Bond between Zach Befort, Patrick Dugan carries on at Butler (+video)

The tie that binds Butler Community College defensive linemen Zach Befort and Patrick Dugan has always been football.

From the first game they started next to each other at Bishop Carroll, when Befort was a junior and Dugan was a sophomore in 2011, to a Class 5A championship in 2012, to last week when the two caused chaos up front last Saturday for No. 5 Butler in a 52-28 win over No. 3 Hutchinson.

But both insist that, at some point, it became about much more than the game.

“It’s our families, it’s our past and how everything that we’ve experienced together,” said Befort, a sophomore defensive tackle. “We live together (in El Dorado), we’ve played football together since high school. … I feel like (Dugan) is my brother.”

“Our families are just as close as us,” Dugan said. “Our moms, I think, are pretty much always talking to each other. We spent a lot of time in high school together watching film and having team dinners and practices and being in that family atmosphere at Carroll.

“That’s translated to Butler and what (Butler coach Tim) Schaffner is doing here.”

What Butler (3-0, 2-0) has done this season is thrust itself into the Jayhawk Conference driver’s seat and national title discussion headed into Saturday night’s game at Fort Scott (1-2, 0-2), with Befort and Dugan taking on key roles.

“It’s too early to talk about anything down the road, in my opinion,” Befort said. “If you’re happy with just being 3-0, you’re probably not focused on the right things.”

Dugan, a 6-foot-2, 227-pound sophomore defensive end, is second on the team with 28 tackles and 5 tackles for loss.

Befort (6-3, 273) was a second-team All-Jayhawk Conference defensive tackle last season and has 15 tackles and one sack this season. An Eagle Top 11 pick in 2012, he redshirted in 2013 at Kansas State before transferring to Butler in Jan. 2014.

They’re also anomalies in the Jayhawk after the league upped its number of out-of-state players from 12 to 20 several years ago, putting in-state starters at a premium.

“We’re going back to our roots with Kansas kids, and we’re going to win with Kansas kids,” Schaffner said. “To be able to pull two kids like that, from a storied program like that, is important to us. They understand the expectations going back to when they’re in high school and it’s state or nothing ... they already understand that internal pressure.”

“We talk about doing the little things, and that’s what they’ve done. To see where (Befort) has come from when he came here at semester to now has been amazing. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t pleasantly surprised with what Patrick has done, which has been through sheer work ethic and drive. Guys that are around (defensive line coach) Steve Braet for a couple of years usually tend to exceed expectations, and that speaks to what kind of mentor and coach he is.”

The duo’s success also raises the question of whether they can team up for a third time with a transfer to a four-year school. Befort, a known commodity to recruiters, has offers from Tulsa, Ball State, Idaho and Charlotte.

Dugan, in his first year as a starter, has yet to receive an offer.

“I’d love that,” Befort said. “That would be perfect. I know our families would love it, too.”

“I’ve got to get some offers first, but of course that would be a dream,” Dugan said. “(Befort), to me, is like my brother. He’s my family.”

This story was originally published September 18, 2015 at 2:46 PM with the headline "Bond between Zach Befort, Patrick Dugan carries on at Butler (+video)."