BUTLER TWP - Trailing 14-0 and facing fourth-and-three wasn't the type of start North Hills had in mind.

Coach Jack McCurry didn't panic. Neither did his team as quarterback Ryan Lehmeier rolled out and lunged forward for the first down at the Butler 24-yard line on the final play of the first quarter.

The undefeated Indians went on to score 42 of the game's next 45 points before holding on for a 42-31 high school football victory Friday night at Art Bernardi Stadium.

"It's a long game," McCurry said. "No need to panic. Just do your thing."

North Hills did its thing rather quickly. Lehmeier scored three touchdowns in the second quarter, capping the aforementioned possession with a 19-yard scoring run.

Lehmeier's 41-yard bomb to receiver Matt Zangaro, who split two defenders on a post pattern, set up his own 2-yard run for the tying touchdown with 6:24 left in the first half.

Moments later, Butler punter Andrew Goettler couldn't handle a low snap and was tackled for a 14-yard loss at his own 37-yard line.

Lehmeier hit Zangaro for completions of 12 and 19 yards before scoring on a 1-yard run. Zangaro intercepted a Nick Monteleone pass and returned it 39 yards to paydirt for a 28-14 halftime lead.

"We were going to run a fake punt on fourth-and-1 (at the North Hills 44) and we get called for motion," Butler coach Garry Cathell said. "Then we get a bad snap and they wind up with a short field.

"A couple of plays here, a couple of plays there. That was the game. We pushed the pattern too deep and Nick hung the ball up on that interception. Their kid just had enough time to get to it," he added.

Butler used some big plays of its own to take the early lead. Jordan Roycroft's 22-yard punt return set up Bob Alexander's 32-yard scoring run just 2:29 into the game.

Josh Wachter intercepted a North Hills screen pass on the Indians' next possession, returning it 12 yards to the North Hills 26. Ben Ashcraft's 1-yard plunge capped a four-play drive from there.

"They jumped on us early, simple as that," McCurry said.

The Golden Tornado took the second half kickoff, drove 61 yards in 17 plays and ate 8:40 off the clock, settling for a 27-yard Chris Haley field goal. Butler ran just 19 plays the entire first half.

Three plays later, North Hills was in the end zone again when Connor Corcoran, who had 26 carries for 169 yards and two TDs, burst free 68 yards up the middle on a third-and-8 play.

"That was the biggest play of the game," Cathell said. "If we stop them there, we get the ball back with plenty of momentum and plenty of time."

The Tornado fell behind 42-17 when Corcoran capped a 52-yard drive with a 5-yard TD run with 3:03 left in the game.

Butler wasn't done, however. Monteleone's 48-yard pass to Bobby Ridley set up Alexander's 23-yard scoring run just 40 seconds later.

Jesse Binus recovered an onsides kick and Monteleone hit Wachter with a 49-yard touchdown pass on the next play, cutting the gap to 42-31 with 2:09 still on the clock.

Zangaro covered the next onsides kick to finally put the win away for the Indians.

"We take a lot of pride in how we play football," McCurry said. "There's no victory celebration going on in here. We're disappointed in how we played tonight."

The teams combined for 658 yards of offense.

"Our kids didn't quit," Cathell said. "Our kids will never quit."

Notes:

North Hills allowed 28 points combined in its first four games before allowing 31 Friday. … Corcoran has scored 10 touchdowns this season. … Monteleone threw for a season-high 174 yards. … Butler travels to North Allegheny next Friday.