DeLand, Fla.— The Stetson University football team wrapped up its 2017 home portion of its schedule with a 23-6 loss to Butler University on Saturday afternoon.
 
The loss leaves the Hatters at 2-8 overall and 1-6 in the Pioneer Football League (PFL), while Butler improves to 6-4 overall and 4-3 in PFL games.
 
Despite the loss, the Hatters played exceptional on defense, limiting Butler to just 288 yards in total offense, which was a season-best for the Stetson defense. However, the Bulldogs defense accounted for all 16 second half points which proved to be the winning difference. Two interception returns for touchdowns as well as a safety accounted for the 16 Butler points. The Bulldogs lone offensive score came late in the second quarter on an eight-play 80 yards drive that was capped by a five-yard touchdown run by running back Anthony Scaccia with 1:02 to play.
 
Stetson's only score came in the first quarter when freshman wide receiver Justin Jordan scored on a 20-yard catch and run off a pass by junior quarterback Colin McGovern. The extra point failed, but the Hatters had a 6-0 lead.

Starting the second half with a 7-6 lead, Butler's defense outscored Stetson 7-0 in the third quarter and 9-0 in the fourth quarter en route to the win. First Bulldogs defensive back Mike Cerone returned an interception 42 yards to make the score 14-6 with 4:10 to play in the third quarter. Then in the fourth quarter, reserve quarterback Cole Martin was inserted into the game and got sacked in the end zone for a safety, putting Butler ahead 16-6 with 10:03 to play. Then in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs' Ethan Brunhofer intercepted a Hatter pass and returned it to the end zone 70 yards with 2:55 to go to pull away and lead 23-6.
 
"Defensively, we played well enough to win the game, but offensively, we didn't," Stetson head coach Roger Hughes said.  "We didn't run the ball effectively, we didn't sustain any drives, and we had two pick-six's.  You can't win ball games that way."
 
Butler outgained Stetson 288-164 in total offense.
 
McGovern started the game at quarterback and completed 17 of 27 passes for 109 yards, while Martin finished 11 of 14 for 76 yards. Freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Nails led the receiving core with seven catches for 53 yards, while junior tight end Donald Parham caught three passes for 45 yards.
 
Defensively for the Hatters, graduate linebacker Jeb Boudreaux led the way with 11 tackles to amass more than 100 in a season for the second year in a row. Sophomore linebacker Colby Duncan added nine tackles, while defensive back JJ Henderson had eight.
 
The Butler offense completed just 11 of 25 passes for 117 yards. Will Marty completed seven of 14 passes for 75 yards, while Sam Schrader completed four of 11 throws for 42 yards. Wide receiver Pace Temple caught six passes for 78 yards. The Butler defense were led by Cerone and Brunhofer with six tackles each as well as an interception each returned for touchdowns.
 
Stetson wraps up its 2017 season with a game at Jacksonville University next Saturday at 1 p.m.