Seneca Valley football team starting critical 2-week stretch against Central Catholic
History isn’t in Seneca Valley’s favor — neither was its start out of the gate.
After dropping five consecutive games to start this football season, the Raiders (3-5, 0-2) could ensure an improbable postseason appearance by beating Central Catholic this week and North Allegheny next.
“It would definitely open some eyes, for sure,” Seneca Valley coach Ron Butschle said.
The Raiders have a combined 6-24 record against the two programs since 2010. However, Seneca Valley has beaten both the Vikings and Tigers in the same season — that coming in the postseason in 2018.
The Raiders’ full focus is on the first task at hand — getting past a formidable Central Catholic crew in Tri-County Five Conference play at Gateway High School Friday night.
“We don’t even talk about it,” Butschle said. “We know what the scenario is. Everybody knows what the scenario is. But, we’re not thinking, really, past Friday. Obviously, we’d love to win two in a row and be in the playoffs, but the beginning of our year put us at a disadvantage.
“In some ways, I wish we could go back and play a couple of those games over with the way we’re playing now. But, you know, we can’t do that, so we’re just going to go out and grind it out against Central.”
Seneca Valley hasn’t come out on top against the Vikings (7-1, 3-0) since it was in the midst of that aforementioned 2018 playoff run — a 15-14 WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal win. The Raiders have only defeated Central Catholic five times in 24 tries in a series dating back to 1975.
Vikings first-year coach Ryan Lehmeier spent the previous two seasons as an assistant on Butschle’s staff. He knows better than to overlook his colleague.
“He’s a great motivator,” Lehmeier said. “He’s going to have them ready to play. I know the playoff parameters. This is a 6A conference football game in Western Pennsylvania. This is a big football game.”
Not to mention, Seneca Valley has picked up some steam by pinning up three wins in three straight outings — most recently a 46-25 road win over North Hills.
“I think winning three games in a row is something that is going to give our kids some confidence,” Butschle said. “For three weeks, we’ve been able to score 40-plus points a game and keep the other team at bay pretty well. It’s certainly better than going into a big game after losing three games in a row.
“We know our opponent. We know how good Central Catholic is. But, our kids feel like we can compete, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Butschle credits the offensive line and senior quarterback Sean O’Shea’s maturation for the recent resurrection. Senior Kai West has run for 509 yards and seven scores on 61 gives, while Kyler Matson has gone for 400 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 37 carries.
The Vikings lone loss was a 26-19 decision against Pine-Richland earlier this month. Rams tailback Ethan Pillar rushed for over 300 yards in that contest.
“I’ve watched just about every one of their games,” Butschle said. “There’s not a whole lot of weakness on either side of the ball. Pine-Richland, I thought, had a really good plan, and they have some guys that were built for that plan. They’ve got some bigger linemen and that running back’s a big kid.
“I don’t know if it was so much a matter of Xs and Os and scheme as maybe it was their night.”
Central Catholic’s defense — which currently features three Division I commits in linebackers Anthony Speca (Penn State) and Cole Sullivan (Michigan) and lineman Ty Yuhas (Pitt) — buckled down in last week’s 45-12 win over Penn Hills.
“We really looked at ourselves in the mirror and taken a very detail-oriented approach,” Lehmeier said. “Every game is different. We’re not going to approach any week any different than any other week.”
The Vikings are tied for the second-highest scoring average (45.5 points) in all of the WPIAL. Senior signal-caller Payton Wehner has thrown for 1,968 yards and 26 scores. His favorite target is fellow senior and Penn State pledge Peter Gonzalez, whose typical reception has gone for 28.9 yards.
“We’ve done a pretty good job of doing what we’re coached over the past couple of weeks,” Butschle said. “We’re going to hope that continues. We know it’s a tough task, but our kids are ready to compete.”
Central Catholic won last year’s matchup, 28-25.
