Football Preview: Saddle Brook Falcons vs. Butler Bulldogs
The Saddle Brook Falcons will hit the road for the first time this season to challenge the Butler Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Saddle Brook is headed out to face Butler after opening their season at home and giving their fans just what they were looking for. Saddle Brook walked away with a 34-22 win over Secaucus on Saturday.
Saddle Brook relied on the efforts of Nikolos Vitiello, who rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns, and Dylan Cerciello, who rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown. Vitiello also put in work on the defensive side of the ball, forcing a fumble, making six total tackles, and defending a pass in addition to snagging an interception.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Saddle Brook was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 317 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 157 rushing yards in seven consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Saddle Brook's defense and their five sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Jayden Gatyas and Logan O?Brien who racked up all five sacks between them. The dominant performance gave him a new career- in total yards.
Meanwhile, Butler had to kick off their season on the road on Friday, but they showed no ill effects. Their defense stepped up to hand Hawthorne a 47-0 shutout. The contest was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Bulldogs had established a 41 point advantage.
A big part of the victory came down to the chemistry between David Smith and his top target Pj Coffey. Smith threw for 116 yards and three touchdowns while Coffey gained 94 total yards and four touchdowns.
Butler's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Max Reilly and Coffey.
Saddle Brook was taken down by Butler 40-0 when the teams last played back in September of 2019. Thankfully for Saddle Brook, Evan Smith (who threw for 245 yards and four touchdowns while completing 76.9% of his passes, and also punched in two touchdowns on the ground) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
