JACKSON TWP — The Seneca Valley and Erie McDowell football teams both plan to cross goal line several times Thursday night.

It's how each team plans to get there that makes this an intriguing matchup.

The Trojans will take on the Raiders with a 7 p.m. kickoff. The game will be telecast live on FSP.

SV senior quarterback C.J. Brown threw for a school-record 300 yards and a touchdown in the Raiders' 17-14 loss at Norwin last week.

Two of his receivers, senior Matt Plautz and junior Pete Vicente, went over the 100-yard receiving mark.

In contrast, McDowell, which switched to the triple option this season under first-year head coach Mark Soboleski, put up almost 400 rushing yards in a 43-23 Week 1 win over Erie Cathedral Prep.

SV faced the triple option last season in a nonconference game at Baldwin. The Highlanders amassed 592 yards on the ground in a 63-28 win.

"Defending the option is assignment football," said Raiders coach Ron Butschle. "You have to be disciplined and take care of your assignment. One false step and you're out of the play.

"After the Baldwin game last season, a few teams tried running the triple option against us and (defensive coordinator) Rich Piccinini did a good job of having our kids ready for it."

The Trojans' quarterback, senior A.J. Fenton, was a tailback for McDowell last season. Though he finished the year with more than 1,000 rushing yards, he sat out the Trojans' 27-20 loss at SV with a leg injury.

Alex Schmude, a fullback, gained 202 yards last week.

Though McDowell made it look easy in Week 1, running the triple option takes a lot of practice.

"We've been running this stuff since May, so it's taken a while," said Soboleski. "Running this offense is not easy."

As for SV's offense, Butschle is hoping for more points this week.

"Hopefully, our offense will be a bit more balanced this week," he said after the Raiders gained only 54 yards on 26 carries in Week 1. "We're still going to have to run the ball and we want to be physical when we do it."

Brown was SV's leading rusher against Norwin with 52 yards on 14 carries.

His running ability is not lost on Soboleski.

"C.J. is a great athlete and he gets them out of trouble so much. We are concerned with that."

The Trojans do have two veterans in the secondary, with Schmude at cornerback and Fenton at strong safety.

This will be the third meeting between the two schools. McDowell won 20-6 in 2006.