Tigers take down SV
WEXFORD — It took 12 seconds for Murphy's Law to take effect in Seneca Valley's football game at North Allegheny.
That's how long it took NA's Geoff Greco to return the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown as the Tigers rolled over the Raiders, 43-13 Friday at Newman Stadium.
Mike Locke made good on the two-point conversion and SV found itself down 8-0 before many fans had found their seats.
But it would get a lot worse for the Raiders (2-3, 0-1).
By the time SV picked up its initial first down — on its fourth drive of the game — the Tigers were up 22-0.
Greco took a 23-yard pass from Locke into the end zone with 7:46 left in the opening quarter and tailback Karl DeCiantis scored the first of his two touchdowns from 28 yards out early in the second quarter.
For SV coach Ron Butschle, things started badly and went downhill from there.
"We put ourselves in a bad position with the opening kickoff," he said. "Our defense gave up some big plays. And penalties hurt us, too."
The Raiders were flagged 10 times for 105 yards.
Finally, with time running out in the first half, SV quarterback C.J. Brown led a 6-play, 65-yard drive that ended with a 21-yard touchdown strike to Matt Plautz with four seconds left
The Tigers blocked the extra-point attempt and held a 36-6 lead at the break.
"I thought our defense did a good job of mixing things up in the first half," said NA coach Art Walker Jr. "Blitzing here and not blitzing there ... playing man-to-man in certain situations and zone in others.
"Our kids weren't happy about giving up that touchdown right before the half, and that's a good sign."
North Allegheny (5-0, 1-0) outgained the Raiders 290-119 in the first half.
Brown did end up with decent numbers, completing 18 of 37 passes for 245 yards and two touchdowns, but he was intercepted three times.
Trailing 43-6, the Raiders put up one more score on the board when Brown found Plautz wide open over the middle before the junior wideout eluded several tacklers and scored from 53 yards out.
Plautz caught nine passes for 152 yards and the two scores.
"North Allegheny's a good football team and we were probably a little overmatched," said Butschle. "But we figured if we played like we did against Kiski, we'd have a shot."
