Ron Butschle would not admit this week's game is a must-win.

But the Seneca Valley coach did say that a sense of urgency has permeated through his squad.

Losing your first two conference games by a combined score of 77-14 will do that to a team.

"Our football season is just about half over," said Butschle. "And our seniors know that they have just five guaranteed games left. From this point on, every week is a playoff week."

The Raiders (1-3, 0-2) will travel to Mt. Lebanon (2-2, 1-1) Friday. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.

After having three punts blocked the last two weeks, a few changes of been made to the Raiders special teams.

The most obvious is that senior Dave Monteleone, a goal keeper on the boys' soccer team, is now SV's kicker and punter.

"He's got a lot of good friends on the football team," Butschle said of Monteleone. "He came up to me and said he'd like to give punting a shot.

"I usually don't let kids just join the team halfway through the year, but we needed some help."

But special teams isn't the only area in which Butschle is hoping for improvement.

The Raiders had their worst offensive output of the season in last week's 35-7 loss to North Hills, rushing for 88 yards and passing for just 89.

Still, senior tailback Pat Prazer is averaging just over 100 yards per game and the Raiders are preparing for a defense that has been susceptible against the run.

The Blue Devils have surrendered nine rushing touchdowns in four games, including a total of five in last week's 38-7 loss to Upper St. Clair.

"It comes down to two things for us," said Mt. Lebanon coach Chris Haering. "We've got to improve our tackling and do a better job at the point of attack."

The Blue Devils have a potent ground attack of their own.

Three Mt. Lebanon players - Chip Young, Mark Sutton and Joe Rodella - have rushed for 100 yards in at least one game this season.

"Mark recently suffered a concussion and I doubt he'll play Friday," said Haering. "But Chip and Joe have stepped in and done a good job."

Rodella and Young have both rushed for 100 yards in each of the last two games.

The Blue Devils are quarterbacked by senior Nick Till, a two year-starter. He's thrown just one touchdown pass in 2005.

"Like the rest of the team, Nick's performance has been up and down so far," said Haering.

Staph infections have turned up in several of Mt. Lebanon's players over the last two weeks.

"We had a few cases of it," said Haering. "But to my knowledge, things have cleared up."

The Blue Devils are 2-0 at home while losing both road games by a combined score of 77-10. They defeated Seneca Valley last year in a shootout, 54-30.