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Bucyrus to Face a lot of Challenges

Click here to listen to an interview with coach Jon Butchko

 

          Bucyrus puts out the welcome mat for the Colonel Crawford Eagles in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game on Friday night.

          They are coming off a (36-16) setback at the hands of Tiffin Calvert last week in the “N10”.

          Coach Jon Butchko says Calvert was more physical than them.  “We're battling a little bit of injuries.  We don't have an extremely deep roster or an extremely experienced roster to begin with.  I think some of that started to show last week against Calvert.  We had some guys making their first starts, some guys in different spots.  Other guys that were in the lineup were pretty banged up and I'm not making excuses.  I mean that's just where we are in week nine,” he old Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “We played in some physical games.  I think Calvert came out and was very, very physical with us.  Calvert took it right to us.  It was a bit of a letdown.  We didn’t take anything for granted.  I told you that last week.  It was like a mirror image of us and they came out and they just played a little bit better.  They were a little bit more physical.  We have got to look to rebound against what's a really really, really good team that's had a disappointing season.”

          Bucyrus (4-5,3-4) has Colonel Crawford (4-5,3-4) on Friday night.  The Eagles lost a heartbreaker (12-10) to Seneca East last week.

          Butchko says the Eagles will show you a lot of looks.  “I see that they're getting better now that their original starter Roen Thew is back at quarterback.  Parker Weithman at receiver, and plays DB, is about as good an athlete as there is in the “N10”.  They're still very, very good defensively.  (Gabe) Stratton moves around in the second and third level of the defense is an excellent player.  They have really nice pieces around that.  The one thing Jake (Bruner) always does is he gives you a ton of formations to prepare for.  Some balanced, some unbalanced.  If you try to chart everyone and prepare for everyone individually you would have nine hour practices and that doesn't really work very well week 10.  You got to try to figure out what they do best or what they're trying to do,” said Butchko.

          Butchko says Crawford has been getting more explosive on offense.  “I think they're a little bit more dynamic now that Thew is back.  It's a tall order anytime you play them.  Goodness, I wish they weren’t hitting a stride when they are about to play us,” he said.

 

Published 10/23/26

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Bucyrus Expects Good One With Calvert

Click here to listen to an interview with coach Jon Butchko

 

          Bucyrus heads for Tiffin Calvert Friday night for a game in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference.

          They broke a long losing streak in beating Wynford (8-7) last week for the first time since 1997.

          Coach Jon Butchko says they had to work hard to get it.  “It was a great effort and we did it in a real old school fashion with great defense.  We could never really establish some things we wanted to do on offense, but we kept hanging our hat on our defense.  When we scored with 8:30 to go it was a no brainer to go for two and that ended up being the winning margin,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “In the long losing streak like that with one opponent you start to wonder could it ever be done or you know what the mistakes is going to be.  We had a partially blocked punt and found their best player.  He almost runs it back.  We get a pass interference to extend the game.  All this after a unsportsmanlike conduct where we're kneeing it out.  We finally get an interception.  So, it felt like it was going to take something drastic and we got that last week.”

          Bucyrus (4-4,3-3) is at Calvert (1-7,1-5) on Friday night.  Calvert got their first win of the season in beating Buckeye Central (35-0) in a conference game last week.

          Butchko says their record is deceiving.  “They're much better than the record I'll tell you they are.  They played some different competition both in the conference and out of conference.  They've gone to a freshman at quarterback.  I happened to play with his dad when I was in college and he's a very athletic kid.  He could he can run really well.  They have a couple of nice targets on the outside.  Defensively, their second and third level are full of great athletes that on par with much of the rest of the “N10”.  I think like us they've had some of the same struggles we've had at the line of scrimmage for the past couple of years,” said Butchko.

          Butchko says they are not going into this game over confident.  “It’s two teams that are kind of trying to find their way, but we by no means think they our record is this and theirs is that and this would be a walk in the park.  We have got our hands full with the Senecas,” he said.

 

Published 10/16/26

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Bucyrus Wants to Compete

Click here to listen to an interview with coach Jon Butchko

 

          Bucyrus will be over at Upper Sandusky to face the Rams in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game on Friday night.

          They were smoked (41-0) by Seneca East in a conference game.

          Coach Jon Butchko says late in first half they made some mistakes and got themselves behind.  “We had a hot start.  We came out and our players did what we asked them to do and that's trade punches with one of the teams that is constantly at the top of the league.  I thought for about a quarter and a half we were matching them stride for stride and then they pop a big run out of there and hit a long pass play and we have a turnover on downs and the special teams game on a mishandled punt snap.  It just kind of went on from there.  Our effort was very, very good early on.  Hey, we knew was a tall order with a good team and for a while, like I said, we traded punches with who's at the top of the league,” said Butchko.

          Butchko says they want to compete every week on every down.  “Of course, we talk wins and losses, but more than that we use words like compete and improve and we've done that at every stop in my head coaching career.  Those are the most important points of focus.  I think they're doubly important for us right now.  We have to focus on the process of improvement, the process of competition on an every snap basis.  We play some young guys, we play some undersized guys, especially on the interior.  We want to make sure that those guys understand even if it's a tall order that great technique, great physical strength, great preparation can carry you a long way in high school football.  That's part of the beauty of this thing,” he said.

          Bucyrus (3-3,2-2) is at Upper (2-4,1-3) on Friday night.  The Rams played well overall, but lost (32-10) to unbeaten Hopewell-Loudon in “N10” game last week.

          Butchko says this is going another tough one for the Redmen.  “I think this is the most complete Upper team in the four years that I've been here.  Russell (Hall) does a great job over there.  First and foremost, he’s a good friend, but a great football coach.  They seem to have very, very few holes.  I like what they're doing defensively.  They're as fast as they've ever been on the defensive side of the football.  I'm sure he would tell you they are as athletic as they've been on the defensive side of the football in in quite some time and certainly in the last four years,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “Offensively, that quarterback he does a great job.  He's gotten more into the RPO stuff.  He competes, he took a shot and left the game temporarily last week and came right back and captained the few scoring drives to take what everybody believes is the best team in the conference to the half in a one score game and play that game pretty tight for most of the night.  Hey, this is another a team that might be ahead of us.  I don't know where they compare to Seneca East and the rest of the conference, but they're certainly ahead of us right now.  We know it's going to take a great effort, another great effort, to come out victorious.”

 

Published 9/30/26

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Bucyrus Must Limit Explosive Seneca East

Click here to listen to an interview coach Jon Butchko

 

          Bucyrus, a game behind the leaders in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference, plays at home against Seneca East in a conference game on Friday night.

          The Redmen (3-2,2-1) routed Buckeye Central (41-14) last week in “N10” action.

          Coach Jon Butchko says they were able to make a lot of big plays.  “We finally displayed what we've always wanted to do offensively and that was hit a bunch of big plays.  Go very fast.  We start a bunch of underclassmen and guys new to the program.  We were able to just jump out early and I think that caused some disorganization for Buckeye Central,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “A team we hadn't beaten in my time here.  So, we knew we were going to get their best shot.  We had several big plays.  We averaged like 11.1 yards per snap, which is very, very great.  I think we're starting to showcase some of the things that we think we can do pretty well.”

          Quarterback Isaac Makeever has run for over 500 yards and thrown eight touchdown passes.

          Butchko says he is the straw that stirs the drink at Bucyrus.  “He's a talented athlete.  He is great student and he's an outstanding young man.  He runs around and makes plays.  I said that when he got here in the ninth grade.  He's the emotional regulator of our team.  As he goes, everybody around him goes, a tremendous leader, he's getting better as a quarterback, he's a heck of a competitive guy.  He’s an excellent baseball player.  I tell everybody that will listen this guy's probably a baseball recruit,” he said.

          Seneca East (4-1,2-1) downed Willard (29-14) in a conference game last week.  Their only loss comes (30-22) to Hopewell-Loudon two weeks ago.

          Butchko says Seneca East wants to play fast and be efficient.  “I think we see the same things that we see from Seneca East every year.  Very, very good skill, very tenacious.  I know that when you drive through Attica, at least they had it painted on the windows last year, “We want to tempo you” and they certainly come out and try to do that.  So, we're going to have to be assignment sound and identify with their playmakers and and not let them have a whole bunch of space.  Really be as efficient as we can be against them on both sides of the ball,” said Butchko.

 

Published 9/22/26

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