Raiders run to victory
JACKSON TWP— James Daniels and Cameron McDonald-Cahill saved their best for last.
Only Daniels' best came last and lifted Seneca Valley to a 27-13 football victory over Butler Friday night at NexTier Stadium.
The Raiders senior running back scored two touchdowns in the final three minutes to break a 13-13 tie and to give Seneca Valley (6-3, 4-1) the Butler Eagle Traveling Trophy for the first time since 2002.
Daniels had left the game early in the fourth quarter after a Tony Fudoli tackle stopped him short of a first down at the Butler 12-yard line.
"He took a helmet to the thigh area,"Raiders coach Ron Butschle said. "He was a little sore for a while, but he was OK."
"That wasn't gonna keep me out,"Daniels said. "I wanted this game."
Fudoli's tackle forced Seneca Valley to settle for a 29-yard Ryan Zipf field goal and a 13-7 lead with 10:29 left in the game. Zipf's 28-yard field goal late in the third quarter had snapped a 7-7 tie.
The Raiders appeared to survive a Butler surge when Tyler Mack stopped Golden Tornado quarterback Cole Harvey two yards short of a first down on fourth and 7 from the Raiders' 11-yard line with 4:29 left.
But on the next play, SV quarterback C.J. Brown fumbled and Butler recovered at the Raiders' 6.
Harvey then connected with McDonald-Cahill for a 4-yard touchdown strike and the game was tied with 3:02 remaining.Seneca Valley's Sean Gress blocked Ryan Soule's PAT to keep the game deadlocked."That block took a little momentum away from us,"Butler coach Jeff McAnallen admitted. "It may have re-energized them a little bit."The Raiders wasted little time in regaining the lead. Taking possession at his own 40, Brown promptly connected with Matt Plautz for an 18-yard pass play.A screen pass to Daniels worked for 38 yards before he was knocked out of bounds at the Butler 4-yard line. Daniels scored on the next play and SVled 20-13 with 2:33 left."That screen play worked earlier in the game (for 21 yards) and we were looking for the right time to call it again,"Daniels said. "That was the perfect time."When the Tornado regained possession at their own 25, Harvey threw three incomplete passes and was sacked on fourth down with 2:04 to play. Daniels wrapped up the scoring moments later with a 16-yard touchdown run.Daniels had 25 carries for 119 yards and three touchdowns. He caught two passes for 59 yards."I knew this was going to be a tough game and that we were going to get Butler's best shot,"Butschle said. "Their kids played hard, but so did ours."After being shut out the past two weeks, Butler scored on the first offensive play of the game Friday when McDonald-Cahill ran a crossing pattern, caught a Harvey pass in stride over the middle and turned it into an 80-yard touchdown play.McDonald-Cahill wound up with a career-high 232 all-purpose yards — 103 receiving, 62 rushing and 67 on kick returns."As the game went on, I just wanted to put the ball in his hands more and more,"McAnallen said. "The vision and speed he showed out there — he looked like the best athlete on the field."Daniels capped a 12-play, 61-yard drive with a 4-yard scoring run with 9:42 left in the first half. The game was 7-all at intermission after the Raiders missed a chance to take the lead when Josh Reddick intercepted Brown at the Butler 17 with less than a minute to play.The Tornado (0-9, 0-5) completed the program's first winless season since 1921 (0-7-1). Butler was 0-6 in 1914."There is no quick fix to this,"McAnallen said. "It's going to take time. I applaud and thank my seniors for the effort they gave. Eighty kids and a bunch of coaches working together for the first year, everybody having to learn a whole new system, it's tough."<B>Notes:</B>Fudoli suffered a finger injury and Butler linebacker Christos Klutinoty broke his hand during the game. ... Derek Peluso recovered a fumble for the Raiders. ... Seneca Valley ran 59 plays, 45 on the ground. ... Plautz caught four passes for 51 yards and is one catch shy of the school record of 42 in a season. ... Butler will not play a 10th game next week.
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