Beech Tree News Network

Football fans in Butler County got their first look at the 2015 BCHS Bears on Friday night at the first--and possibly last--Northside vs Southside football scrimmage.

The game came about at the behest of the players, according to BCHS Head Coach Ryan Emmick. Emmick said his players had asked for the game for the past few seasons, but uneven rosters had prevented it until this year.

"Our roster is split pretty well between the two sides of the county this year, and the kids have been asking for it, so we decided to give it a shot,"said Emmick.

The game started with the Northside team at the 50-yard line. Quarterback Rex Henderson, projected as the varsity starter for 2015, quickly went to work for the team in all black. After two short completions, Henderson handed off to sophomore running back Ty Smith. Smith barreled through the center of the line for a long gain. After a Henderson completion to Jacob Hixenbaugh took the ball inside the ten yard line, Smith struck pay dirt with a short run to put the Northside up 7-0.

On the ensuing possession the Southside team--led by Blake Graham under center--began moving the ball, and appeared to be about to answer the Northside score. However on a second down play, Rex Henderson, playing at safety, jumped a passing route for an interception. Henderson broke a tackle, and wove his way through the defense for a walk-in touchdown to put the Northside up 14-0.

Graham and the Southside went back to work, and were able to cut the lead to 14-7 after a passing TD. The teams took a break for halftime with the game still in doubt.

Any hopes of a Southside comeback were put to rest early in the second half. Henderson and Hixenbaugh connected again on a long pass, which Hixenbaugh turned into a score by breaking a tackle and using some fancy footwork down the sidelines. After holding the Southside on the next possession the Northsiders tacked on another touchdown to make the score 28-7.

Reserves were put into the game for the closing possessions, but the scoring was over for the night, and the final score was 28-7 in favor of the Northside team.

After the game BCHS Head Coach Ryan Emmick was happy with how his team played, but found some areas of concern.

"We were sloppy with the ball. We put it on the ground a couple of times," said the coach. He told WLBQ's James White that he will have plenty of things to work on when he looks at the game film.

Emmick did praise several players for their efforts. According to Emmick, the emergence of sophomore Ty Smith will pay dividends at running back, along with the development of running back Dillon Brosnan.

"Ty (Smith) has grown up a lot and matured over the summer, that's what we needed from him," said Emmick. On Brosnan, Emmick said, "He's just a tough, hard-nosed football player. We need him to step up and be a leader this year."

Emmick was complementary of both his quarterbacks for the game. "Rex (Henderson) is really coming into his own right now. If something happens and we need to go with Blake (Graham) I have no doubt he can step up and run our offense for us."

Butler County's final scrimmage will be Friday night when the Bears travel to Caldwell County. The Bears open the regular season on Friday night, August 21st when they host the Cougars of Logan County.

Realignment of the schedule means that the Bears will travel to border rival Edmonson County in week 2, Friday, August 28th. The game will be the inaugural Serv-Pro Bowl. The game will now be played each year for an as yet to be determined traveling trophy.

Week three will start a tough four-game stretch for the Bears. They will host Russellville on September 4th, and will travel to Apollo High School on September 11th. The Bears return home on September 18th to host Grayson County before traveling to Owensboro Catholic on September 25th for a key district game. Hancock County will come to Morgantown for a district matchup on October 2nd, before having their final road game in a district tilt at McLean County on October 16th. The Bears will wrap up district play by hosting Todd County Central on October 23rd. The regular season finale and senior night will be October 30th when Ohio County visits Morgantown. Ohio County returns to the schedule in 2015 after a long layoff.

Follow the entire regular season and playoffs each week on WLBQ 101.5 FM with live coverage every Friday night. Tune to the Butler County Sports Jam on WLBQ each Wednesday night at 6 pm for in depth breakdowns of every game, and coverage of other BCHS sports.