BUTLER TWP— Seneca Valley captured the Eagle by staying grounded.

Raiders quarterback C.J. Brown rushed for a career-high 184 yards and a touchdown Friday night in leading his team to an 18-14 football victory over Butler at Art Bernardi Stadium.

The win gave SV (4-5, 1-4) the Butler Eagle Traveling Trophy for the second consecutive year.

Brown threw for 149 yards and a TDas well, but had only 13 yards passing in the second half. He ran for 125 yards in the final two quarters.

"I'm pretty sure that's a career high for him,"Seneca Valley coach Ron Butschle said. "But he's been piling up yardage on the ground all year."

Brown had no idea whether he'd rushed for that many yards in a game before.

And he didn't care.

"All that matters is we got the 'W,'"he said. "Winning this game meant everything to us. A few of us are going on to play in college, but most of these seniors ... this was their last time on a football field.

"This game belongs to them."

Butler (3-6, 0-5) grabbed a 7-0 lead, but missed opportunities to build a bigger advantage. The Golden Tornado drove inside SV's 10-yard line on their first possession, but quarterback Cole Harvey threw wide of open tight end Brian Jendesky on third down and SV's Matt Plautz blocked Ryan Soule's 23-yard field goal attempt.

The Tornado did score on their next possession when Christos Klutinoty capped a 64-yard drive with an 8-yard scoring run.

Seneca Valley managed only one first down on its first two possessions. The Raiders put together touchdown drives of 70, 44 and 92 yards on their next three.

Brown connected with Pete Vicente for a 41-yard completion, setting up Evan Hetzel's 4-yard touchdown run. The PATfailed, however, and Butler maintained a 7-6 lead.

The Raiders' Mike DeFilippo intercepted a Harvey shovel pass near midfield. On the next play, Brown found Vicente all alone deep down the middle of the field for a 44-yard touchdown and a 12-7 lead.

The Tornado then drove downfield through the air as Harvey completed passes of 16 and 5 yards to Jendesky, 21 and 12 yards to Jared Oesterling.

On first-and-goal from the 9-yard line, however, Harvey was hit and fumbled, and the Raiders' Jake Double recovered at the 8.

"It's been frustrating for us, not finishing drives,"Butler coach Jeff McAnallen said. "Those two possessions in the first half really came back to hurt."

The Raiders made it doubly painful by marching 92 yards in nine plays. Brown ran for 24 yards on one play and scored the touchdown on a 19-yard run.

Seneca Valley failed to convert two-point conversion passes on its final two touchdowns.

"You just have to take your hat off to C.J. Brown,"McAnallen said. "He's the best player I've seen in my 12 years of coaching in this league."

Butler put together a 10-play, 80-yard drive in the second half. Harvey found Jake Thompson for a 15-yard scoring pass on a fourth-and-13 play with 9:10 left in the game.

The Tornado never threatened to score again. Butler had to punt from inside its own 10-yard line with 3:20 left, then stopped Hetzel short of the goal line on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard with 42 seconds to play.

Hetzel intercepted Harvey at the Butler 30 on the final play of the game, one of three turnovers on the night. Seneca Valley none.

"We had a young defense this year and it matured late in the season,"Butschle said. "They created turnovers and made some big plays to turn this game."

McAnallen wasn't surprised by the quality of the game.

"Two rivals from Butler County wanting to go out with a win," he said. "I knew they would play as hard as we did."

Klutinoty had 57 yards rushing in the first half, breaking numerous tackles, before injuring his kneecap during the second-half kickoff.

Butschle said he will take a month to consider his coaching future.

"I know I'm not through coaching football and I love coaching at Seneca Valley," he said. "But I'm dealing with family issues, too. I'm going to take some time to see where I'm at."

Notes:Plautz had 34 yards receiving, giving him 1,009 for the season on 61 catches. ... Brown ended the year with 2,182 yards and 14 touchdowns passing, 642 yards and 12 touchdowns rushing. ... Harvey had 206 yards of offense — 138 passing, 68 rushing. ... Neither Butler nor Seneca Valley is playing a crossover game next week.

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