Hereford's Pat Butt Jr. has played with more purpose lately - mostly because of his father's health problems.
"That's definitely changed the way I look at things," said Butt, whose father, Pat Sr., underwent an angioplasty three weeks ago to repair a blockage in his heart. "I was having a rough season until that happened. Since then, I've wanted to step up and show him something."
Pat Butt Sr. watched from the stands last night as his son rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns in the No. 2 Bulls' 42-6 Baltimore County 2A-1A League rout of host Pikesville. The win was the 22nd straight for defending Class 2A state champion Hereford (9-0 overall, 8-0 league) and 40th straight against county rivals.
Butt Jr., whose touchdowns helped Hereford to a 21-0 first-quarter lead, said: "My father inspires me. I don't know what I'd do without him."
Butt credited Hereford's offensive line of Ben Adams, Joe Akers, Henry Julio, Ben Brendel, Greg Lehrl and Russell Skbertis, who cleared the way for the Bulls' 389 yards of offense (250 rushing). "They move people out of the way. We turn on the wheels and go," Butt said.
Behind them, Ryan Shupert scored two touchdowns. Quarterback Andy DePaola was 5-for-11 for 113 yards and two scoring passes, to Zack Armiger (22 yards) and Mike Coyne (35 yards).
Hereford's Adam Goloboski entered the game with 1,578 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns - 193 yards off the school record and eight touchdowns off the school's scoring record. His 60 yards put him 133 behind the record of 1,771 established in 1997 by Jason Murphy, who also holds the scoring mark of 29 touchdowns.
Pikesville (6-3, 4-2) trailed 21-6 with 1:04 left in the first quarter after Damond Malloy engineered an eight-play, 79-yard scoring drive that ended with his 13-yard run. Malloy rushed four times for 59 yards in the drive, and was 2-for-4 passing for 20 yards. Malloy finished with 91 rushing yards and was 10-for-20 passing for 93 yards. Hereford's Dan Fouts had a sack and an interception against him.
"I knew it would be a tough game, so we tried our hardest to try to get it done," Malloy said. "It didn't work out, but they're a good football team."