BUTLER TWP - Butler surrendered field position early - and Upper St. Clair took no prisoners.

Panthers cornerback Pat McShane intercepted passes on the Golden Tornado's first two possessions Friday night at Art Bernardi Stadium. He added two touchdown passes offensively while Ramy Nubani rushed for 135 yards and two scores.

It all added up to a 34-0 high school football victory for the Panthers (3-0, 1-0), who recorded their third consecutive shutout in a mutual Quad North opener.

USC's worst starting field position in the first half was its own 42-yard line. Butler's best was its own 35.

"We gave up field position and never recovered from it," Butler coach Garry Cathell said.

McShane intercepted a Nick Monteleone pass at the USC 44-yard line to end Butler's first possession. The Tornado forced a punt and took over possession at their own 30.

After Nubani stopped Butler running back Bobby Alexander for a 5-yard loss, McShane intercepted Monteleone again, this time at the Butler 22.

Nubani capped a five-play drive with a 4-yard scoring run.

On the ensuing kickoff, Alexander slipped while fielding the ball and the officials spotted it at Butler's 1-yard line.

Despite consecutive USC off-sides penalties turning a fourth-and-7 into a first down, the Tornado (2-1, 0-1) failed to move the ball and the Panthers took over at their own 43.

A 57-yard drive ended with McShane tossing a 27-yard touchdown pass to Taylor Everett.

"I wasn't crazy about letting them out of a hole like that," USC coach Jim Render said of his team's penalties. "And I don't think we dominated the line of scrimmage right away.

"We did take control as time went on, and that was good to see."

The Panthers increased their lead to 21-0 just before the half, when Jon Paul Zelik, who was running downfield to set up a punt return, saw the ball land right beside him.

He fielded it on a hop and rambled 21 yards before being tackled near midfield. McShane threw a 15-yard TD pass to Adam Chrissis with 27 seconds left in the half.

Butler never threatened to get in the game in the second half. Nubani rambled 71 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter and Grant Serdy capped a 70-yard drive with a 40-yard run with 10:23 left in the game.

At that point, USC held a 283-0 advantage in rushing yardage. Alexander had 12 carries for minus 14 yards on the night.

"I was very surprised they controlled the line like that," Cathell said. "They're an opportunistic team and they took advantage of our mistakes.

"We didn't block. We never got anything going."

The Tornado never got inside the Panthers' 40-yard line until Monteleone connected with Jordan Roycroft on a 38-yard third-quarter pass that would have produced a first down at the USC 36.

USC's defense forced a fumble at the end of that play and returned it nine yards the other way.

The Panthers rushed for 337 yards in the game, surpassing 300 yards on the ground for the second straight contest, and have outscored opponents 117-0 so far this season.

"I'm an old coach and old coaches like to run the ball," Render said.

Butler put together a drive late in the game and threatened to score. Ben Ashcraft rambled 18 yards on a third-and-3 from the USC 46 and Monteleone tossed a 17-yard pass to Cory Haley, moving the ball to the 11-yard line.

The Panthers stiffened at that point and Monteleone scrambled for just a 5-yard gain on fourth-and-9 with 2:56 remaining.

Two running plays lost three yards for USC, which then punted on third down. Ben Fraudin unleashed a 64-yard punt from his own end zone to help preserve the Panthers' shutout streak.

"I'm not really worried about that streak," Render said. "We had a lot of reserves in the game, we were losing yardage - I wanted to punt it out of there before Butler could get its return team on the field.

"Butler people were looking at me like I didn't know what down it was."

Cathell just wants his team to forget about the game.

"We have to forget it and move on," he said. "We walked off the field last week feeling pretty good about ourselves. Now we have to bounce back from something, that's all.

"This was one conference game. We've got six more."

Notes:

Eric Petanovich had an interception and Shane Snyder a fumble recovery for Butler. ... The teams combined for seven turnovers. ... Monteleone threw for 164 yards, his third consecutive 100-yard passing game. ... Butler travels to Shaler next Friday.