Photos by Steven Wright | Greene County News

Xenia’s defense celebrates after a sack by junior Kale Webb (4) which secured a 25-17 win at Butler on Friday.

Junior Torian Hill (8) make the tackle on the perimeter to stop the Butler receiver.

The Xenia defense began to swarm Butler’s offense as the clock ticked down.

VANDALIA — It’s the greatest team win Xenia head coach Maurice Harden said a group he has coached completed.

Check out two sets of photos galleries here and here from the week five matchup between Xenia and Vandalia Butler.

He made sure his Buccaneers squad knew as much after its win Friday.

Xenia’s defense stepped up in the second half to help their side overcome a halftime deficit on the road and pull out a 25-17 win at Butler in a showdown of 4-0 Miami Valley League teams at Memorial Stadium.

“With the fact that we were down at halftime … I had 75 guys look at me in the face and I said to them, ‘What’s our motto?’” Harden said. “They told me, ‘Finish the fight.’ And they told me they were going to out and finish.”

The Buccaneers trailed 14-10 at halftime before turning the game in its favor by seeing its defense dig in its heels.

After Butler gained 161 first half yards, an amount which exceeded the season averaged allowed by Xenia during its first four games, the Aviators were held to 93 yards in the second half and only had two plays gain more than 10 yards. Xenia sacked Butler quarterback Mason Reckner four times in the fourth quarter, three occurring during Butler’s final drive.

A little good fortune helps too and Xenia found some on Butler’s opening possession of the second half. A pass attempt from Reckner was dropped at the goalline by his intended target, forcing a 46-yard field goal attempt which made the score 17-10 midway through the third quarter.

Xenia followed by marching down the field with run after run until Deaunte White scored from eight yards out to tie the score.

On the ensuing possession the Xenia defense forced Butler to punt for the first time all game at the start of the fourth quarter, and a big play by White afterward ensured that the game’s momentum had been flipped.

With the ball at midfield, a handoff saw White burst through a gap up the middle and into open field where he drifted to his right and outraced a safety to the pylon for the go-ahead touchdown and his third score of the game.

Xenia never attempted a pass in the second half and never saw a need. All 15 plays it ran stayed on the ground as they handed the ball off to White 12 times. For the game, White had 33 carries for 250 yards and three touchdowns.

“We depend on him a lot,” Harden said of White. “He brings that element of what we want to play as a style of football being physical. As far as being able to control the line of scrimmage and control the clock, when you do that it keeps them off the field and kind of wears on you.”

Butler got a final chance at tying the score with 3:24 left in the game. A sack by Cecil Piner forced a fourth-and-12 which Butler converted with a 28-yard pass play to extend the game. Kale Webb got another sack on the following play, forcing Butler to stop the clock with a spike and before throwing an incomplete pass. On fourth down with the Xenia sideline gearing up in excitement, in addition to its capacity crowd fans cheering loudly enough to make one believe Xenia was playing in its home stadium, Webb got after the quarterback again and sacked Reckner again to secure the win.

“We struggled early with them running the ball and taking shots down the field, but we kind of settled in,” Harden said. “We’re a bend but don’t break defense, and [Butch Snider] has the motto of make them snap it again, make them snap it again and if we do that it puts us in pretty good positions to be successful.”

The first four wins of 2024 saw Xenia mostly cruise through its competition. Facing its toughest opponent of the season on Friday, the Buccaneers had to overcome some early miscues as it settled into the game.

Xenia got the timing wrong on its first snap from scrimmage and nearly turned the ball over. It lead to a three-and-out which saw Butler afterward easily drive down the field to take a quick 7-0 lead.

The Aviators closed in on a two-score lead late in the first quarter using a mixture of play action and screen passes. Entering Xenia’s red zone, Cristian Corbett intercepted a pass at his own four yard line to stop the drive. The offense then got into a groove for the first time, using 17 plays to go 96 yards over nearly eight minutes of action to tie the score on White’s seven-yard scamper.

Miscommunication in the Xenia secondary allowed Butler to regain the lead shortly after as a receiver was able to find himself in the endzone with no defenders within 15 yards of him for a wide open touchdown pass.

Xenia’s next drive ended when Gavin McManus threw his first interception of the season, but the offense immediately got another chance when a sack on Butler’s first play also saw a fumble that Ronnie Butler recovered in the large pile of players. Sean Leonard connected on a 26-yard field goal seconds before halftime to cut into the lead.

“What we learned how to do today is becoming consistent and knowing you can’t make mistakes when you play a good football team,” Harden said. “Little things matter. Lining up right, staying onsides, just all the small stuff needs your focus.”

Xenia remains one of two undefeated teams in the MVL at 5-0, with the other being Tippecanoe. Those two teams are scheduled to face one another in the final week of the regular season.

There’s still half of the season to play with other potential landmines for both sides to avoid, but Xenia has established itself as one of the leading contenders to try and win its third league title in six seasons.

A year ago Xenia lost to Butler and saw its season spiral downhill. Harden said the team remembered that loss and made sure the rematch this year meant something, and he believes they were able to show themselves as contenders with a resilient win on Friday.

“We wanted to show to individuals, show to ourselves, show to our community that were a good football team,” he said. “We want to be back on top of the MVL, continue to keep pushing our kids in a position to be successful.”

See all of the week five scores for Greene County teams.

Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.

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