PENN HILLS — Fortune was followed quickly by misfortune for the Seneca Valley football team Friday at the Fralic Athletic Complex.

The Raiders did some things right during their 44-28 Northern Seven Conference loss to Penn Hills. Seneca Valley blocked three kicks — two extra points and a punt — and scored three touchdowns on fourth-and-goal.

What doomed the Raiders (1-4, 1-3) in a game that put a huge dent in their WPIAL Class 6A playoff hopes were their mistakes.

Seneca Valley committed five turnovers, which Penn Hills (5-1, 3-1) turned into 20 points.

“We make mistakes young teams make because we’re a young team,” Raiders coach Ron Butschle said about the efficient. “We need to take that second half and we need to play every quarter like we did in the second half. If we do, good things are going to happen.”

Finding life after halftime came in an unlikely fashion. Seneca Valley fell behind 32-7 after Penn Hills linebacker Jordy Boswell scooped up a fumble by quarterback Gabe Lawson and returned it 72 yards for a score.

Suddenly, the Raiders’ offense, which was limited to 39 first-half yards, found life on two fourth-and-goal touchdown passes from Lawson.

The first of which was a 14-yard screen to Noah Mancuso. Lawson then hit Jake Stebbins from 4-yards out to cut the lead to 32-22 with 2:06 left in the third.

“We brought it together as a team and started working hard,” said Lawson, who rushed for 119 yards. “We had to come back and keep grinding and do our thing.”

Penn Hills quarterback Hollis Mathis ruined the rally. With Penn Hills facing third-and-long at its own 6, Mathis found Dante Cephas for a 47-yard strike. On the next play, Mathis hooked up with Daequan Hardy for a 47-yard touchdown pass to put the Indians ahead 38-22 with 6:30 remaining.

While Lawson would score again,cutting the lead to 38-28, Penn Hills again found an answer. This time a 72-yard scoring run by Tim Smith with 4:45 remaining put the game away.

Smith finished with 129 yards rushing, while Mathis had 111.

“They are a big-play threat,” Butschle said. “Going into the game, we knew we had to stop the big plays. Every touchdown they had was on a big pay. Either on a turnover we created for them or on pure athleticism.”

Penn Hills scored four touchdowns on plays of 50 yards or more. One came on the Indians third play from scrimmage. Hollis Mathis ran 54 yards for a score that provided a 6-0 lead with 6 minutes, 55 seconds left.

Another missed opportunity for Seneca Valley came midway through the second quarter. The Raiders stacked up Smith at the Raider 3 to force a turnover on downs.

Jordy Boswell made the Raiders never got a chance to traverse the long field. The Penn Hills junior linebacker shot through the middle and brought down Seneca Valley running back Noah Mancuso for a safety. Things got worse for the Raiders.

Daequan Hardy ran the ensuing free kick back 65 yards for a score, extending Penn Hills lead to 14-0 with 7:38 left in the half.

“That was a big swing,” Indians coach Jon LeDonne said. “Especially those two points with our special teams and extra points hurting us. Those gave us the two extra points we missed early on.”

Seneca Valley’s only first-half touchdown was a 3-yard pass from Lawson to Stebbins that cut the lead to 14-6. Penn Hills didn’t let the score stay close for long.

Mathis scored on runs of 14 and 2 yards in the final 1:26 of the half to give the Indians a 26-7 lead. An interception set up the second score.

“We just have to learn from this and get better,” Lawson said.

Seneca Valley 0 7 15 6 — 28

Penn Hills 6 20 6 12 — 44

First Quarter

PH — Hollis Mathis 54 run (kick failed), 6:55

Second Quarter

PH — Safety, Jordy Boswell tackled Noah Mancuso in the end zone, 7:48

PH — Daequan Hardy 65 kick return (kick failed), 7:38

SV — Jake Stebbins 3 pass from Gabe Lawson (Tanner Sheary kick), 3:02

PH — Mathis 2 run (kick failed), 1:26

PH — Mathis 14 run (pass failed), :47

Third Quarter

PH — Boswell 72 fumble recovery (pass failed), 9:53

SV — Mancuso 14 pass from Lawson (Sheary kick), 6:05

SV — Jake Stebbins 4 pass from Lawson (Stebbins pass from Lawson), 2:06

Fourth Quarter

PH — Hardy 47 pass from Mathis (kick failed), 6:30

SV — Lawson 4 run (pass failed), 5:42

PH — Tim Smith 72 run (pass failed), 4:45

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Seneca Valley, Gabe Lawson 18-119, Noah Mancuso 14-12, Austin Eichenauer 1-8, Luke Smith 1-3. Penn Hills, Smith 20-129, Mathis 11-111, Hardy 1-4, Sears 1-2

Passing: Seneca Valley, Gabe Lawson 12-27-147-2. Penn Hills, Mathis 14-20-265-1

Receiving: Seneca Valley, Smith 3-70, Stebbins 4-36, Mancuso 3-21, Stebbins 3-29, Jake Bunofsky 2-20. Penn Hills, Dante Cephas 4-124, Hardy 6-107, James Schropp 1-15, Darrell Mason 2-13, Donnie Blue 1-5