Dingle leads Butler to big road with with 245 yards and four touchdowns

The Butler Grizzlies capped off the regular season with a dominating performance in Iowa Falls as they cruised to a 40-9 victory on a snowy day against the Ellsworth Panthers.

The Grizzlies finish the regular season at 7-4. They'll hope to have one more game in 2022 as the possibility of a bowl game is still there.

They made short work of the Panthers at Cadet Field on Saturday as Butler jumped out to a 14-0 lead and it was all academic from there. It was Azhuan Dingle who stole the show, scoring the first four touchdowns of the game. He finished with 245 yards and four touchdowns and, with the strong performance, he reached 1,000 yards for the regular season. As a team, the Grizzlies earned 285 of their total 342 yards on the ground. The Grizzlies threw just 11 passes, a season low on a snowy and windy day.

Jake Wolff started for the Grizzlies after a two week struggle with injuries, completing five of his 10 passes for 57 yards. Five different Grizzlies earned receptions, led by Jeremiah Payton and AJ King.

Butler's defense was strong for a second straight game, holding Ellsworth to just 95 yards and no points were surrendered by the Grizzly defense. The Grizzlies held the Panthers to just 1.4 yards per play and forced three interceptions. It was Norman Massey, Caleb Brown and Patrick Mooney who picked off the quarterback in the game as the defense totaled three takeaways. Additionally, the Grizzlies forced two sacks, as Devaca Parks and Chance Omli got into the backfield. Ethan Stuhlsatz led the Grizzlies with six tackles. 

The Grizzlies ended the first year of Brice Vignery's tenure ranked 13th in the nation. They finished third in the Jayhawk Conference after being picked to finish fifth before the season started. They earned three victories against ranked opponents and also won in Independence for the first time since 2015. All four of the Grizzlies losses this season came to teams in the NJCAA Top-6.