BETHEL PARK — The numbers looked impressive enough.

Butler ran 75 plays, recorded 26 first downs and 453 yards of offense. Quarterback Nick Monteleone threw for 325 yards and rushed for 105 more. The Golden Tornado generated 11 first downs in the first quarter alone.

There was just one problem.

"We couldn't tackle anybody," Butler coach Garry Cathell said.

Bethel Park rolled up 417 yards of offense and posted a 35-29 high school football victory Friday night.

"I was hoping it wouldn't turn out like this,"Bethel Park coach Jeff Metheny said of the offensive shootout. "We had things pretty much under control in the third quarter and halfway through the fourth.

"But that kid (Monteleone) is a good quarterback and they have some guys who can catch the ball."

Leading 21-16 at halftime, the Black Hawks seemingly put the game away with touchdown drives of 75 and 40 yards in the third quarter.

On the first, Bethel Park marched 75 yards in seven plays after receiving the second-half kickoff. Quarterback Jeff Stewart tossed a 23-yard touchdown pass to Tim Picard to finish the drive. The play was Bethel's ninth for more than 20 yards on the night.

"I can't explain it,"Cathell said of his defense, which shut out two of its first three opponents. "We were struggling at linebacker and Ian Haley didn't play the second half after getting hurt. ... I'll have to look at the film."

Shortly after Picard's touchdown, Monteleone threw his only interception of the night, as Nick Bonnett stole the pass at the Tornado 40-yard line. Justin Pratt capped a nine-play drive with a 4-yard scoring run and the Black Hawks had a 35-16 lead with 2:33 left in the third quarter.

Butler (2-2) put together an 11-play, 87-yard drive late in the final quarter. Monteleone hit tight end Aaron Dorondo for 31 yards and Adam Zaccari for 29 more to set up his own 1-yard scoring run with 3:11 remaining.

When Bethel Park recovered the ensuing onside kick, victory seemed in the bag — so much so that Metheny took quarterback Stewart and running back Pratt out of the game.

The Tornado used all of their timeouts on defense and on fourth-and 5 from the Butler 29, Pratt returned to the game in an attempt to run for a first down. He was stopped a yard short.

Monteleone guided Butler on an 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive that took only 1:28 off the clock. Zaccari caught passes for 13 and 21 yards, winding up with 100 yards in receptions for the evening.

Monteleone scrambled for a 22-yard gain before finding Jordan Roycroft in the corner of the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown pass with 1:11 left, pulling Butler within six.

Haley's onside kick traveled only one yard and Bethel Park was able to run out the clock.

"Chris just mis-hit it,"Cathell said. "If we get the ball back there, the way it was going, we might have won this thing."

Butler began the game by driving 83 yards in 14 plays, with Dan D'Amore scoring on a 2-yard run. Haley took a direct snap on the PATas Butler tried some trickery for two points, but he was tackled short of the goal line.

Late in the quarter, though, the Black Hawks' Eric Bielech blocked a Haley punt and Bethel recovered the ball on the Tornado 1-yard line.

Stewart scored on the next play and Ethan Talbott's PATgave the Black Hawks a lead they never lost.

"That blocked punt was big," Metheny said. "It got us going. We did some nice things offensively tonight. And we needed to."

Stewart threw for 191 yards and a touchdown, along with rushing for 70 yards and a score. Pratt had 23 carries for 128 yards and two TDs, Picard six catches for 129 yards for the Black Hawks.

Cory Haley had 117 yards on six kickoff returns for Butler and Lee Stalker recovered a fumble for the Tornado, who travel to Erie McDowell next Friday.