So many goals. Such a simple explanation.

“Dodds and Butts are good,” Benilde-St. Margaret’s coach Colin Mulcahy said.

“Dodds” would be Bailey Dodds. “Butts” would be Ryan Butts.

And “good” doesn’t begin to describe the duo.

Dominant attackmen all season, Dodds and Butts were playing on the state’s biggest stage for the first time on Thursday, June 10, during a Minnesota State High School League state tournament semifinal against Wayzata at Mounds View High School.

Mesmerizing a Wayzata a defense that hadn’t allowed more than nine goals all season, Dodds scored five goals and Butts had two (along with four assists) as the No. 1-seeded Red Knights steamrolled the No. 4-seeded Trojans 19-4.

The win advances Benilde-St. Margaret’s (15-1) to the Friday, June 11, state title game scheduled for 8 p.m. at Mounds View.

“That was a good time,” said Dodds, the state’s scoring leader with 101 points (78 goals, 23 assists) who on Sunday, June 6, was named Minnesota’s inaugural Mr. Lacrosse.

“That was aweseome,” said Butts, who has 76 points (44 goals, 32 assists).

For the uninitiated, that’s how it works with Butts and Dodds. Their undersized stature, their quickness and agility, their pinball machine point totals – even their postgame quotes.

What one can do the other can do even better. And vice versa.

If that makes any sense.

“They proved that they are the top two attackmen in the state,” Mulcahy said. “Bailey played outstanding, like a Mr. Lacrosse would.”

Butts’ four assists tied a state tournament record for the most in a game, and the Red Knights came one goal short of matching the record 20 scored last year by Minnetonka in a semifinal triumph over Centennial.

Wayzata (11-7) fell behind 1-0 just 45 seconds into the first quarter on a goal by Chase Mlnarik.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s was leading 2-1 when Butts and Dodds combined to score five goals (three by Dodds, two by Butts) during a 7-0 Red Knights outburst that all but ended the game.

“They’re good in transition, they are fast, and they get the opportunities they need,” Wayzata coach Chad Herr said. “And they put the ball away like no team we’ve played against.”

For Dodds and Butts, who have committed to play at NCAA Division I Sacred Heart (Conn.) next season, it was merely another highlight-reel night in a season full of them. They are nothing if not consistent.

Consistently brilliant.

“They adapt,” Mulcahy said. “I wouldn’t say that they’ve had a bad game, but they adapt.

“It just depends on what kind of defense we are seeing. If Butts is getting locked down, then Dodds will score. If Dodds gets locked down, then Butts will score.”

And then there are nights like this, when they both score.

Often.

“We just played our game,” Butts said.

1. Bailey Dodds, B-SM
The Benilde-St. Margaret's senior attackman and Minnesota's inaugural Mr. Lacrosse award winner showed why he was named the state's best player with a five-goal, seven-point performance.

2. Ryan Butts, B-SM
A playmaker, a finisher -- Butts continues to do it all for the Red Knights, proving he is much more than merely a sidekick to his attack partner Dodds.

3. Christian Horn, B-SM
Might as well give another star to another B-SM attackman. The Red Knights did, after all, score 19 goals. Horn, a sophomore (pictured below), had four of them.