TURTLE CREEK — There were plenty of opportunities for the Seneca Valley football team to make junior quarterback Caden Smithco's first start a memorable one.

How the news came that Smithco would replace Gabe Lawson, who missed Friday's 20-14 loss to Central Catholic at the Wolvarena with a shoulder injury, caught the junior quarterback off guard.

“The night before the game, I was taking a nap and Coach (Ron) Butschle called me,” Smithco said. “He goes 'Cade, you have a start tomorrow.' I said OK, coach.' He said, 'You don't sound too excited.' I said, 'Coach, I'm going to be honest, I just woke up from a nap.'”

Smithco misfired on his first pass, but ended up completing 16-of-28 passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns in the Raiders' Quad County Conference opener.

What separated Smithco's story from becoming legendary was missed opportunities. Each of the Raiders' first three drives went into Viking territory. Two of them came up empty.

Central Catholic (2-0, 1-0) took the lead on the game's opening possession. Vikings quarterback Dom Pieto lofted a pass to Gavin Thomson, who brought it in over the defender for a 38-yard score.

Smithco wasn't gun-shy. After misfiring on his first pass, Smithco completed his next seven, culminating with a 2-yard touchdown to Luke Smith with 3 minutes, 24 seconds left in the first quarter.

Butschle didn't alter how the Raiders attacked on offense.

“Not a bit,” Butschle said. “The playcalling didn't change one iota because Caden Smithco was in the ballgame. I've been coaching a long time and that was one of the gutsiest performances I've had by a player in a long time.”

Smith's score tied the game at seven. The Vikings went ahead for good with 1:11 left in the first half on a Jonathan Opalko field goal.

Central Catholic stretched the lead on its first possession of the second half. Pieto converted a fourth-and-inches at the Raider 2 with a sneak. Kenneth Blake scored on a 1-yard pitch two plays later to extend the advantage to 17-7.

“It was a fight down in the redzone,” Central Catholic coach Terry Totten said. “They got a lot of short passes off on us and that's something we have to adjust to. I think we had to take away the run and we did a nice job of that.”

Seneca Valley (1-1, 0-1) cut the lead to three when Josh McLean, who led the Raiders with 51 receiving yards, scored on a 20-yard catch-and-run with 9:42 remaining. After forcing Central Catholic to punt, Smithco had the Raiders driving again. But then disaster struck. With the ball on the Central Catholic 46, Smithco had the ball slide out of his arm and get recovered by the Vikings.

“I felt like my arm went forward,” Smithco said. “The call's a call. I can't do anything about it now.”

Central Catholic would get another field goal on the ensuing possession. Another Seneca Valley mistake on the following kick-off, allowing the ball to roll out at its own 1 with less than two-and-half-minutes remaining.

On a night with many positives, Seneca Valley was undone by tiny miscues.

“I thought our defense played a great game,” Butschle said. “There are some variables that happen in a football game that didn't go our way.”

Seneca Valley 7 0 0 7 — 14

Central Cath. 7 3 7 3 — 20

First Quarter

CC — Gavin Thomson 38 pass from Dom Pieto (Jonathan Opalko kick), 9:29

SV — Luke Smith 2 pass from Caden Smithco (Seth Winters kick), 3:24

Second Quarter

CC — Opalko 33 field goal, 1:11

Third Quarter

CC — Kenneth Blake 1 run (Opalko kick), 2:48

Fourth Quarter

SV — Josh McLean 20 pass from Smithco (Winters kick), 9:42

CC — Opalko 32 field goal, 2:08

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Seneca Valley, Matt Stanger 11-58, Cade SMithco 12-(-2). Central Catholic, Kenneth Blake 16-46, Dom Pieto 6-44, Rocco DelVerne 1-2, gavin Thomson 2-23, Visawn Penniz 6-22, Mark Craighead 2-14.

Passing: Seneca Valley, Smithco 16-28-128-0. Central Catholic, Pieto 4-11-85-0.

Receiving: Seneca Valley, Josh McLean 5-51, Jake Stebbins 5-50, Luke Smith 3-30, Brennan Hayes 1-7, Stangers 1-(-2). Central Catholic, Thomson 3-86, Robson 1-(-1)