The Buttons stumbled in a heart breaker, Friday, losing 41-38 against the Devine Warhorses. The Buttons entered the last two minutes with a ten point lead but their two final offensive series were three and outs and the Warhorses were able to sneak in two last second touchdowns. For the second week in a row the Buttons will add to the “L” column, falling to a 2-2 record on the season.

For the second straight week the Buttons fired on all phases of the game. They had a combined yard total of 450 which is the most by any Central team in the last five years. The offensive line adjusted artfully against the constant smoke and plug blitzes of the Warhorses. Caleb Salinas dashed across the field, Friday, grinding out an 88 touchdown along with a 66 yard bolt to the house. Senior quarterback Jacob Nava rocketed 222 yards passing with one touchdown. But the sole mistake of the offense was when Central really needed them the most, the last two drives of the team were self detremental. The goal was obvious, waste time and get out of there. The Buttons had a ten point lead and all they needed was one or two first downs to ice the game. To credit Divine, they weren’t going down without a fight, the defensive line came away with multiple smashes to stop Central right in their tracks.

The Buttons defense once again found themselves in a high scoring situation in which they only needed to make one stop. The fact of the matter is any defense would have a hard time playing the unique style of Devine. The Warhorses stack the line every play, bringing eight players at a time there. Having that many players on the line makes it easy to maul the defensive and forces the linebackers to step up and pick a gap. The dilemma is with eight men on the line there’s double the amount of gaps to worry about. All in all a confusing offense to play against. The Buttons adjusted well in the second half, improving from 27 allowed in the first to 13 allowed in the second half.

If Buttons are going to ever get back on top more games are needed like this. Devine is a group of country strong man childs in a culture where football is king. There’s a lot of tradition that goes into the program which is prevalent in their play on the field. Central’s Offensive line coach, Coach Walker, summed it up to a tee “I’d rather compete and lose than not compete at all…football is like life, sometimes it’s not fair… sometimes you lose, but sometimes it’s beautiful.” The only way to sharpen iron is with iron, Central knows that. If anything can be taken away with a second loss it’s the fact that 365 days ago the District Champion was 2-2 at this point as well. That team decided to go 6-0 and never look back. Only time will tell if the Buttons will retell their story.