A look back at the Grizzlies season that led them to the Heart of Texas Bowl

Brice Vignery's first year at the helm of the Butler Grizzlies Football Program has been one of rebounding. After the past two seasons of anguish and disappointment, Vignery has steered the Grizzlies back to their winning ways as they finished his first-year head coaching campaign with a record of 7-4 and 4-2 in a tough Jayhawk Conference.

The Grizzlies season and Vignery's head coaching campaign began on August 27th when the Grizzlies faced off with the rival and #7 ranked Garden City Broncbusters who had knocked the Grizzlies out of the Jayhawk Conference Playoffs the previous season. The game was a classic matchup between two long-standing rivals with a game that was tied up at four different points and had five lead changes. An Azhuan Dingle touchdown run with 7 minutes left gave the Grizzlies the go-ahead score and the eventual win 35-28. The win gave the Grizzlies their first season opening victory since the 2019 season.

In the Grizzlies second game of the season, they made the trip up to Highland Community College to battle with the Scotties on September 3rd. The Grizzlies made quick work of the Scotties as the Grizzlies poured in 28 points in the first 13 minutes of action en route to a 45-3 routing of Highland. The Grizzlies improved to 2-0 on the young season with the win.

The now #8 ranked Grizzlies next game was another classic, thrilling battle, this time against the #10 ranked Snow College Badgers on September 10^th in El Dorado. This one did not fall the Grizzlies way as they lost 50-49 in overtime to the Badgers. The Grizzlies put together an impressive rally midway through the game as with 8:39 to play in the 1st half, Butler trailed 28-0. But, behind the arm of quarterback Jake Wolff, the speed of receiver A.J King, and the insane late endzone fumble recovery touchdown by Malik Berry, the Grizzlies tied the game at 42 all and managed to force overtime in the final seconds. The Grizzlies got the ball first in OT and scored on their third play when Jake Wolff hit Qua'vez Humphreys for a 23-yard strike. The Grizzlies chose to kick the extra point and made the game 49-42. Snow, however, found an immediate answer as they scored on a trick play on their first snap of overtime and the Badgers went for a two-point conversion, which they converted to win the game 50-49 in OT. The Grizzlies dropped to 2-1 on the season.

The Grizzlies next game was a bounce back victory on the road against the Independence Pirates. The Grizzlies came out swinging, scoring an offensive touchdown just three minutes into the game taking the early lead. On the ensuing Pirate possession, the Grizzlies would force a punt that they blocked and then was recovered by the Independence punter who then tried to throw the ball down the field, but the pass was intercepted by P.J Caldwell who returned it for a touchdown and just like that, Butler led 14-0 with 11:50 left in the first quarter. The Grizzlies didn't look back and played great defense the rest of the way and earned a 27-11 victory to improve to 3-1.

The next matchup for the Grizzlies was a big one, a showdown with arch-rival and #1 ranked Hutchinson at Hutch on October 1st. The game got off to a slow start offensively both ways as the Grizzlies held a 6-0 lead over Hutchinson after the first quarter but the sides would quickly find some offense. The teams traded touchdowns on their first possessions of the second quarter. The Blue Dragons would follow up the touchdown trade with another touchdown of their own to tie the game at 13. Butler's Carson Arndt hit a short field goal to give Butler the 16-13 lead, but Hutch scored another touchdown right before the half to take a 20-16 lead into the halftime break. The defenses for both sides stepped up huge in the second half, but another Hutch touchdown in the third quarter would be the difference as the Grizzlies fell 27-19 to the #1 team in the country. The Grizzlies fell to 3-2 on the season with the loss.

The Grizzlies would get a rebound victory the next week as independent junior college McDougle Technical Institute came to El Dorado on October 8th for an 11:00am battle. The Grizzlies controlled the game the whole way as they routed the McDougle Bison 77-14 and the Grizzlies improved 4-2 on the year.

The next week the Grizzlies hosted the #8 ranked Iowa Central Tritons on October 15th with both sides looking for a statement victory. The Grizzlies would come out on top 41-24 in this NJCAA top-10 battle. The Grizzlies' win was capped off in the third quarter when Jeremiah Payton caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Jake Wolff to give the Grizzlies the 31-14 lead and then on the ensuing Triton possession, Norman Massey would intercept a pass that he would return 88-yards to the house to give the Grizzlies an insurmountable 38-14 lead with 3 minutes left in the third. With the win, the Grizzlies were 5-2 and were looking at an outside chance of make the NJCAA Football Playoffs with a big matchup against both Iowa Western and Coffeyville coming up.

Butler hit to the road in week eight of the regular season taking on #2 Iowa Western in Council Bluffs. It was all Iowa Western in the first quarter as a blocked punt and two big pass plays put the Reivers up 21-0 after the first 15 minutes. Butler held their own from that point on but were unable to overcome the early deficit and dropped a tough road game 33-14 dropping their record to 5-3 on the season.

The Grizzlies welcomed the also NJCAA Playoff hopeful Coffeyville Red Ravens to town on October 22nd and the game was a defensive battle. The Grizzlies put in two quick touchdowns in the first 7 minutes of the game to take an early 14-0 lead, but Coffeyville's defense was stout and made stop after stop and ultimately kept the Grizzlies off the scoreboard the rest of the game. A short touchdown run by Coffeyville late in the third was the difference in the game as Coffeyville won 19-14.

The loss to Coffeyville seemed to spark the Grizzlies in their final two games as they ended up completely dominating their final two contests. The Grizzlies routed Dodge City 30-3 on November 5^th at home in their final home game of the season and then travelled to Iowa Falls, IA to take on the Ellsworth Panthers on November 12th, who the Grizzlies promptly crushed 40-9.

The Grizzlies come into the Champs Heart of Texas Bowl with a record of 7-4 having won three of their last four games.