TIPP CITY – Following a 42-0 thumping at the hands of powerful Tippecanoe the previous week, the Vandalia-Butler Aviators were looking for better things at home when they hosted the Greenville Green Wave Friday evening. A combination of Hall of Fame Night, beautiful early fall weather, and a well-thought-out game plan provided the perfect elixir for Butler as they dominated the Wave in every category on the way to a 52-0 victory in Miami Valley League play.
Aviator Coach Zach Gueth has Greenville roots as he’s the grandson of former Wave Head Basketball Coach, the late Clarence Gueth, and the son of GHS grad Dan Gueth. His team displayed a balanced attack of passing and rushing that sliced and diced a Wave defense that’s been decimated by injuries to key personnel over the past few weeks.
Butler’s first possession resulted in an eight-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Drew Seuss to running back Jace Love, with Heath Thompson’s extra point putting the home team up 7-0 at the 6:10 mark of the opening quarter. The Wave’s Ethan Zimmer then had a punt blocked on the next series with Butler recovering at the Greenville 18-yard line. The next play saw Seuss connect with receiver Lucas Miller for another scoring strike and it was quickly 14-0 following the conversion.
Things went south again for the Wave as Love, the MVL’s leading per-game rusher, romped 46 yards to put the Aviators up 21-0 with 0:27 left in the opening stanza.
With Wave running back Gage Denham, bothered by a leg injury the past few games, once again being sent to the sideline following a play late in the first quarter, the Green and White’s offense came to a standstill for the remainder of the first half. Butler took advantage of field position and tacked on two more touchdowns before intermission with Kash Jordan hauling in a 32-yard pass from Suess and Love adding another on a 13-yard jaunt to paydirt. Thompson also converted a 30-yard field goal to make the halftime score 38-0 in favor of the Purple and Gold.
A running clock was in play for the remainder of the game as Butler added two additional scores on a two-yard gallop by Tanner Jackson and a four-yard run by Jaydon Fields to account for the final score of 52-0 as both teams basically featured younger players.
Greenville did have a few bright spots as junior punter Zimmer averaged 44 yards per punt with a long of 58 yards to go along with three solo tackles on defense while sophomore Ayden Young had three carries for 23 yards in the second half and freshman Caden Jones tacked on 32 yards on six carries.
For Butler, Suess was 8 of 10 passing for 110 yards and three touchdowns while Love scored twice while rushing for 109 yards. With the win Butler advances to 5-1 overall (4-1 MVL) and next travels to Troy for a huge contest with the Trojans.
Greenville falls to 1-5 (1-4) with the loss and Head Coach Steve Channell will hope for some of his walking wounded to be ready in time for Homecoming at Alumni Stadium as the Wave tangle with longtime rival Sidney in the annual “Battle for the Little Brown Jug”, a trophy which has been in Wave possession since last year’s victory.
