Beech Tree News Network

The Butler County Bears are hoping to build on a solid 2014 season that featured a 7-4 overall record, a 4-1 district record, and a trip to the Class 2A KHSAA Playoffs where they fell 18-14 to Ballard Memorial.
Butler County will open its 2015 season on Friday night, August 21, at home against border rival Logan County.  The Bears crushed the Cougars 41-0 last year.
Among those lost to graduation from the 2014 squad are Jake Martin, Drake Embry, Conner Reed, Peyton Bratcher, Mason Barks and Kaleb Deweese - all significant contributors to the team's success over the past few years.

Butler County head coach Ryan Emmick is looking for several players to step up this season, including offensive lineman Alfredo Gomez, linebacker Jacob Courtenay, running back Ian Embry and wide receiver/defensive Jacob Hixenbaugh.
According to Coach Emmick, speed should be one of his team's assets this season, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
"Defensively, we will have multiple looks, focusing on an even front but bringing more pressure packages and changing coverages," said Emmick.
"We will roll a lot of people to defense, especially on the line, to keep players fresh and attacking.  We must get 11 hats to the football because of our size.  This year we will play with speed and use our speed to our advantage."

With Rex Henderson anchoring the quarterback position, the Bears will have a familiar look offensively.
"Structurally, we will do what we do; we will run our 7 or 8 plays from multiple looks and continue to try to find improved execution," said Emmick.
Offensively, Butler County plans a balanced attack.
"Last Friday night in the scrimmage, we were 26 run, 25 pass.  That is what we want it to be but, of course, it will be dictated by what the defense gives us and where our strengths are," said Emmick. 
Henderson has several quality receivers from which to choose.  Included in the mix are Jacob Hixenbaugh, Ian Embry, Lake Cameron, Blake Graham, Gage Ward, Brendan Shanklin, Dalton Havens, Ryan Willis, Patton Allen, and Houston Hampton.
Butler County will be playing a challenging schedule this season.  With games against Russellville (8/28), one of the top teams in Class 1A, and the always-strong Owensboro Catholic (9/25) as a district foe, the Bears must bring their top game every Friday night.  Ohio County (10/30) is new to the schedule in 2015 and Edmonson County (9/4) returns as an annual opponent but much earlier in the year.

"Our schedule is tough top to bottom.  We play four teams who are in Class 5A or bigger and one of the top Class 1A teams in Russellville," said Emmick.  "Our district schedule is no slouch either.  Owensboro Catholic is still one of the best in the state and is the top contender in our district."
Other opponents include Apollo (9/11), Grayson County (9/18), Hancock County (10/2), McLean County (10/16), and Todd County Central (10/23).
Emmick believes his team is ready for the season, in part because of the work players put in during the off season.
"Our off-season workouts set the tone for our season.  We preach hard work and intensity and expect it to carry over into the season," said Emmick.  "The boys are in top shape and very competitive with one another and we expect this to carry us on throughout the season."
Returning the sidelines for Butler County this year will be several familiar faces.  Barry Frazier is the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator; Brandon Embry is the linebacker coach and defensive coordinator; Brian Bivens is the defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator; Myke Embry is the defensive line coach; Mark Allen is the freshmen head coach and director of football operations; Cody Donaldson is the statistics coordinator.
For now, Coach Emmick and the Bears have their focus entirely on Friday night and the Logan County Cougars.  Despite the Bears success in recent years over one of their border rivals, Coach Emmick sees an improved Logan County team - one his team must not overlook.

"Logan County is a solid football team with a great outlook on their season.  They are coming into the game Friday night after a year spent under the tutelage of Coach Duncan and are excited about what they have developed," said Emmick. "Logan is a veer team similar to what we have seen from Grayson County in the past few years.  We will be pressed early on to play responsibility football and to not get frustrated when we make the eventual mistakes we will make."
Emmick expects Logan's offensive line to be "very aggressive" and play "whistle to whistle."  "They have a very good fullback who is a tough runner and very hard to bring down.  This will be a very difficult task for our defense to slow down the Logan offense," added Emmick.  "Defensively, Logan will give us an even-front look.  We must know our blocking schemes and adjust quicker than what we did in the Caldwell scrimmage in order to get our running game going.  We must catch the ball much better against Logan than we did in our scrimmage as well," said Emmick. "This should be a tough match up against a much bigger school on Friday night.  Our out of district opponents are as tough as we have had in a while and we must step up each Friday night to meet the challenge."
Kickoff Friday night is set for 7 p.m.  The Morgantown Bank and Trust Pre-game Show will begin at 6:15 p.m. on The New Q 101.5 FM.  The game will be broadcast live with John Embry on play-by-play, Josh Scott with color commentary, and Cody Donaldson with color commentary and game-time statistics.  The PBI Bank Post Game Show will wrap up coverage following the game. 

Click the link below to access the 2015 BCHS Football Schedule: 

http://scoreboard.12dt.com/scoreboard/khsaa/kyfb15/?id=46309

BCHS Freshman and JV Football Schedule - 2015: 

BCHS JV-Frsh Football Schedules Fall 2015.docx

Team Stats from Caldwell County controlled scrimmage: 

Team Stats - Butler - Caldwell County - August 20 - 2015.docx

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Story by John Embry, Beech Tree News. 

Photos courtesy of Laurie Keen Photography
270-999-4173
www.lauriekeenphotography.com
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