JACKSON TWP — Momentum is key when entering the WPIAL Quad A football playoffs and Don Holl knows it.

The Seneca Valley coach has seen his team reel off three consecutive Northern Seven Conference wins, most recently a 21-14 victory last week over North Hills that gave the program its 200th victory and clinched a postseason berth for the Raiders.

But before the playoffs begin, Seneca Valley hosts Butler Friday in the battle for the Butler Eagle Traveling Trophy.

The Golden Tornado (2-6, 0-5) have lost five straight games and have not won a conference tilt since defeating SV in Oct. 2006.

The Raiders won last year’s meeting, 41-17.

“The trophy is important to us, we want to keep it here,” said Holl. “It’s going to be Senior Night and we want to go into the playoffs with momentum. There’s a lot of reasons for us to be up for this game and we’re excited.”

If the Raiders (6-2, 3-2) win and Shaler defeats Pine-Richland, a three-way tie for second place would involve SV, McDowell and Shaler.

“Unfortunately for us, the way the points worked out, we can’t finish any higher than third,” said Holl, which means SV will not host their first-round playoff opponent. But the difference between the third and fourth spot in the conference will be a big one.

“We’re going to focus on playing our game and let the chips fall where they may,” added Holl.

SV’s last seven touchdowns have come on the ground. In the win over North Hills, the Raiders ran for 230 yards and passed for just 76.

“You certainly want your offense to be hitting on all cylinders,” said Holl, “but in the end, it doesn’t matter how you win. The objective is to score more points than your opponent.

“Last week, North Hills was playing a defense that we thought we could run on and we did have some success. Hopefully, having a balanced offense means we can run when teams dare us to run and pass when they dare us to pass.”

SV junior quarterback Jordan Brown has put up an impressive 62.9 completion percentage (114 of 181).

Four different receivers have at least three touchdown catches, led by Forrest Barnes’ total of four.

Butler has struggled offensively, averaging just 160.1 yards in eight games.

In a 42-7 home loss to McDowell last week, the Tornado managed just 134 total yards.

First-year Tornado coach Clyde Conti has tried several offensive formations this season.

“You just make sure your base package on defense matches up with what they’re trying to do,” said Holl. “We have noticed some of their tendencies on film, but other than that, we just tell our kids to go out and play.”

Raiders’ inside linebacker Joe Duggan left last week’s game with a leg injury. His status for Friday’s game is unknown.

Butler holds a 15-11 edge in the all-time series, which began in 1977.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.