Butler football shows resilience, beats Meadville to improve to 3-0 for first time since 2002

September 06, 2025 Last Updated: September 06, 2025 12:26 AM Sports

BUTLER TWP — Stone Spack walked off the field with a smile from ear to ear.

A 48-34 win over Meadville all but secured, the vibrant Butler football senior center strolled toward the Golden Tornado's student section, balled his hand up and jutted his thumb out parallel to the ground. His fist trembled before giving an emphatic thumbs-down.

"It's deciding, 'Is (the other) team worthy of being on this field for me?' And it decided no," Spack said, re-enacting the pro wrestling-like display.

The Bulldogs (1-2) put up a worthwhile fight. They were just shy of piling up 350 rushing yards in the defeat. They forced a first-quarter fumble that gave them the chance to take the momentum.

On the first play of the second half, they rushed for a 56-yard score to pull within one. On their next offensive snap, they went 80 yards for another.

With 4:21 remaining, Meadville got the ball back, down a touchdown, with a chance to knot it up.

Those are the sorts of obstacles that have typically broken Butler (3-0).

Not this year, though.

After senior tailback Mark Klemz coughed up the football on Butler’s second series of the night, the Golden Tornado made sure it was inconsequential, then junior quarterback Nicco Baggetta scampered in for his second of four rushing touchdowns.

Butler responded to both of the Bulldogs’ long third-quarter jaunts with touchdowns of their own, a tough-nosed ground effort by Baggetta and a 17-yard aerial strike on a slant to Tyson Pino.

"Honestly, man, I'm just looking forward to the next play," Golden Tornado senior guard/defensive lineman Beau Burchett said. "You can never really get down because that's always gonna happen. ... I've never played a perfect game in my life, so I'm used to it. It's just adversity. Playing at Butler, you go through that a lot."

Klemz said something similar about his fumble.

"It's (about the) next play," Klemz said. "We're on defense. We go get a stop and go score (on) the next drive."

After turning it over on downs on Meadville’s 13-yard line late in the fourth quarter, Butler stuffed the Bulldogs’ Jordan Lawrence for a yard. Juniors Jacob Kollinger and Jordan Vicari kept him short of the line of scrimmage on second down, then Klemz and Vicari dropped Tymir Phillips for a 3-yard setback on third. Senior Marcus Vicari intercepted Jacoby Thompson’s fourth-down pass.

"I had that play in my back pocket the whole second half," Meadvile coach Ray Collins said. "I was like, '(If) we get in this situation where we need a big one, we're gonna sneak the halfback down the middle of the field.' But they read it well."

Klemz slalomed in for an 11-yard touchdown to stretch it to a two-possession game with 1:21 to go, prompting Spack’s celebration. Baggetta’s celebrations, meanwhile, were of the same, inconspicuous variety each time. He mimicked the referee’s touchdown signal before embracing teammates.

"It's a team celebration, it's not me. I didn't score, the team scored," Baggetta said. "So I can't take that for myself. I love my linemen. Every time I score, Stone runs up to me, holds me in the air."

Klemz, Pino and junior Nash Cuffman also had interceptions for the Golden Tornado. Junior Deacon Simko reeled in a 14-yard touchdown pass from Baggetta late in the first half, giving Butler a 28-14 cushion.

Butler is 3-0 for the first time since 2002. It’s posted 40 points in back-to-back contests for the first time since 2021.

"Obviously, in my future, I wanna still be part of Butler football and changing it," Burchett said. "So it's actually more of a dream come true just to be on such a team where actually the community is coming together, where normally it usually scatters after Week 1."

“I really hope our junior high, I really hope our youth league — we had the Upward (Sports flag football) team in here tonight — I hope they’re all paying attention and watching what these guys are modeling, because they’ve got the culture,” Golden Tornado coach Eric Christy said. “They’ve got the right idea of a team and what it means.”

Meadville 7 7 13 7 — 34

Butler 7 21 13 7 — 48

First quarter

B — Nicco Baggetta 1 run (AJ Morris kick), 6:16

M — Tymir Phillips 38 pass from Jacoby Thompson (James Miller kick), 0:42

Second quarter

B — Baggetta 46 run (Morris kick), 7:44

M — Jordan Lawrence 4 run (Miller kick), 5:33

B — Baggetta 6 run (Morris kick), 3:07

B — Deacon Simko 14 pass from Baggetta (Morris kick), 1:16

Third quarter

M — Lawrence 56 run (Miller kick), 11:44

B — Baggetta 11 run (Morris kick blocked), 9:49

M — Phillips 80 run (Miller kick blocked), 9:33

B — Tyson Pino 17 pass from Baggetta (Morris kick), 6:02

Fourth quarter

M — Lawrence 8 run (Miller kick), 9:31

B — Mark Klemz 11 run (Morris kick), 1:21

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Meadville, Jordan Lawrence 22-212, Tymir Phillips 11-121, Jacoby Thompson 10-24, Jamel Mitchell 1-1. Butler, Nicco Baggetta 17-148, Mark Klemz 10-83, Jacob Kollinger 3-31, Deacon Simko 2-18.

Passing: Meadville, Jacoby Thompson 2-8-59-4. Butler, Nicco Baggetta 13-17-181-0.

Receiving: Meadville, Tymir Phillips 2-59. Butler, Deacon Simko 6-78, Tyson Pino 4-72, Nash Cuffman 1-16, Jacob Kollinger 1-11, Marcus Vicari 1-4.