After its 27-13 home conference loss to North Allegheny last week, the Seneca Valley football team will face defending Quad North champion North Hills on the road Friday.

And Raiders coach Ron Butschle admits there's a sense of urgency among his team.

"But we've had a sense of urgency every week," he added.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Martorelli Stadium.

The Indians may also be on edge this week, following their 14-8 loss to Shaler last Saturday.

It was North Hills' first defeat to Shaler in six years. The loss may serve as motivation as the team prepares for Seneca Valley (3-2, 0-1) in a big Northern Five clash.

"If that loss is something that motivates their kids, who knows," Butschle said. "Once the game starts, I believe all of that external motivation falls off to the wayside and it will all come down to execution."

The Indians (3-2, 0-1) dropped a 27-18 decision to Quad A power McKeesport to open the season. That was followed by wins over Connellsville, Penn Hills and Penn-Trafford by a combined score of 100-14.

Despite getting just 53 yards from its ground game last week, North Hills has several players who can gain big chunks of yardage.

Senior running backs Matt Timko (187) and Michael Rainey-Wiles (139) both surpassed 100 yards in the victory at Connellsville.

Seneca Valley has not given up a 100-yard rusher so far this season, but the Raiders did struggle against NA's ground attack of quarterback Geoff Greco, tailback Tim Lotz and fullback Marek Lapinski.

The trio combined for 187 yards on 36 carries — a 5.2 yard average.

As far as Seneca Valley's running game is concerned, its coming off its poorest performance in 2006.

Junior tailback James Daniels had just 27 yards on 17 carries vs. NA.

"I think it was a combination of things," said Butschle of his team's inability to run the ball last week. "First, our offensive line wasn't holding their blocks long enough and second, NA was doing some things up front and they took away our trap plays, which had been working well."

Daniels now has 529 yards rushing on the season and has scored at least one touchdown in every game. Senior quarterback Ted Pynos has been efficient, completing 52 percent (43 of 83) of his passes, along with one touchdown and two interceptions.

His favorite target is senior wide receiver Kevin Mayberry, who has grabbed 16 passes for 242 yards.

The Raiders will be attempting to break a 21-game conference losing streak.

"Getting that first conference win, it would be like lifting a gigantic weight off of our shoulders," said Butschle. "The kids are working hard and it's going to happen, hopefully sooner than later, but it's going to happen.

"We want to prove that Seneca Valley is ready to compete with teams like North Hills."

North Hills leads the all-time series 21-5-2.

Seneca Valley has not defeated North Hills since taking a 31-7 decision in 1997.