BUTLER TWP - This one got ugly - fast.

Mt. Lebanon scored touchdowns on its first four possessions and never punted all night while blanking Butler, 45-0, Friday night at Art Bernardi Stadium.

The 45 points marked the most the Golden Tornado have allowed in a football game since dropping a 50-13 decision to Penn Hills in 2001.

"I'm surprised they pushed us around up front the way they did," Butler coach Garry Cathell said. "We knew coming in their line was the strength of their team."

And Blue Devils senior tailback Jimmy Mullen took advantage of that strength.

Mullen had 16 carries for 192 yards and three touchdowns - including runs of 49 and 68 yards - in the first half alone. He also had a 50-yard scoring run wiped out by a holding penalty in the second quarter.

The Blue Devils (4-4, 3-3) amassed 405 yards of offense as quarterback Nick Till threw for 132 yards, including touchdowns of 41 yards to Derek Jancisin and 13 yards to Mike Mathews.

Conversely, Butler (0-8, 0-6) rushed for a net 6 yards. Quarterback Nick Monteleone threw for a career-high 199 yards, but was intercepted twice and sacked six times.

"We jumped on a team and stayed on them," Mt. Lebanon coach Chris Haering said. "That's something we haven't been doing and it's something good teams have to do."

Mullen finished the game with 202 yards rushing before leaving midway through the third quarter.

"He's had a couple of games like that," Haering said. "Jimmy's turned into a big-play guy for us."

Butler got inside the Blue Devils' 10-yard line twice in the first half. The first time resulted in Chris Haley's 36-yard field goal attempt sailing wide right.

The Tornado earned a first-and-goal at the Mt. Lebanon 5-yard line late in the first half after Monteleone connected on five passes, including three to tight end Josh Wachter, during the drive.

From the 5, two incompletions were followed by a Ben Ashcraft 3-yard run and a fourth-down incompletion.

"We missed out on our opportunities to score early and the game just got away from us," Cathell said.

"When you keep the other team out of your end zone in situations like that, it prevents momentum from turning the other way," Haering said. "Those stops were important."

With the mercy clock running in the second half, Butler had one more chance to avoid the shutout. On second-and-4 from the Blue Devils' 21-yard line, however, Monteleone was intercepted by Mike Benintend, who returned the theft 66 yards to the Tornado 29.

Two plays later, Mt. Lebanon reserve quarterback Rob Marasti ran 27 yards for the game's final touchdown.

Butler has lost eight games in a season for the first time since 1994. The Golden Tornado will try to maintain possession of the Butler Eagle Traveling Trophy when it travels to winless Seneca Valley next Friday.

"We've got two games left and we'll go back to preparing for our next opponent," Cathell said. "That's what we'll always do."

Mt. Lebanon has outscored Butler 166-26 over their meetings the last five years.

Notes:

Butler suffered four turnovers and has turned the ball over 13 times in its last three games. … Butler is trying to avoid its first winless season since 1921 (0-7-1). Butler lost all of its games (0-6) in 1914. … The Tornado's season-ending crossover game with Norwin will be at 7 p.m. Oct. 28 at Art Bernardi Stadium.