first down
across midfield, deep into Trojan territory and finally caught and
tackled at the twenty yard line.

Speaker 5 (01:43:23):
How about that run, and.

Speaker 6 (01:43:26):
It's basically just a version of a jet sweep. It's
basically what it is. It's just turn it hand into
a guy that's running across the formation, and it's worked
two plays in a row. That's something that you would
like to see them continue to keep doing here as
they go throughout this game. I understand they want to
go back into the shotgun and everything like that, still

(01:43:47):
have a passing thread, but certainly those are plays that
seem to be working right now.

Speaker 4 (01:43:51):
Forty six yard dash for Culberson, who already has a
sixty nine yard touchdown grab tonight as well. Here on
first and ten, the give to de Morion Thomas and
he charges forward inside the twenty down to the eighteen
yard line. We'll call it a gain of two and.

Speaker 6 (01:44:09):
So now they're going after the left side of that
Olympic defensive line. That's really what they're trying to attack.
Now they've found something that's worked. They scored a touchdown
there earlier on that side of the Olympic offensive line
with Demorrian Thomas, so I think that's certainly something they're
going to be attacking the rest of the night.

Speaker 4 (01:44:29):
And it's number six, Travis p down on the field again.
He was just being tended two moments ago. He was
the last player down on the field and down once again.
The cramping has become a serious issue now clearly for
Travis P as he's being stretched out by the training
staff for the second time here in the last five
minutes or so, and his ability to finish this game

(01:44:52):
is going to be.

Speaker 5 (01:44:53):
In question the rest of the way.

Speaker 4 (01:44:55):
He's up and walking again, but cramps don't magically go
away in a matter of minutes.

Speaker 12 (01:45:00):
Usually.

Speaker 6 (01:45:01):
Got to give it to him for trying to power
through it, but yeah, unfortunately, it seems like this is
one of those things that could be sticking with him
for the rest of the night. I hope he's able
to shake it off here because he's had a pretty
good night in coverage for Olympics. So I definitely think
that's somebody that they want out there on the field.

Speaker 4 (01:45:20):
One hundred and fifty three yards rushing so far tonight
for the Butler Bulldogs, and a nice chunk of it
coming on this drive to Mario On Thomas has a
sixty nine yard touchdown run, a forty six yarder for Culberson.
There a moment ago seventeen yarder for Starling. The rushing

(01:45:42):
yard starting.

Speaker 5 (01:45:43):
To add up.

Speaker 4 (01:45:44):
Here's another sweep back to Starling and again around the
left side and he dives across the fifteen yard line
down to the fourteen.

Speaker 6 (01:45:52):
Yeah, it looked like I think Michael Graham there. It's
either Michael Graham or Jalen Ryan, one of the two.
He's got his jersey riding up, so I can't quite
see the number ends up coming up making the play there.
Good job, good recognition that they were running a similar
play that was successful earlier.

Speaker 4 (01:46:07):
And right now they're going back to the left side
again to the Marion Thomas and Thomas this time chopped
down in the backfield. That's a loss of a yard
at the fifteen yard line. Yeah, Kenyan White shooting the
gap there.

Speaker 6 (01:46:20):
Good job to make that play, and so now it'll
be fourth down for Butler and it doesn't look like
they're hesitating here at all.

Speaker 4 (01:46:30):
Fourth down and four to go with six point fifty
one left on the clock here in the third quarter,
Butler trailing fourteen to twelve, but they've got the football
and their new quarterback, Nico Henderson leading the charge. Another
trojan down on the field out there, and this time
it's not Travis p trying to get a look and

(01:46:52):
see who that is, but another trojan cramping up. There's
no doubt about that. Whoever it is down on the
field is being stretched out by his teammate number thirty,
Jalen Ryn. Get you a friend like Jalen Ron, And.

Speaker 6 (01:47:07):
I think they might have called the time out even
before he went down, So I don't know if they're
going to it looks like that's Kenyan White who just
made the play, unfortunately cramping up, but I think they
may have even gotten the time out before then. They
were going to call that anyways, because Brandon Thompson wanted
to get his defense over to the sideline tell them

(01:47:29):
what he was seeing from that formation that Butler was
throwing out there, but a lot of cramping issues starting
to show up here late in this game.

Speaker 5 (01:47:36):
Kyle. It's not even that hot out here. That's the
thing that's crazy.

Speaker 4 (01:47:39):
It's a little surprising. It's a little surprising. Six forty
five left to go in the third, fourteen to twelve
to score. The third quarter dragging on here a little
bit as we've had players start to drop because of
cramping issues.

Speaker 5 (01:47:49):
We've had some penalties. Well, Olympic hasn't had the ball either,
That's the thing. Olympic. In the first half, they were
running it so much that it was just taking so
much time off the clock. That is true.

Speaker 4 (01:47:59):
Although to be fair this drive, Butler is pretty much
exclusively running the football, So we'll see if that continues
right here. And you're right, they've been pounding that left
side of the offense.

Speaker 6 (01:48:07):
Well, it's I mean, it's the way to go right
now because you found some success there. I mean, you
could maybe try it to the right side, but I
think sick with what's working right now.

Speaker 4 (01:48:15):
Fourth down in four, Henderson takes the snap, rolling out right,
looking to throw it, stops, tries to reverse field, catches himself,
has a wall of blockers. Henderson's printing near side, massive
crackback block.

Speaker 5 (01:48:27):
Did he score?

Speaker 4 (01:48:29):
Henderson reaches out for the pilon A flag comes in.
That crackback block might be the cause of the penalty flag.

Speaker 5 (01:48:37):
T there are three on the field.

Speaker 6 (01:48:38):
I think that is certainly going to be the cause
of the penalty flag there, and so this is more
more than likely going to be a repeat fourth down.

Speaker 4 (01:48:47):
Wow, who was that that got decleted? I believe that
wasn't Zire Smith, was it? I would hope not.

Speaker 6 (01:48:54):
I would hope that certainly isn't the guy that's out
there for you right now, but it's out there to
have been. It certainly could have been the guy who
got decleted there. It looked like it was Lucas Colberson
that laid the hit there. And yeah, there's no doubt
that is a personal foul penalty.

Speaker 5 (01:49:11):
So they're gonna repeat fourth down.

Speaker 6 (01:49:13):
And if your Butler again one of those moments probably
wasn't a necessary block, didn't really need that there. He
still had that edge. There was a chance that he
was going to score there. That's a big play coming
back for Butler.

Speaker 4 (01:49:25):
Goodness, gracious, that was Listen. There's a reason they've taken
that play out of the high school game.

Speaker 5 (01:49:30):
We all understand it.

Speaker 4 (01:49:32):
That one harkened you back to about the late eighties
of the National Football League, where that sort of thing
was commonplace on for a while after that too. But wow,
very fortunate to get up after that hit and a
potential Nico Henderson touchdown run was erased because of it, though, Bulldogs,
or rather Butler will get another crack at this fourth down,

(01:49:52):
although it will not be fourth down in four instead
it will be fourth down in about fifteen.

Speaker 5 (01:50:00):
Yes, certainly not what you want if you're Brian Hales.

Speaker 4 (01:50:03):
That one's frustrating, but they're going for it from the
twenty five yard line. Shotgun snap back to Henderson, straight drop,
now flushed out left buying time, lofts it up dangerous spot,
but it's out of bounds incomplete intended for Lucas Culberson.

Speaker 6 (01:50:19):
Yeah, Colberson covered well on the play there by Connor Lewis.
Really good job by Olympic and coverage there and really
nowhere to go with the football.

Speaker 5 (01:50:27):
Just basically a throwaway.

Speaker 6 (01:50:29):
Was trying to see if he could find Colberson, but
just didn't get his feet fully set, ends.

Speaker 5 (01:50:33):
Up throwing the ball high. Turnover on downs Olympic.

Speaker 4 (01:50:36):
We'll get it back with six eighteen left to go
here in the third quarter, Kyle Bailey, Anthony pag Nada
with you here for Charlotte Kickoff Night powered by Ortho Carolina.
Big thanks again to our friend Brandon Gandhy and Victory
Chevrolet for helping us bring you all our high school
football action here on WFNZ.

Speaker 5 (01:50:54):
If you need a work.

Speaker 4 (01:50:55):
Truck, Victory Chevrolet has them looking for the tough Chevy
Trail Boss. They've got those two Victory Chevy discounts them.
If you need a pre owned truck, Victory Chevrolet is
the place go buy and see Brandon Gandy and the
team drive away in your new Silverado. Victory Chevrolet and
Victory Chevrolet dot Com. Olympic back out there offensively going
left to right and Zahir Smith little play action the

(01:51:18):
mesh point. He decides to take it out last minute
around the right side, picks up a first down and
is jawing at the Butler sideline at the end of
the play. And another Trojan down with an injury, and
while we wait to find out who it is, let's
pause ten seconds for station identification.

Speaker 12 (01:51:38):
You're listening jud yelln UFN c FM, harrisburg Hey w
l N HD three, Charlotte Mbasa Holmes over that, Charlotte' choice.

Speaker 4 (01:51:46):
Dan fourteen to twelve Olympic on top of Butler here
midway through the third quarter, Guyle Bailey, Anthony pag Nada,
Jacoby Harris the player down for Olympic. We've seen a
couple of players go down with cramps here in the
third quarter. That one look to be more collision related,
I believe. But Brandon Thompson's having a hard time keeping

(01:52:07):
healthy players on the field right now.

Speaker 6 (01:52:09):
Yeah, a lot of guys coming off the field here recently.
And not sure if this one was a cramp or
what exactly happened here, But Zayir Smith a nice run there.
I'm gonna tell you he's got to be careful with
that jawn at the sideline. We saw the officials in
the first game throw flags for jawing at the sideline.
Jazz Portis got one for jawing at the J. M.

(01:52:29):
Robinson sideline, So I gotta keep that in check. Especially
looks like he was getting in the face of some
of the coaches over there. You don't necessarily want that,
so you know he's been very successful tonight though running
the football Kyle, and he saw another one right there,
another zone Reid and just ends up finding himself out
on the outside for a significant game.

Speaker 4 (01:52:54):
And on that play, Zahir Smith waited until the last
possible second to pull that football out and take off
around the right side. Twelve yard gain and it's first
down to ten from the thirty seven of Olympic the
Trojans on first down, it's a give to Bryce Nixon
and Nixon met by a couple of tacklers, battles his

(01:53:14):
way out to the thirty nine.

Speaker 5 (01:53:16):
That's a gain of two yards.

Speaker 6 (01:53:18):
I'll tell you it might not be the most effective
runner that we've seen out of the running back position
in terms of the amount of yards, but this dude
will run through just about anybody at this point. And
it looks like a Butler player is down now dealing
with some cramps as well. So I think that is
certainly something that we've seen as the game has gone

(01:53:39):
along here. The pace of this third quarter definitely slowed down,
as you mentioned, by these injuries.

Speaker 5 (01:53:45):
That we're seeing.

Speaker 4 (01:53:46):
I believe it's number one, Tyler Dent, the senior defensive
back who is down right now and being tended to
Brian Hales, head coach at Butler turned and addressed his sideline.
I don't know what he said, but he's frustrated about something.

(01:54:06):
It is Tyler Dent who limps off the field at
the thirty five yard line. He'll be replaced for a
couple of minutes here, at least for a couple of
plays rather as he's stretching out with the trainer on
the near sideline. That's a calf cramp if I've ever
seen one. And we'll see if Dent can get back
on the field. You made the best point a couple
of minutes ago. I mean, we have been spared the

(01:54:28):
typical August heat here in Charlotte this year, but we
still have numerous players cramping up out there tonight.

Speaker 5 (01:54:36):
Yeah, it's weird.

Speaker 6 (01:54:36):
I mean we're not dealing with a human environment or
anything like that.

Speaker 5 (01:54:40):
It is pretty cool.

Speaker 6 (01:54:41):
But yeah, I guess as the night goes along and
you've been out there playing as many plays as these
guys have, it happens.

Speaker 4 (01:54:46):
And Zamir Smith is in trouble right there on second down,
dropped for a big loss back at the thirty four
yard line. That's a loss of five and a sack
for the Butler defense.

Speaker 6 (01:54:58):
Yeah, Miles with a great play there coming off the edge.
That was one of those moments, one of the rare
mistakes that we've seen from Zyre Smith here tonight. That
was where he should have given it off to his
running back. Just tries to try to keep it right there,
gets dropped in the backfield for a significant loss. Now
third and long forour Olympic down and distance that they've

(01:55:19):
been trying to avoid all night.

Speaker 4 (01:55:21):
Four wide receivers in the formation, three to the top,
one to the near. That's number fourteen. Cambell Nixon in
the backfield with Smith. Smith calls for it, takes the snap,
Nixon leading the way. It's a run by Smith out
across the forty and dives for the forty three yard line.

Speaker 17 (01:55:41):
Smith.

Speaker 5 (01:55:42):
It's a game of six.

Speaker 6 (01:55:47):
So nearing midfield at the Butler forty two.

Speaker 5 (01:55:52):
What do you do here?

Speaker 4 (01:55:53):
Fourth down and five, You've got to lead it's fourteen
to twelve.

Speaker 6 (01:55:57):
I'd probably punt it the way your defense has been
playing for most of the night, But looks like they're
gonna go for it.

Speaker 5 (01:56:03):
Let's see if he tries to draw them off side.

Speaker 6 (01:56:05):
First could be could be what you say, five off
side penalties so far off to five.

Speaker 4 (01:56:10):
So far it's fourth and five. So if they could
draw Butler off side here, it would be a first down.
And now Yer Smith communicating with his sideline, and I
believe Brandon Thompson calls a time out. He does fourteen
to twelve Olympic facing a fourth down and five with
three point fifty six left to go in the third quarter.
It's Charlotte Kickoff Night, powered by Ortho Carolina.

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Speaker 4 (01:57:38):
Well Olympic will punt after all, but not well gave
Vaught misfires a shank at a punt that might have
traveled five yards.

Speaker 6 (01:57:48):
We'll give the Butler Bulldogs the ball back in plus territory.
That punt traveled exactly two yards. Kyle, that is that
is not great, to say the least, unfortunately there for
the young man. But look, Butler takes over here, great
chance to once again take the lead again.

Speaker 5 (01:58:08):
You have to feel like for Butler, your.

Speaker 6 (01:58:11):
Offense has not been playing well for most of the
night and you're still right there. It feels like a
golden opportunity here and once again we see him in
this wing te type of formation.

Speaker 4 (01:58:21):
And look at this, Drews Bik back in the game
at quarterback to give us to de Marion Thomas in
a big run on first down.

Speaker 5 (01:58:27):
Does anybody see a flag? I do not?

Speaker 4 (01:58:29):
All right, there we go, big run on first down,
moves the chains and again notable there Tyler Drews Bik
back in the game for Butler at quarterback.

Speaker 5 (01:58:38):
Yeah, interesting choice.

Speaker 6 (01:58:39):
I mean, Nico Henderson just moved the ball down the
field pretty well there. I'm shocked that they're actually going
back to Drews Beek here. But hey, that's a great success.
That's a very successful play right there. If I'm them,
I'm going to continue to use that wing te type
of formation that has been so successful for me. Put
those guys in motion, and it looks like we got
a penalty.

Speaker 4 (01:58:58):
Here Starling and number eighty pardon me, Julio Conde coming
in motion? Is that illegal shift? I believe was the call?

Speaker 20 (01:59:13):
There?

Speaker 5 (01:59:13):
Is that right?

Speaker 6 (01:59:15):
I think it might have been a false start because
the illegal shift, I don't think. I mean, maybe they
throw the flag illegal shift.

Speaker 4 (01:59:21):
I thought they usually didn't call. You're right about that
could be wrong. Well, I thought the play had started.
You're right about that. False start was the call after all.
Drews Big fires at near side of DJ Starling. Starling
with a catch to thirty five, gets away from one
defender and the pile being pushed to about the thirty
yard line. That'll go for a gain of five. Pitch

(01:59:42):
and catch from Drews Bic to DJ Starling Man at least.

Speaker 6 (01:59:45):
Gets you now into a position where you're back to
the original line of scrimmage.

Speaker 5 (01:59:52):
Second down and ten.

Speaker 4 (01:59:57):
Actually according to the spot at second down, and it
eleven clock rolling, two thirty five left to go here,
and what's been a pretty hirky jerky third quarter. A
lot of injuries and a lot of penalty flag not
much game flow. Here in the third frame is Brian
Hale's shouting instructions from the sideline to Tyler Drusbik, three
wide receivers to the far side of the formation, moving

(02:00:17):
right to left, drus Bik fires it out to Pollard.
Pollard makes the catch, but not a knee at the
thirty five yard line, and unlike the NFL, you cannot
do that in high school football. So Pollard dropping down
to a knee to make the catch, it goes for
a loss of five yards.

Speaker 6 (02:00:32):
Yeah, It wasn't necessarily a great throw, long throw, long
throw from the left hash all the way over to
that right hash, but you know, certainly we're hoping for
a little bit more there. And now it's third down
and long, so third and fifteen from the thirty five
inside of two minutes left to play here in the

(02:00:53):
third Now drus Bik flips the formation. I take that
back three to the near side, one wide receiver to
the far empty backfield. Drews Bick straight drop over the middle,
finds culperson, catch is made. Does he have enough for
the first down?

Speaker 4 (02:01:05):
He caught it right on the twenty yard line and
then cut back and that may leave him a yard short.

Speaker 5 (02:01:13):
In fact, it does fourteen yard pickup, no question, you're
going for it here.

Speaker 6 (02:01:18):
I mean, special teams has been a disaster to this point,
so you've got to go for it. And if I'm them,
I'm going into this wing T formation that has been
so successful for you.

Speaker 5 (02:01:27):
It looks like they might be doing that.

Speaker 4 (02:01:30):
So they needed fifteen, got only fourteen facing fourth down
and one, and Brian Hales, head coach of the Bulldogs,
will burn a time out here to talk it over.
And you know you don't blame him given the way
this game is gone, and you have to wonder about
the opportunities moving forward. His team has not exactly played

(02:01:50):
clean and crisp football here tonight. You gotta find a
way to move the chains right here.

Speaker 5 (02:01:54):
Yeah, I think this is this is crucial.

Speaker 6 (02:01:57):
I mean again, your offense just hasn't been sustainable for
most of the night. But this is two drives in
a row where you've driven the ball inside a butler
or Olympic territory, deep into Olympic territory. You've got to
find a way to get points on the board here
on this drive. So this is crucial here, got to
pick up the first down. And to me, you know,
de Morion Thomas has been the guy that's been the

(02:02:18):
most successful runner for you. I'm going with that or
I'm going with that motion jet sweep that's been so
successful for you, and I'm running it to that left side.

Speaker 4 (02:02:26):
I'm at least running that motion on this place. Yeah,
Oh definitely.

Speaker 6 (02:02:29):
And I'm going under center with that wing T formation
that's been the most successful that you've been all night.

Speaker 5 (02:02:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:02:34):
Get that defense guessing multiple multiple options with the football.
That's exactly what they do drus Bic under center, He's
got options. He gives to Marion Thomas, and Thomas powers
forward inside the twenty for a Bulldog first down.

Speaker 6 (02:02:52):
Yeah, it looked like they just put in two fullbacks
there at the block. Looked like two guys from the
defensive side of the ball, and Kenyon Stewart and Legend
Lockwood where the guys that came in blocking the way
for Thomas, and it works out for a first down.

Speaker 5 (02:03:09):
Now, again, this isn't that you gotta get points.

Speaker 6 (02:03:12):
I feel like on this drive, if you're Butler, you
feel like this is a golden opportunity.

Speaker 5 (02:03:16):
So let's see what they do here.

Speaker 4 (02:03:17):
First and ten from the seventeen, drews Bik under center, turns,
tosses to Thomas, and Thomas is cut down in the
backfield manages to dive forward to the original line of
scrimmage number four. Sean Hartzog in on the stop Dan.

Speaker 6 (02:03:32):
Good job by Hartzog coming in, shakes off his defender,
ends up making a play right there, exactly what you
want to see from him, and creates a second down
and long here for Butler.

Speaker 4 (02:03:45):
Clock rolling twelve seconds now, drews Bik taking the play
from the sideline now seven seconds shouting instructions, the clap,
the snap on a slant, It's complete inside the ten
down to the five yard line. Catch is made by
Donovan Pollard. That's a gain of twelve a first down

(02:04:08):
for the Bulldogs. And the end of the third quarter
when we return first and goal from the five, Butler
trails fourteen to twelve. But they're knocking on the door.
Fourth quarter action just around the bend. It's the Charlotte
kickoff powered by Ortho Carolina. Here on Sports Radio ninety
two seven wfn Z. Hey y'all, Skyle Bailey here with
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Speaker 11 (02:05:25):
No matter if you're an injury prone weekend warrior, we're
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Speaker 2 (02:05:40):
You're listening to Charlotte Kickoff night on Sports Radio ninety
two point seven DONUFNZ.

Speaker 4 (02:05:49):
Start of the fourth quarter here from Memorial Stadium. We've
got a barn burner. Fourteen to twelve. The Olympic Trojans.
They fought valiantly with a backup quarterback here tonight, holding
on to a lead, but in danger of surrendering it.
The Butler Bulldogs with Tyler drus Bik back at quarterback
have marched down to the five yard line. A twelve
yard pass from dreus Bic to Donovan Pollard rather at

(02:06:12):
the end of the third quarter sets the Bulldogs up
first down and goal from the five, and they stay
in that heavy wing t formation, two tight ends, and
look at that de Morion Thomas takes the handoff, delivers
a punishing blow to a defender and is dragged down
inside the one yard line, short of the goal line.

(02:06:33):
Game of four will call it four and a half,
and it's second down and goal coming up.

Speaker 6 (02:06:37):
And it looked like it was Sean Hertzog that he
delivered that hit to There is no doubt that was
a tough run right there. And we've got what looks
like another Olympic player down in the end zone. Unfortunately,
but Butler, I mean, this drive, this is exactly what
you were hoping for if you were Butler. They've done
a really good job of running the football year. But

(02:07:01):
a huge pass play there when he needed a play
in the passing game from your quarterback, you get it
from Tyler Drews back. He delivers that was huge and
so now you know second down and.

Speaker 5 (02:07:15):
Goal from the one yard line. A lot of different
things that you can do.

Speaker 13 (02:07:18):
Here.

Speaker 4 (02:07:18):
Absolutely to Mario Thomas up to ninety five yards rushing
on the night, much of it the sixty nine yard
touchdown back in the first quarter, and well.

Speaker 6 (02:07:32):
We've seen some tough yards from him, there's no doubt
about that.

Speaker 4 (02:07:35):
It's also been involved in the passing game. Here tonight,
two catches for thirteen yards and here's Butler again, Thomas
back out there. They stay in the heavy formation, quarterback sneak,
drus bik, little touss push, touchdown bulldogs. They're back on top.
Eighteen to fourteen.

Speaker 6 (02:07:55):
There you go, And that's exactly when you go to
that that play right there, why not go to for
the touch push, get your quarterback into the end zone
and a really strong drive there for Butler, And with
the way that their defense has been playing, gotta feel
pretty good. This Olympic offense, which we knew was gonna
be predictable coming into the night, has been predictable the
whole way. But man, this second half, Butler's defense has

(02:08:18):
really responded, and so you have to feel pretty good
about that scoring drive.

Speaker 5 (02:08:21):
Just needed to get ahead if you were Butler. All right,
So Butler up by four, here.

Speaker 4 (02:08:25):
James Vastus, the placekicker, has had two extra points blocked tonight.
They've also struggled mightily in the punt game not to
place it all at his feet. But unsurprisingly, Butler will
go for two here. Now, a converted two point attempt
will only put them up by six, but six is
better than five, and when you consider the possibilities once

(02:08:47):
Olympic gets the football back, so again drews Bick, He'll
go from the left hash under center. Drews Bick turns
fakes to give to nearly tackled, throws it wide, opening
the end zone and dropped number eighty. Julio Kandy was

(02:09:10):
there and could not hang on. Unfortunate way for that
play to end. It was well designed and drews Bik
did well for himself to get out of trouble. The
play action fake fooled no one, but drus Bik was
able to get away from the clutches of the defender
put the ball on target Anthony, but Kandy couldn't bring
it in.

Speaker 6 (02:09:29):
Yeah, I mean it was right there, Julio Kande wide
open and unfortunately drops that pass. Their great play design,
although for a second I thought it was gonna take
too long to develop. It looked like drews Beek was
under a ton of pressure there, but he gets out
a perfect throw. It just goes right off the hands
of Julio Kande, maybe a little bit high from Dreus
Bik just a little bit, but you get both hands

(02:09:50):
on the ball, you gotta be able to haul that in.
But I do like that the fact that they did
go for two there with all the special teams issues,
that they've had chance to go up by six, like
that aggressiveness from Brian Hales.

Speaker 4 (02:10:02):
We have another Olympic trojan down on the field dealing
with cramping right now.

Speaker 6 (02:10:08):
Looks like two players on the field. I think it
might both, but they might both be from Olympic.

Speaker 4 (02:10:17):
Uh, you're right about that. One is currently walking off
and that's number twenty one, Connor Lewis, so he's up
and moving.

Speaker 6 (02:10:29):
Seems like every member of their secondary at some point
tonight has gone down with some sort of cramping. So
certainly something that Brandon Thompson, I mean, with as many
cramps as they've had tonight, So that is certainly something
Brandon Thompson is going to want to coach his guys
on no doubt about it moving forward, because he can't
have this many cramps, especially later on in the season

(02:10:50):
where if you miss a player two like that it
could be crucial.

Speaker 4 (02:10:52):
Yeah, that's going to be a conversation next week at practice.
There's no question about it. The player in question still
down on the field at the thirteen yard line, and
we have had numerous delays here in the second half
for this very reason.

Speaker 5 (02:11:10):
And I believe the player is well. I thought he
was going to try to get up.

Speaker 4 (02:11:14):
It looks to me like he's cramping in both legs.

Speaker 5 (02:11:18):
And that's Number.

Speaker 4 (02:11:19):
Nine, Cary Fraser, the senior linebacker and defensive lineman. And
Cary's taken his shoulder pads off out there on the field.

Speaker 5 (02:11:32):
Yeah, that's not a great sign at all. We'll step
aside quickly.

Speaker 4 (02:11:38):
Eighteen fourteen, the Butler Bulldogs have retaken the lead here
at Charlotte Kickoff Night powered by Ortho Carolina.

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Speaker 5 (02:12:43):
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Speaker 4 (02:12:52):
Butler set to kick the football back after taking back
the lead Mason Rassamana with a kickoff there and the
quarterback slash kick returner Zayer Smith in trouble and he's
dropped it the three yard line on that kickoff. What

(02:13:12):
a disaster for Olympic as they get the football back.

Speaker 6 (02:13:15):
The thing is what happened was he thought the ball
was gonna go out of bounds. It bounces short of
him and then kind of takes a weird hop back
in towards the field, and so all of a sudden,
Zier Smith has to just fall on it because he
was close to not even having possession of the ball.
That's a live ball. If Butler picks it up, they
get the football. So what a great job, great execution.

(02:13:39):
They are on that one from Butler and now has
Olympic trap deep in their own zone. They're gonna have
to go a long way if they want to try
to retake the lead.

Speaker 4 (02:13:46):
Here, the ball's on the four yard line, Olympic moving
right to left, they're on the far side.

Speaker 5 (02:13:52):
Hash high snap handled by Smith.

Speaker 4 (02:13:54):
Smith immediately starts looking for running lanes around the right
side and dives out to the seven yard line. That's
a gain of three for Zayer Smith, who, again, if
you just tune again, is to backup quarterback on this team,
but got the start tonight because Chance Cato two injured
to play and Smith is up to one hundred and
thirty three yards rushing here in this one, but.

Speaker 5 (02:14:15):
He had one hundred and seventeen at the half. Kyle.

Speaker 6 (02:14:18):
That's the thing is he's only got sixteen here in
the second half. This Butler team has done a much
better job in the second half.

Speaker 5 (02:14:25):
Of defending him.

Speaker 6 (02:14:26):
I think the linebackers have done a really good job
of filling those gaps as the night has gone along,
and that's why we're at where we're at. Great play
there by Zaier Smith on a high snap, but still
second and seven. He's gonna run it again around the
right side, and Butler's defense they've wisened up a bit
containing the edge that time, and Smith had nowhere to go,

(02:14:48):
tackled after a gain of one yard, and he's now
up to twenty five carries on the night.

Speaker 5 (02:14:55):
Man, that is a crazy amount for a quarterback.

Speaker 6 (02:14:58):
I mean, I thought for sure, even with the fact
that he was in there at quarterback, I thought we
would definitely see a lot of handoffs to Bryce Nixon,
but we have not. They've put it in his hands
for most of the night and he's really controlling everything.

Speaker 5 (02:15:10):
Another third and long.

Speaker 4 (02:15:11):
Though, third and six here for Olympic and the run
goes nowhere.

Speaker 5 (02:15:14):
This time.

Speaker 4 (02:15:15):
It's a gift to Bryce Nixon looking for room up
the middle, but the Bulldog defense converges and they drop
him after a gain of one yard. It brings up
fourth down and four to go four and Olympic will
have to punt the football away.

Speaker 5 (02:15:31):
It looked like Tyler den involved again.

Speaker 6 (02:15:33):
There Legend Lockwood coming up to make a play, and
this is the thing. Butler has just found a way
too slowly take over this game defensively, and Olympic has
no answers. They can't throw the football right now with
Zier Smith in there at quarterback, and if they aren't
able to run it, then there's really nothing you can do.

Speaker 5 (02:15:52):
It's weird, Kyle.

Speaker 6 (02:15:53):
We thought the way that the offensive line was going
in that first half, they'd be able to wear down Butler.

Speaker 5 (02:15:59):
They've almost kind of warn themselves out.

Speaker 4 (02:16:01):
They just get the snap off in time, vont punts
it short punt, hits with a big hop out to
the forty yard line and rolls out of bounds at
the forty four. We'll call it the forty three, but
still incredible field position for the Butler Bulldogs and they
lead it eighteen to fourteen with nine to seventeen left

(02:16:23):
to play. They took the lead back minutes ago on
a rushing touchdown by quarterback Tyler Drusbik, who's been in
and out of this game tonight. They've been unable to
convert a pat or a two point conversion, but somehow
still lead and are now set up with sweet field
position with nine to seventeen left to go coming down

(02:16:45):
the stretch here, and you'd have to think a touchdown
here would just put enormous pressure on Olympics offense.

Speaker 6 (02:16:51):
Yeah, at that point, I mean, it feels like the
game would almost be over because you'd need two significant
drives and with them only running the football, that's gonna
melt the off the clock.

Speaker 5 (02:17:00):
So this is a big possession for Butler.

Speaker 6 (02:17:03):
If they're able to find a touchdown here, you have
to feel like you might end the game on that one.

Speaker 4 (02:17:08):
And Brian Hales, if his team can find a way
to get out of here with a win tonight, for
a guy who's been around a long time, there was
a lot about the game of football. There's one thing
I know about football coaches. There's nothing more than that
they love than a win with a lot of mistakes
they can teach the tape on. Oh what I mean, Yeah,
oh exactly, And I mean especially for a team like Butler,

(02:17:30):
who he know plays a tough schedule every single year.

Speaker 6 (02:17:33):
You know that he's gonna want that. It looks like
a penalty was called somewhere along the way too, because
they've moved the ball up here.

Speaker 4 (02:17:40):
To the twenty seven yard line. That's a fifteen yard
penalty against Olympic. And now it's first and ten. Butler
from the Trojan twenty seven.

Speaker 6 (02:17:51):
Going back to that wing te formation, Colberson in motion
to give around the right side to Pollard. Pollard has
a whole break tackle, make it two, make it three,
inside the fifteen down to the twelve yard line. A
fifteen yard run for Donovan Pollard on first and ten. Yeah,
I love that right there, because what it was was

(02:18:13):
they sent the player in motion from the left side
or from the right side of the formation, looking as
if they were going to run left, where they've had
a lot of success for most of the evening. And
then they say, you know what, We're gonna hand it
off to the right side. See if we can create
something there, and you do, great job, great misdirection play
there by Butler, and it picks up a first.

Speaker 5 (02:18:34):
Down and you're right.

Speaker 4 (02:18:37):
The wing tea that Jets sweep like action. Those wing
backs guys going in motion, a lot of misdirection, a
lot of eye candy, as you'll hear coaches call it,
just trying to get the eyes of the defense moving
in a lot of different directions pre snap to keep
them on their heels. And we've seen Brian Hailes deploy
a lot of that here the second half.

Speaker 6 (02:18:55):
Yeah, and look, the wing tea is not the sexiest
formation in football. It's definitely not the second has a
way to play football, but it's effective here tonight, and
they've done a good job of running on those edges.
That's what they need to keep doing here if they
want to find a way to get into the inZone.

Speaker 4 (02:19:10):
Well, on the one side, with Butler, we've seen a
lot of wing tea. On the other side, it feels
a lot like the single wing, maybe a bit more
like Urban Meyers spreads you out, ground and pound up
at Ohio State. But on the Olympic side, it's been
nothing but running quarterback with a little bit of Bryce
Nixon sprinkled in. So in some ways this has been
a throwback football game, although the pace of the second

(02:19:31):
half might not indicate that. Yeah, there's no doubt about that.
And with nine minutes, eight seconds left to go. Both
teams are back on the field. First down and ten
from the twelve yard line. Butler can pick up one
more first down here druz Bic under center.

Speaker 5 (02:19:50):
It's a give to Starling.

Speaker 4 (02:19:51):
Starlink has blockers cut down and dives forward for the
ten yard line. Play made by number ten Kenyon White.

Speaker 5 (02:20:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (02:20:01):
Good job by Kenyan White out there in space, just
bringing him down again.

Speaker 5 (02:20:05):
They're trying to get to the edges.

Speaker 6 (02:20:06):
That's where they've had the most success, and so it's
gonna be on Olympic to be able to stop them
out in space, and they're.

Speaker 4 (02:20:14):
On the near side. Hash second down and eight coming
up here. Drus Bik back of the gun, turns it,
hands off to Thomas. Thomas delivers a punishing blow to
a defender, charges inside the five down to the two
yard line.

Speaker 5 (02:20:27):
Wow.

Speaker 6 (02:20:27):
Pretty much what we've been seeing from him here is
the night is worn down. We've seen him basically just
run through guys the entire night, and I think that
really is starting to wear a little bit on this
Olympic defense.

Speaker 4 (02:20:38):
They actually spot him at the three, so it's a
seven yard game for Thomas.

Speaker 5 (02:20:43):
The ball came loose?

Speaker 4 (02:20:45):
Is it still on the field an Olympic has Wow,
the ball came loose in the pile. I'm not even
sure who fumbled the football, are you?

Speaker 5 (02:20:55):
I think it was.

Speaker 6 (02:20:56):
Demarra Demorian Thomas. I think he was once again the
guy that took the handoff. There was trying to fight
for extra yards. They didn't blow the play dead, and
one of the Olympic players just rips the ball out
and then it was just absolute chaos. It looked like
there was a chance for drews Beek to be able
to jump on it. He can't get on top of it.
And finally an Olympic player jumps on it. What a

(02:21:18):
swing right here, because we thought Butler was going in
to potentially put this game away, and now all of
a sudden, Olympic has the football back.

Speaker 4 (02:21:25):
Eighth three on the clock, eighteen to fourteen, Butler still leading.
But as Anthony just said, a chaotic turn of events
gives Olympic new life. Although they'll have to drive ninety
seven yards down the field if they intend to score.

Speaker 5 (02:21:42):
Although I do need to point.

Speaker 4 (02:21:43):
Out they do have a capable field goal kicker in
Zeliah something that Michael Hale or rather Brian Hales and
Butler have not been able to depend on tonight. Although
a field goal will not tie this game up. Just
want to point that out. Down in ten for Zahir
Smith from the three, moving right to left near side,

(02:22:05):
Hash takes the snap, sprint's right, stretching it out around
the corner, and he's pushed to the sideline, knocked out
of bounds. Actually, they're gonna keep the clock running here.
Brought down at the six yard line and it.

Speaker 5 (02:22:19):
Looked like he slid in bounds.

Speaker 6 (02:22:21):
Really a smart play there, just to slide because he
was gonna take a big hit if he didn't.

Speaker 5 (02:22:25):
So that's the reason why the clock is still ticking.

Speaker 6 (02:22:28):
Little bit of space around that right side, but not
too much again, Butler swarming to the football.

Speaker 5 (02:22:33):
We've seen that all second half.

Speaker 4 (02:22:35):
Three yard game for Smith on first down, second and
seven now from the Olympics six, still in the shadow
of their own end zone, Smith checks to play to
the sideline. Another run to the right. He's got some
help out across the ten. It looks to be tackled

(02:22:56):
short of the line. To game they need the fourteen
the yard line, actually the thirteen, pardon me, and the
play stopped at the twelve, but it's effective.

Speaker 6 (02:23:05):
It still gets you into third and short, and that's
ultimately what you're looking for here. If you're Olympic, if
you've got to be in third down scenarios, you want
to have these third and short opportunities here. So you've
got a chance right here at this point, I mean,
is it four down territory right here? I mean, I
don't know how many times you're gonna get the football back.

Speaker 5 (02:23:24):
In this game. It's tough to say.

Speaker 4 (02:23:25):
Six forty on the clock, third down and one Smith
gives to Nixon up the gut, it's enough for a
Trojan first down out to the sixteen yard line.

Speaker 5 (02:23:35):
And again, that's something we need to see more of.

Speaker 6 (02:23:37):
They just have not run Dixon a lot or Nixon
a lot in this game.

Speaker 5 (02:23:41):
I mean, that's the thing. I don't even know.

Speaker 6 (02:23:42):
I can't even get his name perfectly correct because I
haven't used them enough. So I think at some point
you got to use your running back to help you
run the football a little bit here, and hopefully that's
what they're.

Speaker 4 (02:23:52):
Gonna do on this drive. First down and ten line
of scrimmage to sixteen line. The game twenty six they
go back to Nixon. They heard your call up the middle.
He goes again out to the eighteen yard line, just
a gain of two, and Butler's interior defensive line has
been stout here tonight.

Speaker 5 (02:24:13):
Yeah. Really in the second half.

Speaker 6 (02:24:15):
That first half they were getting worn down by those
guys up front, But that second half they have really
course corrected.

Speaker 5 (02:24:21):
And then look it's the same guys that are in there.

Speaker 6 (02:24:23):
They've really just done a much better job here as
this game has gone along. I mean, that seens some
some new guys that have rotated in, but for the
most part, it's that same group.

Speaker 5 (02:24:32):
They've just really stepped things up.

Speaker 4 (02:24:34):
Second down and eight five point forty on the clock.
Now smith sends a man in motion to give is
back to Nixon, and Nixon met with force in the backfield,
hit at the line of scrimmage and manages to fall
forward to the twenty yard line for a gain of two.

Speaker 6 (02:24:50):
Looked like Zach Enos off the edge, ends up winning
his one on one matchup right there and gets into
the backfield and drops the running back for a loss there.
Great by him, and now it creates third and long
here for Olympic. The situation that you wanted to stay
out of all night.

Speaker 4 (02:25:07):
Third and six, approaching five minutes to play, Butler leading
Olympic eighteen to fourteen Bulldogs were marching in for what
appeared to be the nail and the coffin at the
goal line, but fumbled it back to the Trojans and
Olympic has new life. Zyre Smith takes the shotgun snap,
looking for room up the middle, finds a little bit

(02:25:29):
of space, but only a couple of yards. It's a
gain of three and it brings up a crucial fourth
down in three.

Speaker 5 (02:25:36):
Yeah, I think here you got to go for it.

Speaker 6 (02:25:38):
I mean, you're under five minutes already, but you would
have to give the ball back to Butler, who knows
where you would get the ball, you know after that,
and you're a team that likes.

Speaker 5 (02:25:48):
To run the football. You're still running the ball right here.

Speaker 6 (02:25:50):
You've got to pick up the first down here, keep
this drive going.

Speaker 4 (02:25:54):
This is really your last shot. I wish we could
tell you the timeout situation. They don't have it on
the scoreboard here tonight, Ziro Smith looking to his sideline,
Brandon Thompson, his head coach, using a time out. A
critical fourth down and three coming up when we returned.

(02:26:15):
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Speaker 10 (02:26:19):
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(02:27:06):
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Speaker 4 (02:27:19):
A crucial fourth down and the Trojans come up empty.
I'm not sure what the play call was there. Zyre
Smith took the snap fake to run up the middle,
then looked to throw it, found himself in trouble, tried
to get rid of the ball at the last second
and it flutters incomplete and a turnover on downs for
the Olympic Trojans, who trailed the Bulldogs eighteen to fourteen.

(02:27:42):
Anthony pag Nada here with me late in the fourth quarter,
Butler takes the football back at the twenty three yard
line and it's just if your Olympic you're so limited
right there. I was wondering what Brandon Thompson would come
out with, and it seems that that's the best they
could muster. Well, I think what they were trying to
do is they were telling just run the football there.

Speaker 5 (02:28:01):
He ends up seeing there's nothing there.

Speaker 6 (02:28:03):
Let me try to make a play with my arms,
see if I can find one of my receivers. But
I mean, that's just been in the night with how
limited you are offensively tonight for Olympic and there's.

Speaker 4 (02:28:14):
A little Jets sweep around the left side. Donovan Pollard
stays in bounds or did he touchdown? Butler Bulldogs first play,
they decide to put it away from twenty three yards out,
Donovan Pollard with the nail in the coffin of the
Olympic Trojans.

Speaker 6 (02:28:35):
And what do they do right there, Kyle, They've done
what we've been talking about them doing all night long,
which is put the ball in the hands of the
jet sweep man on that wing tee formation. They do
it once again right there. Pollard finds his way into
the end zone, makes a couple of guys miss. Great
play is on there, and this is a touchdown that, yeah,

(02:28:56):
I believe is going to stand. They haven't added the
points to the scoreboard a couple of minutes ago as well,
so yeah, so I would believe that it is gonna stand.
Here looks like they're gonna attempt to kick it here
for an extra point, and you might as well try
to get this special teams group on track here. Yeah,
and hasn't been a great night for him, but let's

(02:29:16):
see if you can't get something positive for them to
close it out.

Speaker 5 (02:29:19):
Look down here on the field.

Speaker 6 (02:29:22):
As the extra point is good, a rousing round of
applause from the Butler fans as well, very excited that
they could execute a kick. How about that twenty five
to fourteen your new score. I just looked down on
the sideline.

Speaker 4 (02:29:32):
Here, Sam Grinder, head coach of the West Charlotte Lyons,
is walking down the sideline in attendance tonight for the game,
shaking hands and tapping up the Butler sideline as the
Bulldogs have put themselves in a great position to start
the season one to oh.

Speaker 5 (02:29:47):
Well yeah, and that's hey, that's better than tuck.

Speaker 6 (02:29:50):
Fortunately, Sam Grinder can say for his team, even though
we believe that his team may have gotten a little
I'm not gonna say screwed, but certainly it definitely feels
like they were missdone at the end of that game
last night.

Speaker 4 (02:30:05):
Yeah, that was the case if you were with us
the Key Pounding Classic at Bank of America Stadium, the
second game in overtime Sam Grinder's team. Let me also
point out that Grimsley went up twenty one to thirteen
late in regulation and with about two minutes or I
guess a minute and a half left to go, a
lot of the West Charlotte crowd started to file out
a bank out of the bank and with ninety five

(02:30:26):
seconds left to go in no timeouts, their quarterback Jamuriy Nichols,
marched them down the field, scored a touchdown and then
converted the two point try to tie the game at
twenty one apiece to force overtime. With eight seconds left,
we go to overtime. Faizon Brandon and Grimsley score first
to make it twenty eight to twenty one. Jamury Nichols
and the offense score immediately on the first play, a

(02:30:48):
ten yard touchdown run to make it twenty eight to
twenty seven. One of the coolest things I've ever seen.
The entire crowd, much of them had come back from
the concourse after leaving their seats, immediately threw their fingers
up and all said two. They all wanted Sam Grinder,
who we just saw to go for two in the
win last night. And on that try there was what
appeared to me and my partner JJ Jansen and our

(02:31:11):
friend Anthony Pagnada here who was keeping stats and engineering
last night, that it was an off side penalty against Grimsley,
but instead it was a false start call against West Charlotte.
The replay, I thought, showed the opposite and it moved
him back to I guess the seven yard line, and
West Charlotte could not convert ballgame.

Speaker 5 (02:31:28):
Grimsley wins it. But that wasn't the only call.

Speaker 4 (02:31:31):
The murkeeem Finch fumble in the fourth quarter, I thought
it was highly questionable as well.

Speaker 5 (02:31:36):
I thought he was down, so did JJ. Yeah, unfortunately.

Speaker 6 (02:31:39):
I mean and look, these refs say, maybe that was
a little bit harsh the way that I went at it,
But I mean, the thing is is that these refs.

Speaker 5 (02:31:45):
Don't have the ability to go to relay.

Speaker 6 (02:31:47):
That's what's different from the college level from the NFL level,
where these guys, yeah, okay, they go under the hood,
they look and still come out with the same call.
We're saying, WHOA, what's going on here? So it's a
tough job, there's no doubt about it. It's just if
you're West Charlotte you have to feel hard done by
because you were right there. You had a chance. That
was such a crucial call, and if it goes the

(02:32:09):
other direction, you're getting a chance from the one yard
line with a mobile quarterback that had been having a
great night to potentially score a game tying two point conversion.

Speaker 5 (02:32:18):
So it was a tough way for that game to end.

Speaker 6 (02:32:21):
But I love the fact that Griner and the guys
were aggressive enough to go for two. I thought that
was the right call at the time, no doubt about it.

Speaker 4 (02:32:28):
Olympics got the football back first and ten at the
twenty and near calamity right there is Iyres Smith rolling
out to his left, tried to flip it out to
number four Sean Hertzog, Heartzog, pardon me, and it turned
into a brief tip drill eventually falls incomplete.

Speaker 5 (02:32:46):
Clock stops at three point forty one.

Speaker 6 (02:32:48):
That's the first time we've seen Hertzog out there on offense,
so that's certainly interesting that they threw him out there
just trying anything at this point to try to get
any sort of momentum going. Look, there's still three forty
one to go. We've seen crazier things happen. But the
thing is they've just got no passing game right now,
so it's hard to see them mounting some sort of

(02:33:08):
drive here.

Speaker 4 (02:33:10):
Second down and ten, the handoff to Bryce Nixon off
the right side doesn't go for much, maybe a gain
of three, and now the clock starts to churn again.
Three and a half to play, twenty five to fourteen.
Butler on top of Olympic Here on the opener Charlotte
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(02:33:53):
straight drop, and Zyre Smith slips and as he's falling,
tries to throw it to number three Rice Nixon coming
across the field, but incomplete well off the mark and
the clock stops at two fifty four with fourth down
and seven coming up.

Speaker 6 (02:34:11):
Yeah, and they're just gonna give Zaire Smith a little
bit of mercy here. You know, he gave it as
all out there tonight, incredibly successful. I mean, how many
carries is he up to now, Kyle, He's got to
be at about twenty seven somewhere in that neighborhood. I mean,
that is absolutely crazy for your quarterback to carry that
amount of times. He's had a pretty successful night overall,

(02:34:32):
but unfortunately, because of the situation that you're in, your
offense just became a little bit too predictable at the
end of the game. Butler responded in the second half,
credit to Brian Hales. Whatever he said in that locker
room really sunk in with those guys. They were tremendous
in this second half.

Speaker 4 (02:34:48):
Defensively, delay of game against the Olympic there, Well, back
them up five more yards. You're right by the way
I have him in twenty seven carries on the night.

Speaker 5 (02:34:59):
Yeah, I mean twenty seven carries.

Speaker 3 (02:35:01):
What is it?

Speaker 5 (02:35:02):
A buck forty five?

Speaker 6 (02:35:03):
I think he's got so far tonight, I mean any
other time that's incredibly successful, especially for him as a
running back.

Speaker 5 (02:35:10):
And this is the thing.

Speaker 6 (02:35:11):
When they get their quarterback back, when they get Chance
Cato back, you've got Zayer Smith in the backfield along
with Bryce Nixon, you feel pretty good about that backfield.
But tonight it was just a lot on the plate
of Zayer Smith having to put him out there again.
First half it looked really great, but once Butler sort
of got a feel for what you were doing, they

(02:35:31):
were able to make adjustments. And that offensive line that
was so successful in the first half. Really just seemed
like they got worn down by how many times they
ran the football early, sure.

Speaker 5 (02:35:40):
Sure did.

Speaker 4 (02:35:41):
An Olympic will come back out to punt the football here.
The Bulldogs will take over with about two minutes to
play and should be able to kneel it away given
the fact that Brandon Thompson, as you just said a
moment ago, it's going to show some mercy on his
young running back slash backup quarterback here tonight slash kick returner.

Speaker 5 (02:35:59):
I might add flash safety, flash safety. Yea, he's been
out there on the defensive side of the ball too.
He's been doing everything for you.

Speaker 4 (02:36:05):
I mean, I think even Travis Hunter would be impressed
by this. And as Olympic punts the football, DJ Starling
awaits standing at the forty five of Olympic takes a
high hop and turns out of bounds at about the
forty two. So the Bulldogs will take over first and
ten with twoh eight left to play.

Speaker 5 (02:36:27):
You know, with.

Speaker 4 (02:36:27):
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(02:36:49):
their coaches, and the surrounding Carolina community. Learn more about
Ortho Carolina at Ortho Carolina dot com. Stick around for
the postgame show. We'll wrap things up quickly here from
Memorial Stadium. As Tyler Drews Beck is out with the
offense to try to put a bow on a win,
handoff goes to DJ Starling on a sweep coming near side.

Speaker 5 (02:37:10):
Two flags fly in at the end of the place.

Speaker 6 (02:37:13):
Yeah, I'm much working there again in that wing t formation,
trying that jet sweep, but hand it off to the
guy that's not in motion. Try to go to that
right side, and they call holding on the offense, and
so that'll back Butler up a little bit more. Ultimately,
they don't care, just trying to waste time off the
clock here.

Speaker 4 (02:37:34):
Absolutely, make sure to tune in first thing Monday morning
here on wfn Z, especially if you like a little
bit of Josh Marlow on your radio, but also Mack
and Bone six am.

Speaker 5 (02:37:47):
Yeah, please don't put him as the headliner. There won't
be many people to it.

Speaker 4 (02:37:52):
Six am Monday morning, Mac and Bone Show followed by
Charlotte Sports Today.

Speaker 6 (02:37:57):
West and Walker could be talking about some cuts. Kyle
could be talking about some Panther cuts on Monday.

Speaker 4 (02:38:05):
I think we will be shotgun snap back to drus
Bic who hands off to tomoriy and Thomas Thomas up
the middle, has room and are you kidding me? To
Marion Thomas with an exclamation point fifty two yard touchdown
run to make the score look a little bit worse

(02:38:25):
than things have been throughout the night. It's thirty one
to fourteen.

Speaker 6 (02:38:29):
Wow, a much closer game than the final score is
gonna suggest. But I'll tell you Demoran Thomas has been
really good.

Speaker 5 (02:38:35):
We've talked about the running game for Olympic.

Speaker 6 (02:38:37):
I think they found themselves a running back here at Butler,
and he's had some big plays to really run up
that rushing total. But I mean a real physical back
as well. I really like what we've seen from him
so far in this game.

Speaker 4 (02:38:49):
Couldn't agree more. He's got touchdown runs of sixty nine
and now fifty two yards tonight one fifty four on
the ground, Mario on Thomas averaging eleven point eight yards
per carry. Is James Vastus hits consecutive extra points here?

Speaker 6 (02:39:08):
Yeah, I mean, I think and that's the good thing
about going being having a lead like this is they've
just gone back to the kicking game. Now you've had
two successful reps on that side of the ball. That's
huge And this is exactly what you needed if you
were Butler. This was a game that you absolutely needed
with the schedule that you have coming up. We'll talk
about it a little bit later, but yeah, this is

(02:39:28):
certainly a huge, huge win for the Butler Bulldogs and
one that Brian Hales is going to be very happy
about as he tries to get this program turned right
back in the right direction after one down year.

Speaker 5 (02:39:40):
Yeah, well said right there.

Speaker 4 (02:39:41):
Thirty two to fourteen with one twenty nine left to play.
I'll be curious to see if Brandon Thomas, Brandon Thompson
itlects to run some plays here or kneel on the football.
Given the fact that they wave the white flag.

Speaker 6 (02:39:55):
At this point, I would just just swave the white
flag for I give your orderback arrest here man he
has been through a lot so far. But I mean, look,
if they're trying to get some sort of positive play
here to end it, maybe hit a big run something
like that. That would be understandable as well. Again, we
don't know how long they're gonna have to run their
offense like this. Is this going to be multiple weeks

(02:40:18):
of having to run this offense or was it just
a one off? Hopefully for their sake it is just
a one off and they will be able to get
Chance Cato back next week.

Speaker 4 (02:40:26):
There's the kickoff from ross Amato caught by the quarterbacks
last kick returner. He's a here smith who is going
to be I think sore tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (02:40:39):
I'm sore just watching.

Speaker 4 (02:40:41):
Them, although I've forgotten what it feels like to be
seventeen years old, so maybe not. But that kickoff return
doesn't go for much, and the Olympic offense will trot
back out on the field one final time.

Speaker 5 (02:41:01):
Yeah, we'll see what they'll do here.

Speaker 6 (02:41:03):
If i'm them again, I'm just trying to get out
of here. Let's focus on next week. Their schedule sets
up for them to be pretty successful, so that would
be my plan if I am the head coach of Olympic.

Speaker 5 (02:41:16):
It looks like they're lining up to run a play.
Potentially they are.

Speaker 4 (02:41:18):
It'll be a handoff to Bryce Nixon right up the
middle and Nixon no sense in getting hurt late in
this game.

Speaker 5 (02:41:28):
Yeah, just trying to take the clock down.

Speaker 6 (02:41:30):
And I think that's ultimately what their plan is, maybe
just wanting to still remain somewhat competitive. If there is
a play, a chance to break a play, why not
go for it. Of course, next week they've got a
game against Palisades that they're looking forward to. Palisades really
good football team last year, so that's gonna be another
tough one for Olympics. So again, it's all about figuring
out what you've got. How long is chance Cato out.

(02:41:53):
If he's out for a significant period of time, then
you've got to find a way to win it with
these with this running game. And I just don't know
if that's with how predictable it is, if that is.

Speaker 5 (02:42:03):
Actually going to be the case for Olympic.

Speaker 4 (02:42:06):
Swing passed out to Comron Cuthbertson ends with a big
hit and a Butler celebration as the clock continues to
wind down. Twenty five seconds now, and they could take
the clock pretty much all the way down to zero,
and the play clock has been turned off. They'll let

(02:42:27):
the game clock run all the way down.

Speaker 5 (02:42:28):
That'll do it. Final score.

Speaker 4 (02:42:30):
Butler wins it thirty two to fourteen, and the Bulldogs
improved to one to zero on the season. In Brian
Hale's return to the sideline, Brandon Thompson and the Trojans
fought valiantly without their starting quarterback Chance Coda and without
their tight ends. And as Anthony just said, they'll try

(02:42:51):
to get back at it next week, potentially more healthy
than they were here for the opener. We'll come back.
We'll wrap up the postgame coverage. Thirty two to fourteen.
Butler gets the win at Charlotte Kickoff Night powered by
Ortho Carolina.

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Sure listening to Charlotte Kickoff Night on Sports Radio ninety
two point seven dow UFNZ.

Speaker 4 (02:46:26):
Butler beats Olympic thirty two to fourteen. Here in the
opener Charlotte Kickoff Night powered by Ortho Carolina right here
on Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ. We appreciate
their partnership and them having us out once again here
in twenty twenty five, and I'm sure Brian Hales appreciates
his team sticking to it after a first half that
was no doubt frustrating Anthony Pagnatda, but the Bulldogs found

(02:46:48):
away there in the second half.

Speaker 6 (02:46:49):
Yeah, great job by Tyler drews back too of bouncing
back in the second half once they put him back
in there quarterback. I think he was able to move
the offense pretty consistently, but that run game really was
the difference in the second half. A couple of big
plays throughout the night as well, those explosive plays that
Olympic just wasn't able to limit. Give the credit due
to Butler who stood up tonight and put together a

(02:47:11):
really good performance.

Speaker 4 (02:47:12):
Absolutely, make sure to stick around WFNZ. Pretty much always
never change the station ever, there's no excuse for that,
but on Friday nights, especially as our high school football
covers ramps up, and we'll continue throughout the season, so
make sure to be here for some great matchups throughout
the course of the twenty twenty five high school football season.
That'll do it for us. We want to thank our producer,

(02:47:32):
Aaron Shropshire back in the WFNZ Chandler Volta Studios. To
our guy Colin Hoggard who always takes great care of us.
To Josh Marlow who was on the call for the
first game, engineering here in the second. And my partner
Anthony pag Nada. I'm Kyle Bailey. Final score again thirty
two to fourteen, Butler tops Olympic here at Memorial Stadium.
This has been Charlotte Kickoff Night, powered by Ortho Carolina

(02:47:54):
on Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ