BUTLER TWP — The Butler boys lacrosse team entered Wednesday's game armed with emotion.

The Golden Tornado proceeded to take Fox Chapel by storm.

Butler celebrated Senior Night with a 13-2 thrashing of the Foxes at Art Bernardi Stadium in a WPIAL Division 1 Section 2 tilt.

The Tornado led 4-0 after the first quarter, before Tanner Kotch scored the first of his game-high four goals with 9:36 remaining in the second frame. The senior also chipped in three assists.

Butler (6-7, 1-4) took a 6-1 advantage into halftime and buried the Foxes (7-7, 0-6) with five unanswered goals in the third period.

“It means a lot. Everyone wants to go out with a bang and we did that tonight,” said Kotch. “We crushed them. That's what we wanted to do.

“We all grew up together, so we've all been family since the beginning,” he added. “Just to put a win under our belts to remember Senior Night is feeling great.”

In addition to a pregame ceremony honoring the 10 Butler seniors, the squad also wanted to play well for injured junior standout Trevor Monteleone.

“They've had a rough couple of days. We lost one of our better players the other night, so they kind of laid it on the line for him,” said Butler coach Brandon Hoskinson. “The guys knew what to do and came out and got one for him.”

Clay Bachman provided Butler's first score just 58 seconds into the game, before senior defenseman Seth Horwat charged the net from beyond midfield and beat goalie Ben Klaas for a 2-0 edge with 8:48 left in the first.

“They came out with a lot of emotion,” said Fox Chapel coach Thomas Duman. “They came out faster and harder than we did and they kind of took it from there.”

Cory Hilliard and JJ Raab, both seniors, pushed Butler's advantage to 4-0 by the end of the first off assists from Kotch and Bachman, respectively.

Jamison Smith tallied two goals in a dominant third frame, while Kotch, Raab and Chandler Harvey added one apiece. Butler outshot Fox Chapel 9-0 during the third and owned a 24-8 advantage for the game.

Hoskinson was pleased to see a fluid and balanced offensive attack.

“I told all the guys that this is what happens when they create opportunities by moving their feet,” explained the Butler coach. “The biggest thing tonight was moving the ball, moving our feet and being an option.”

Kotch and senior Justin Steiner rounded out the Butler scoring with fourth-quarter goals.

“When our offense is moving like that, when the kids are able to feed and move around, it makes it easy for the whole team,” said Kotch.

Duman wasn't impressed with his squad's defensive effort.

“We didn't really do much to stop them on defense and they definitely took advantage of it,” he said.

While the Tornado offense clicked on all cylinders, the defense was just as effective.

Freshman goalie Brandon Martin made six saves and allowed just one goal.

Tucker Root scored for the Foxes in the second period, before Levi McCrady added another in the fourth with the backup goalie in net.

“Two goals against is always nice, especially when you're without arguably your best defender,” said Hoskinson. “Brandon Martin has been playing pretty good the last couple of games. He's just getting comfortable.”

The victory marked Butler's first section win as a Division 1 program after making the jump from D-2 this year.

“To have this senior group bring us up to this level is pretty special and hopefully we set a pretty good example,” said Hoskinson. “There's a couple of things to play for still and hopefully we can send these guys out to college on the right note.”

The 10 Butler senior lacrosse players honored before the game included Raab, Hilliard, Steiner, Kotch, Horwat, Nate Monks, Clint Regal, Ian Bergbigler, Ace Guevara and Zach Irion.