East Butler wins big in a battle of the unbeatens.

East Butler quarterback Skyler Ratkovec (#4). A multi-talented football star.

East Butler wins big in a battle of the unbeatens.

by Bobby Mills (1000 Yard Guy)

It appeared that East Butler head coach Shawn Bilthoft had a photo of Nebraska City Lourdes 1000 yard rusher Kyle Francois in the locker blown up with a huge stop sign superimposed over it. The Tiger defense must have gotten the message loud and clear because the Knights star running back found several Maroon jerseys glued to his body the minute junior quarterback Hayden Miller fed him the ball.

The swarming, lateral moving specialists on that East Butler defense ate Francois (pronounced "fran-COYS") up in all but two of his 21 carries, limited the 1,290 yard rusher to just 45 yards on the night. Meanwhile, East Butler quarterback Skyler Ratkovec, who entered the game as a 1000 yard rusher and passer, picked apart the Lourdes Central Catholic defense with his pinpoint, tight spiral throws or his sideline to sideline, juking runs.

The end result was a resounding 52-18 win for East Butler, a Class D-1, District 1 Championship, and a trip to the postseason for the time in 7 years.

Things did not actually begin the way the Tigers would have liked. They took the opening drive the length the field before Ratkovec coughed up the football on Lourdes 1 yard line. But it didn't take long for the Tiger "D" to kick it in, stuffing the Knights on their first drive. Following a short Lourdes CC punt that carried only 25 yards to their own 28, it was bang, bang, then Skyler Ratkovec spotting tight end Tyler Kocian for a 17 yard TD strike. Ratkovec added the double PAT on a run and East Butler had an 8-0 1st quarter lead. The Lourdes defense actually stopped East Butler on the 10 yard line in that opening stanza to prevent another score.

The Tigers added a slick touchdown with 9:34 left in the 2nd when Ratkovec rolled to his right, then found big sophomore TE Trevor Havlovic for a 39 yard TD reception.

Nebraska City Lourdes did answer on the next drive when QB Hayden Miller connected with sophomore Thomas Ragland for a 27 yard scoring strike, cutting the Tiger lead to 16-6.

Less than a minute later, Ratkovec nailed big, 195 Talon Tesina for a 33 yard TD and just like that, the lead was back up to 24-6. The pinpoint passing East Butler quarterback then drive his team 51 yards, culminating with a 1 yard scoring plunge by 180 pound Trevor Havlovic. Ratkovec threw completions of 18 yards to Shane Rezac and 31 yards to Tesina during the drive. By halftime, the Tigers owned a 30-6 lead over the visiting 7-0 Lourdes CC crew.

East Butler scored on their opening drive of the 2nd half, Skyler Ratkovec sprinting the final 24 yards for the tally. The Tigers hit the board one more time in the 3rd quarter when Ratkovec rolled to his right, stopped, then located sophomore Havlovic who had slipped through the Knights defense and was all by his lonesome in the left flat. 56 yards later, Trevor had his 3rd touchdown of the night. With 1:07 on the clock in the 3rd quarter, East Butler had activated the running 35 point clock.

Lourdes tacked on two 4th quarter scores, one sending the clock back into regular mode, but a 7 yard Shane Rezac TD run by East Butler, kicked it back into the 35 point, running version.

The multi-talented Ratkovec compled 11 of 16 passes for 220 yards, 4 touchdowns and only one interception in the win. The senior field general also rushed 16 times for 121 yards and another touchdown. Sophomore Trevor Havlovic led the receivers with 5 catches, 105 yards and 2 TDs. Talon Tesina followed with 3 receptions, 71 yards and a touchdown.

Nebraska City Lourdes was forced to turn to the air in this game, a situation they had not been in this season to any extent. Matter of fact, QB Hayden Miller had thrown only 61 passes through the Knights first seven games, completing 33 of those for a nice 533 yards. On this night, Miller put the ball into the thick Dwight night air 28 times. He was good on 15 of those aerials for 245 yards, 2 TDs with only one pick. So in just one game, the junior quarterback threw for nearly half the passing yards he had accumulated in 7 previous outings. That just may come in handy during the playoffs for the Knights.

Both teams appear to have secured a playoff spot and will await tonight's final regular season game results to see what shakes out in those Class D-1 playoff parings, which should be announced late Saturday morning by the NSAA.

With so much emphasis focused on the talents of Tiger Quarterback Skyler Ratkovec, that East Butler defense is sometimes overlooked a bit. Don't kid yourself about that unit though, they are the real deal and some starters are just sophomores. That bunch knows how to wrap up tackle on every play. East Butler may be better than many people think, especially on defense.

....................................1........2........3........4..........F

Nebraska City Lourdes....0........6........0.......12.........18

East Butler.....................8......22......14.......8..........52

1st Quarter

EB - Kocian 18 pass from Ratkovec................PAT - Ratkovec Run.....8-0

2nd Quarter

EB - Havlovic 39 pass from Ratkovec..............PAT - Ratkovec Run....16-0

LCC - Ragland 27 pass from Miller..................PAT - Pass Failed........16-8

EB - Tesina 33 pass from Ratkovec.................PAT - Ratkovec Run....24-6

EB - Havlovic 1 Run......................................PAT - Run Failed..........30-6

3rd Quarter

EB - Ratkovec 24 Run...................................PAT - Run Failed..........36-6

EB - Havlovic 56 pass from Ratkovec.............PAT - Ratkovec pass to Havlovic....44-6

4th Quarter

LCC - Miller 13 Run......................................PAT - Run Failed...........44-12

EB - Rezac 7 Run.........................................PAT - Ratkovec Run.......52-12

LCC - Whitten 30 pass from Miller..................PAT - Run Failed...........52-18