P-J photo by Tim Frank

Knowing he had played his last home game, Jaylen Butera walked slowly to the 50-yard line at Strider Field following the Class A Far West Regional last month, took a knee and bowed his head.

“I just praised the Lord,” the Jamestown senior running back/safety said after the Red Raiders’ 35-14 victory over Canandaigua. “I’m nothing without Him. He’s got me where I’m at.”

And where is that?

“Jaylen’s one of the best to ever play football in the 128 years that we’ve had it,” Jamestown head coach Tom Langworthy said earlier this week. “There’s been some outstanding players, so I don’t think it would be fair to say one person is the best, but let’s say that Jaylen has fully carried the torch of the great ones over the years.”

It’s hard to argue that point.

In the last two weeks, the 6-foot-2, 196-pounder has been named the Connolly Cup winner — presented annually to the outstanding football player in Western New York — and The Buffalo News Player of the Year. And today, The Post-Journal and OBSERVER have selected Butera as their Player of the Year for the second time in seven months.

The honors cap a campaign in which Butera set school records for rushing yards in a season (2,337) and in a career (4,270); scored 45 touchdowns, which is two off the school mark; and caught 20 passes.

Defensively, he registered 90 tackles, recorded five interceptions and defended 20 more.

Taken in totality, those numbers equate to one of the finest seasons/careers in the history of the storied Jamestown program.

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The photo that appeared in The Post-Journal in early July showed a youngster at the Future Red Raiders camp — football in hand — sprinting down Strider Field after picking off a pass. In full pursuit was a certain counselor, a smiling Butera, who later confirmed the weeklong camp was among the best experiences of his life.

Two months later, Butera began his senior season.

It was pedal-to-the-metal from the start.

Against Orchard Park in the opener, Butera rushed for 339 yards on 32 carries and scored six touchdowns. Five weeks later, against Hamburg, he took 13 handoffs, amassed 246 yards, scored five touchdowns and, for good measure, caught four passes for 92 yards and another TD in little more than two quarters of work. And in the aforementioned Far West Regional game against Canandaigua, Butera piled up 223 yards and three more TDs and caught a pass for another score that helped vault the Red Raiders into the New York State Public High School Athletic Association semifinal.

Those were just three of his highlight-reel performances in a season full of them.

“There’s a tremendous fraternity of outstanding backs that have gone to Jamestown,” said Langworthy, who just completed his 14th season at the helm. “I don’t think every school has the history of unbelievable running backs that Jamestown has had, and Jaylen is a tremendous chapter to that, and I’m proud to be part of it as his coach.”

Langworthy, who first came to know Butera when the latter was a student at Jefferson Middle School, is proud of the talented senior for other reasons, too, most recently following Butera’s speech at the Connolly Cup banquet at Ilio DiPaolo’s Restaurant in Blasdell.

“For two or three minutes, everybody in the room got to see the type of person he is,” Langworthy said. “Anybody can watch the game film and say, ‘Man, this guy is really good,’ but that doesn’t mean much to people. People are going to forget about that stuff, but they’re not going to forget about the person he is.

“He’s not just a back, a defensive back or just a player. He’s the real-deal person and full of substance. He’s not your average player, athletically or personally.”

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In the fall of 2015, the Red Raiders completed their season with a Chuck Funke Bowl game at Depew High School.

“Jaylen was in my class (at Jefferson Middle School),” Langworthy said. “I knew he really liked to play so I asked him if he wanted to go to the game with me.”

Jaylen’s mother, Heather, gave a thumbs-up for the trip to Erie County with the stipulation that her son be at school on time the next morning.

There was one unforeseen problem. The game — a Red Raiders’ win which Jaylen watched from the sidelines — was late in starting and the bus didn’t roll into Jamestown until 2-2:30 in the morning.

“We came into school the next day and we were both like zombies,” Langworthy said. “I just told him to hang in there.”

Four years later, in Jamestown’s season opener against Baldwinsville at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, Butera caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Trey Drake that gave the Red Raiders a 28-21 overtime win.

It was just the beginning to Butera’s never-to-be-forgotten high school career.

“Makes me think about how fast time goes,” Langworthy said.

It also affirms why Butera took a moment to himself at Strider in his final home game several weeks ago.

“This next generation (of Jamestown players) has Jaylen Butera (to look up to),” Langworthy said. ” … It’s really neat to think about that, and it makes you realize how big the program is and the success and history behind it.”

Take a bow, No. 6.