Raiders roughed up
JACKSON TWP — The team Seneca Valley football coach Ron Butschle thought he had and the one that showed up Friday night were complete opposites.
And the Raiders paid the price.
Seneca Valley was outgained 203-74 in the first half and committed three turnovers in a 27-7 season-opening loss to Norwin at NexTier Stadium.
"We didn't play with mental or physical toughness tonight," Butschle said. "Tackling is physical toughness and execution is mental toughness. We dropped the ball in every aspect of the game tonight and I take full responsibility for it. This was not the team we saw in practice."
A sequence of two plays told the story for the Raiders in the program's fourth season-opening loss in the last five years.
The Raiders were trailing 20-0 with 8:31 left in the third quarter when they began a drive on their own 45-yard line.
A 9-yard pass from C.J. Brown to Nick Marzock, a 17-yard run on a reverse by Evan Hetzel and a 9-yard run by Bill Burns helped to set up the Raiders inside the Knights' 10-yard line, where they eventually faced a fourth-and-inches from the 5-yard line.
Brown took the snap and rolled to his right, where he was only able to get off a desperation pass that fell incomplete.
If not scoring on the drive wasn't bad enough, Norwin tailback Matt Griffith turned the next play into a 95-yard scoring run that effectively ended the game.
"That sequence of plays was huge," said Knights coach Dan Conwell. "We take pride in our defense's ability to make stops. Fortunately, we were up 20-0 at the time and then we got the big play on offense."
"Those two plays pretty much typified our night," said Butschle.
Brown was greeted by a stubborn defense in his first varsity start.
The junior quarterback ended the night completing 11 of 29 passes for 119 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
He also fumbled to account for SV's other turnover.
Brown was sacked four times and hurried on countless other plays.
"I thought C.J. showed a lot of toughness tonight," Butschle said.
Brown's first interception came on a screen pass attempt in the third quarter. The quarterback was 10 yards into the backfield when he fired a pass toward the line of scrimmage — where Norwin's Dan Sudsina was waiting.
The senior defensive lineman snared the ball and followed his blockers 21 yards for a touchdown.
The play gave the Knights a 20-0 edge.
The Raiders, who were without tailback James Daniels (ankle) and linebacker Derek Peluso (virus), finally got on the scoreboard late in the fourth period when Brown capped a five-play, 32-yard drive with a 9-yard scoring pass to junior wideout Matt Plautz.
"Both Daniels and Peluso could've played tonight," said Butschle. "Keeping them out was a precautionary move."
Norwin's Alex Dennison threw two scoring strikes in the first half — a 35-yarder to Mike Shanahan late in the first quarter and a 6-yard pass to Mike Salopek with 20 seconds left in the first half.
"Norwin's a good team, but we stunk tonight," said Butschle. "I was very disappointed in our effort."
Seneca Valley will play at Penn-Trafford next Friday.
