JACKSON TWP — C.J. Brown and Matt Plautz spent last summer battling for the starting quarterback job at Seneca Valley.

The juniors spent the fall giving opposing defenses fits.

"They both received equal reps in camp last year," said Raiders coach Ron Butschle. "It became clear that C.J. would be our starting quarterback, but Matt was too good of an athlete not to be on the field."

To do that, the Raiders made a wide receiver out of Plautz, who had been a quarter since his elementary school days. In fact, he and Brown split time at quarterback on SV's freshman team in 2005.

"I'm a competitor, and I wanted to win the starting job at quarterback," said Plautz. "But I knew that playing wide receiver would help the team."

Did it ever.

Plautz caught a program single-season record 51 passes for 664 yards (13.0 avg.) and six touchdowns.

Brown ended the season with 1,566 passing yards and 11 touchdowns, the former being the second most in school history. Van Walker had 1,890 yards in 1967.

The Raiders also snapped their conference losing streak that began in 2003 and made the playoffs for the first time in five years.

"Going into last season, I really didn't know what to expect, with it being my first year of starting for varsity," said Brown. "Looking back, I am impressed that I was able to put up the numbers that I did as a junior. But our main goal was to win as a team and we did that. That's the most important thing to me."

Plautz did spell Brown at quarterback last year when the latter left a game with an injury and he completed three of five passes for 59 yards.

"Matt will be the backup (quarterback) again this season," said Butschle. "He'll see his share of snaps in practice."

Plautz's knowledge of the quarterback position helped both players last season.

"There were times I'd come back to the huddle and tell C.J. something I noticed in the defense," Plautz said. "As the season wore on, we got the timing of my routes down and he could trust that I was going to be in a certain place at a certain time."

Plautz caught nine passes from Brown in three different contests and ended with a pair of 100-yard games in 2007.

The bad news for the Raiders' Northern Five Conference foes is that the duo has one more season to take to the air in Columbia Blue and Black.

"We spent so much time working together in the offseason, we should pick up where we left off, if not better," said Plautz, who is getting looks from several Mid-American and Big East Conference schools. "I'm hoping for an even better year."

As is Brown, a University of Maryland recruit.

"I just want to keep improving as a quarterback," he said. "And possibly go for 2,000 yards."

"Both of them are going to put up good numbers because they're that talented," Butschle said "But I'm also looking for them to come forward and be senior leaders on this football team."