BUTLER TWP — A story of the tortoise and the hare — and the hare won.

Two wildly different possessions at the end of the first half paved the way for unbeaten Upper St. Clair's 34-3 football victory over Butler Friday night at Art Bernardi Stadium.

The Golden Tornado (2-4, 2-3) trailed 13-0 when they took possession at their own 15-yard line with 10:22 remaining in the first half. Butler then held the ball for 24 plays, gaining 72 yards and eating nine minutes and 48 seconds off the clock.

“I haven't seen anything like that in a long, long time,” said Upper St. Clair coach Jim Render, in his 34th year.

Butler was whistled for a procedure penalty on third-and-1 from the USC 13, however, and had to settle for a 30-yard Devin Fitz field goal. The points ended a nine-quarter scoreless drought for the Tornado.

“When you're not real athletic, you do the next best thing and that's try to control the ball,” Butler coach Clyde Conti said. “We can't make mistakes like we made tonight, though. We're not good enough to afford that kind of stuff.”

The Panthers (6-0) took possession at their own 30 with 32 seconds left in the half. Five plays later, they were in the end zone with a back-breaking touchdown.

Senior quarterback Pete Coughlin completed a 9-yard pass to Ben Haus, scrambled for 13 yards, found Haus for a 23-yard completion and hit sophomore Ben Southorn for a 25-yard score on the final play of the half.

The Panthers went to the locker room with a 20-3 lead.

“Pete walked over to me once we got the ball and said, 'Hey, let's go for it.' We had three timeouts, so we called some passing plays and they worked,” Render said.

Coughlin scrambled around the backfield on the touchdown play, buying himself time before spotting Southorn deep down the middle. The receiver caught the ball at the 5-yard line, spun out of a tackle and waltzed into the end zone.

“That touchdown at the end of the half ... my goodness,” Conti said, his voice trailing off.

Butler put together a drive in the first quarter that secured a first down at the USC 22-yard line. Penalties turned that into a fourth-and-34 from the 46 and necessitated a punt.

Upper St. Clair fumbled away the second-half kickoff as a Lucas Dubyak hit resulted in a Jake Lenhart recovery at the USC 39. An intentional grounding penalty on third down forced another punt.

“We're running wrong routes, making mistakes, losing composure and we're running out of kids we can put in there,” Conti said. “All we can do is keep plugging away.

“I thought we played hard tonight. We were better than last week.”

Quarterback Jordan Cratty led the Tornado ground game with 79 yards on 18 carries. Butler completed only 3 of 15 passes, however.

Coughlin rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns for the Panthers, scoring on runs of 14 and 16 yards. A 41-yard burst set up his first score. He threw for 86 yards and a touchdown.

“Reporters have written about a lot of football players in Western Pennsylvania, but I don't know who I'd trade Pete for,” Render said. “He's pretty darn good.”

Butler did not turn the ball over Friday night.

“It was an honor for me to be on the same field as Coach Render tonight,” Conti said. “He is a true icon in this profession. This was a thrill for me.”

Render described Butler as “the best two-win team I've seen in a while.

“Those kids play hard. I was impressed,” he said.