WEXFORD— For the last 34 minutes, Butler's football team outplayed Northern Five leader North Allegheny Friday night at Newman Field.

But the first 14 minutes were a disaster.

The host Tigers (6-2, 4-0) used their defense to set up two touchdowns and Carl DeCiantis ran 77 yards for a score as NAbuilt a 21-0 lead with 10 minutes left in the first half.

North Allegheny wound up posting a 31-17 victory.

"I thought we sat on the lead a little bit. ... But Butler had a lot to do with that,"said North Allegheny coach Art Walker Jr. "They never stopped getting after us."

The Tigers set the tone early, however, as Jack Connolly sacked Butler quarterback Nick Monteleone for a 13-yard loss on the third play of the game, forcing the Tornado (2-6, 0-4) to punt from their own end zone.

NAset up shop at the Butler 36-yard line and scored two plays later when sophomore quarterback Mike Locke found tight end Thomas Keiser for a 20-yard touchdown pass.

Butler was able to establish some field position moments later before punting the ball to the Tigers 23-yard line with 48 seconds left in the quarter.

On the next play, NA's Carl DeCiantis took a handoff, broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and had clear sailing down the right sideline for a 77-yard scoring jaunt.

"We had him stopped for a loss and he got away,"Butler coach Garry Cathell said. "But those guys are good. They're a tough, physical, scrappy team."

Just before the first period ended, NA's Marek Lapinski recovered a Butler fumble at the Tornado 28-yard line.

On a third-and-27 play shortly thereafter, Locke found Brian Austin for a 34-yard touchdown pass. Defender Dan D'Amore appeared to be in position for an interception, but the ball sailed over his fingertips and into Austin's arms.

"It just hasn't happened for us,"Cathell said. "The kids are frustrated. I'm frustrated. This has been rough."

But the Tornado responded.

Monteleone's 34-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Roycroft capped an 86-yard scoring drive. D'Amore made an acrobatic interception in the end zone to deny the Tigers a fourth touchdown and Butler drove 70 yards the other way as it tried trim the deficit to seven.

Ian Haley caught a deep fade pass near the right corner of the end zone, but was ruled out of bounds. Roycroft was ready to catch a third-down pass in the end zone, but slipped before the ball got there.

Chris Haley's 27-yard field goal cut the NAlead to 21-10 at the half.

A high snap sailed over Haley's head early in the third quarter and he was forced to punt the ball through his own end zone for a safety.

The Tigers did not get a first down in the second half until Locke found Geoff Greco for a 35-yard completion to the Tornado 24 with less than nine minutes to play. That set up a 5-yard scoring run by Lapinski, and Locke's conversion pass to Greco gave the Tigers a 31-10 lead with 7:33 left.

Locke threw for 109 yards and two touchdowns on the night.

Butler drove 65 yards in 12 plays to score late in the game as Monteleone ran 11 yards for a touchdown coming with 3:11 to play. The Tornado then recovered an onside kick.

On first down from the Tigers 36, however, NA's Alex Carson intercepted Monteleone's deep pass and the issue was decided.

"That was the time to go for the big one, but they had triple coverage on our guy,"Cathell said.

Monteleone threw for 266 yards, and Roycroft, despite playing with broken ribs, had nine catches for 168.

DeCiantis led NAwith 100 yards on 11 carries.

Butler hosts Seneca Valley (3-5, 0-4) next Friday in the annual battle for the Butler Eagle Traveling Trophy.