GAME PREVIEW: Grizzlies hit the Road for Rivalry Bout at Coffeyville

BRICE VIGNERY PREGAME INTERVIEW

The Teams: No. 13 Butler Grizzlies (4-3, 2-2 KJCCC) at Coffeyville Red Ravens (2-5, 0-4 KJCCC)
Where: Coffeyville, KS
Stadium: Veterans Memorial Stadium (5,500)
Time: 7 p.m. CT
Streaming Platform: Red Raven Sports Network on YouTube (www.youtube.com/@RedRavenSportsNetwork)
Radio: KFH 97.5 FM and 1240 AM (www.audacy.com/stations/kfh) (Dennis Higgins, Matt Jacobs on the call.) Pregame show begins at 6:30 p.m.

The 13th-ranked Butler Grizzlies travel to Coffeyville at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Saturday night for the Red Ravens homecoming game as the bitter rivals square off in the 98th meeting between the two.

HOW TO WATCH AND LISTEN

The game will be streamed on the Red Raven Sports Network YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/@RedRavenSportsNetwork). The Butler radio broadcast will air on KFH 97.5 FM and 1240 AM (www.audacy.com/stations/kfh) with Dennis Higgins and Matt Jacobs on the call. The pregame show begins at 6:30 p.m.

SERIES HISTORY

Saturday will be the 98th all-time meeting for the Grizzlies and Red Ravens. Coffeyville leads the series, 50-45-2. The first game between the two schools was in 1929 with Butler winning 14-13. A season ago Butler lost to Coffeyville at home, 19-14. The last game at Veterans Memorial Stadium went to the Grizzlies, 48-7, in the first round of the KJCCC Playoffs in 2021. Coffeyville has won two of the last three meetings between the rivals.

PREVIEW

Butler looks to get back in the win column following a tough loss at home in a top-10 showdown with No. 2 and reining national champion Iowa Western last week. They travel to rival Coffeyville on Saturday who has struggled throughout the season, having yet to win a conference game this year, sitting at 0-4 in league play.

No matter what the records are between these two, it seems as if the game is always close. With the weather projecting to be chilly and potential rain on the horizon, the Grizzlies will have to remain focused on the road as they look to move above .500 in KJCCC play this year, currently sitting at 2-2 in league play.

Last week was a tale of two halves for the Grizzlies as they allowed 28 first half points to the Reivers before shutting them out and holding them without a third down conversion in the second half. If head coach Brice Vignery can channel the second half level of play into a complete game, the Grizzlies figure to be dangerous.

Coffeyville has used three quarterbacks this season and has not thrown the ball well, so the Grizzly defense figures to have a strong performance.

All in all, you can throw the predictions out the window when these two meet because of the nature of the rivalry. One thing is for sure, the Grizzlies are looking to snap the Red Raven's three-game win streak over Butler.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET

OCTOBER 29, 2022 – EL DORADO, KS – Coffeyville 19, Butler 14

The final stat line favored the Grizzlies, even if the final score did not. The Grizzlies defense pretty much did everything they could do. Coffeyville had only nine first downs and were held to 48 offensive plays and 268 yards of offense. The Grizzlies outgained the Ravens by almost 100 yards. Butler put up their best time of possession of the season, holding possession of the ball for 35 minutes of game time. The Grizzlies held a 14-0 lead after the first quarter via touchdowns from Azhuan Dingle and AJ King.

The Grizzlies wouldn't score again, however. Coffeyville won the field position battle and forced key turnovers and were able to do just enough in the second half to get away with the victory. With Butler down to their third string quarterback, Dillian Smith almost pulled off a heroic last second drive but wound up a yard short of the first down marker on fourth and 12 with just over a minute left in the game as the Ravens ran out the clock from there.

Azhuan Dingle had a strong game before he also went down to injury, scoring the first touchdown of the game and dominating the Raven front line, finishing with 140 yards on just 24 carries. Jaisean McMillian replaced Dingle and also ran well to the tune of 40 yards on nine carries. The Grizzlies totaled 189 yards on the ground. 

LAST TIME OUT FOR BUTLER

Butler fought valiantly after trailing by 21 points at halftime, but ultimately a late turnover cost them a shot at a win over the second-ranked Iowa Western Reivers on Saturday evening at BG Products Veterans Sports Complex.

Seventh-ranked Butler (4-3, 2-2 KJCCC) faced a 28-7 deficit at halftime before shutting out the second-ranked Reivers (8-0, 1-0 ICCAC) in the second half, outscoring them 14-0.

With 1:40 left in the game and Butler trailing by seven, they had a 2nd-and-10. Quarterback Tanner Murray fired a pass to the right sideline to receiver PJ Caldwell who seemingly caught it before it fell out of his grasp and into Reiver defensive back Clem McCullough's hands for an interception at the eight-yard line. Iowa Western kneeled it down on two consecutive plays and escaped El Dorado with the seven-point win.

After allowing 28 first half points to Iowa Western, the Butler defense did some looking in the mirror. They did not allow one third down conversion in the second half while holding the Reivers off the scoreboard.

"I don't know who that team was in the first half (in regard to Butler)," said Vignery. "The way we played in the first half was not indicative of who we have been all year."

A theme all season, the Butler special teams came ready to play again on Saturday. The Grizzlies first score to make it 14-7 in the second quarter, an 11-yard touchdown pass from Murray to McDougle, was set up by a recovered fumble as Iowa Western's punt returner muffed a punt that linebacker Teagan Orth scooped up at the Reiver seven-yard line. Down 28-7 in the third quarter, Grizzly linebacker Jonathan Jordan blocked a Reiver punt and linebacker Jaxon Bowles scooped it up and returned it five yards for a touchdown to make it 28-14.

The stat sheet shows an evenly played game for the most part. Each team had 20 first downs in the game, third down conversion percentages were similar with Butler at 43% (6-14) and Iowa Western at 42% (5-12) and time of possession was fairly eclose with Butler at 27:22 and Iowa Western at 32:38. The Reivers handily outgained Butler with 399 total yards to the Grizzlies 225. With the big lead in tow at halftime, Iowa Western predominantly used its rushing attack to run the clock in the second half and it showed with them rolling up 209 rushing yards to the Grizzlies 58. Iowa Western had three takeaways to Butler's one.

The loss was the fourth straight to Iowa Western for Butler as the Reivers now lead the all-time series 8-2. While Butler's playoff hopes may be dashed with their third loss of the season, there is still a lot out there for the Grizzlies to achieve.

LAST TIME OUT FOR COFFEYVILLE

The Red Ravens played Kansas Wesleyan's JV squad and defeated them 68-3 on the road. This came after Coffeyville had two straight games canceled in consecutive weeks with Gordon's Fine Arts Academy and Georgia Christian unable to play. Coffeyville rolled up 449 total yards of offense to Kansas Wesleyan's 55.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE RANKINGS?

The Grizzlies lost at home to No. 2 Iowa Western, 28-21, and fell six spots to No. 13

Hutchinson remains No. 1 and the only other KJCCC team that is ranked is Dodge City ranked 10th. Other Grizzly opponents in the rankings are Iowa Western remaining second and Iowa Central at 14th.

Receiving Votes: Northwest Mississippi, Northeast Mississippi, New Mexico Military

KJCCC STANDINGS