PENN HILLS — Butler senior linebacker Logan Dubyak would like to see fewer nerves than he saw Friday night at Yuhas-McGinley Stadium.

Opening up by playing cautiously had the Golden Tornado on its heels early in a 54-21 Northern Seven Conference football loss to Penn Hills.

The Indians, a faster team with an extra game under their belt, didn’t need long to dig in. Penn Hills (2-0, 1-0) finished with 596 yards of offense, including 419 on the ground.

“We came out slow, timid maybe,” Dubyak said. “A lot of these kids don’t know what it feels like to play under these Friday night lights.”

The Golden Tornado (0-1, 0-1) didn’t record a first down until Dubyak scampered for a 13-yard run with 7 minutes, 38 seconds left before halftime. Butler’s first three drives of the game ended with three-and-outs.

Penn Hills didn’t wait long to get started.

Indians quarterback Hollis Mathis opened the scoring by finding Dante Cephas for an 18-yard touchdown pass with 7:46 left in the first quarter.

Terry Smith, who finished with a game-high 106 rushing yards, extended Penn Hills’ advantage to 14-0 on a 10-yard run nearly four minutes later.

It was a tough night for Butler’s defense, which allowed five scoring rushes of 20 yards or more.

“I think our tackling was really poor tonight,” Golden Tornado coach Rob Densmore said. “We had guys in position to make a play and we just didn’t bring our feet and didn’t make tackles.

“Against athletic kids, not only do you need one guy there, you need more than one guy there.”

Despite the early storm, Butler was still in position to keep the game close.

Luke Michalek would provide the spark for the Golden Tornado (0-1, 0-1).

Fielding a bouncing kick-off off the turf, Michalek raced 85 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-7 following Smith’s touchdown.

Any momentum was sapped by Penn Hills’ rushing attack. The Indians answered with a nine-play, 96-yard drive that culminated in a 22-yard touchdown by Smith.

“We still have a very young defensive line,” Dubyak said. “We still have things to figure out. I think we picked it up more toward the end.”

Jaquay Sears would add touchdown runs of 23 and 33 yards, respectively, before halftime to put Penn Hills ahead 34-7.

Indians coach Jon LeDonne emphasized he didn’t want to get into a war on the line.

“We knew they were big on the interior,” LeDonne said. “We knew if we could get to the next level, we knew we had the guys that could outrun their guys in the defensive backfield.”

Butler wouldn’t score again until Trent Valent went in from 6 yards out in the fourth quarter.

The Golden Tornado finished with 113 yards of offense. Julian Jones scored Butler’s other touchdown, scooping up a fumble and running it in late in the fourth quarter.

Butler 7 0 0 14 — 21

Penn Hills 14 20 13 7 — 54

First Quarter

PH — Dante Cephas 18 pass from Hollis Mathis (Shayne Myers kick), 7:46

PH — Terry Smith 10 run (Myers kick), 3:48

B — Luke Michalek 85 kick return (Emery Douthette kick), 3:40

Second Quarter

PH — Smith 22 run (Myers kick), 11:51

PH — Jacquauy Sears 23 run (Myers kick), 8:29

PH — Sears 33 run (kick failed), 3:00

Third Quarter

PH — Smith 22 run (pass failed), 6:46

PH — Jordy Daniels-Boswell 78 run (Smith kick), 3:09

Fourth Quarter

B — Trent Valent 6 run (Douthette kick), 9:55

PH — Anthony Grimes 65 kick return (Smith kickl), 9:44

B — Julian Jones 6 fumble return (Douthette kick), 2:50

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Butler, Logan Dubyak 56-42, Trent Valent 6-23, Colton Frost 6-9, Jacob Tilko 2-9, Luke Michalek 4-(-3), Brandon Fleeger 10-_-9). Penn Hills, Terry Smith 8-106, Jacquay Sears 9-104, Hollis Mathis 2-91, Jordy Daniels-Boswell 2-80, Daequan Hardy 1-34, Dylan Bennett 1-3, Scott Boswell-Davenport 1-1.

Passing: Butler, Brandon Fleeger 4-10-42-1. Penn Hills, Hollis Mathis 7-13-177-0, Rodney Stubbs 0-1-0-0

Receiving: Butler, Logan Dubyak 2-33, Luke Michalek 1-12, John Michalek 1-(-3). Penn Hills, Daequan Hardy 3-91, Dante CVephas 2-53, Andy Plowden 1-36, James Schropp 1-7.