For St. Mark's senior guard Mark Butler, it was breakout time.
Butler was able to start celebrating early Thursday night as St. Mark's cruised to the Southwest Preparatory Conference Division I championship, blasting Tulsa Holland Hall, 56-20, at Butler Stadium.
"I'm busting out different types of moves left and right, something the team has worked on over the season," Butler said. We bust it out in moments that are appropriate, depending on how well were playing."
That Butler started shaking it on the sidelines with six minutes to go in the first half was indicative of his team's dominance.
Quarterback Kirk Hayes threw for five first-half touchdowns on his 17th birthday, finishing with 334 yards and six scores. He also ran for a touchdown.
"Coach [Bart Epperson] has been stressing all week: Come out early and they'll go away," Hayes said. "That was our mentality coming into this game."
It was the team's first SPC Division I title since 2004, when St. Mark's beat Holland Hall, 48-22.
Holland Hall, which has played in the last four championship games, won in 2005, beating St. Mark's in Tulsa, 24-10.
It was the second meeting between the teams in the past two weeks. St. Marks (9-1, 5-0) won the first meeting, 33-0, at home on October 19.
After "we played them last, we looked at some of the adjustments they could possibly make," Epperson said. "We came out and executed. I couldn't ask for anything else."
Carter Renfrow had three sacks and 10 tackles for Holland Hall (7-3, 4-1). Noah Bricker had five tackles and an interception for St. Mark's.
"This was our goal, and we finally accomplished it," St. Mark's senior linebacker and Texas signee Emmanuel Acho said. "It's an incredible feeling, and it means the world."
