JACKSON TWP - Seneca Valley tried to beat Mt. Lebanon the hard way, matching the Blue Devils score for score.

And it worked - until the second quarter.

With the game tied 14-14 early in the second period, Mt. Lebanon reeled off 33 unanswered points to put the game out of reach in a 54-30 victory Friday night at Raiders Stadium.

"We definitely weren't expecting this much scoring," said Mt. Lebanon football coach Chris Haering. "But it's high school football and you never know what's going to happen."

The scoring outburst was a welcomed change for the Raiders, who had scored 17 total points in the first four games.

"But when you score 30, you have to hold the other team to 29," said Raiders coach Ron Butschle.

Mt. Lebanon's Jimmy Mullen led all rushers with 91 yards on just seven carries. He scored the Blue Devils' first two touchdowns from 60 and 12 yards out in the opening quarter.

But it was the Blue Devils' passing attack that deflated the Raiders before halftime.

Though he completed just six of nine passes in the game, Nick Till threw two touchdown passes of 68 and 45 yards to wide receiver Mike Mathews that lifted his team to a 34-14 lead at the break.

"We were looking to get the ball to (Mullen) a bit more," said Haering. "But we didn't get much of a rhythm going on offense simply because most of our scoring plays were within the first few plays of a drive."

Of Mt. Lebanon's five scoring drives in the first half, the longest was just four plays.

"We gave up a lot of big plays and gave (Mt. Lebanon) a short field to work with," said Butschle. "It's really tough when you put yourself in those situations."

The Raiders learned early on they would have to pass the ball to be able to make the score respectable.

"You don't like to take anything for granted," said Haering. "But we were confident we could shut down their running game, and I thought we did that pretty well when our first-teamers were in there. But (the Raiders) made some plays through the air."

SV quarterback Marshall Lee completed 19-of-32 passes for 204 yards.

His favorite target was junior wideout Zach Duggan, who caught seven passes for 94 yards.

"(Duggan) plays with every bit of his 135-pound body," said Butschle. "We need everybody on this team to put forth the effort he does.

"Sometimes he takes a hard shot and I'm not sure he's going to get up, but he always does."

On the first drive of the game, Lee was a perfect 5-for-5 for 79 yards, with the final 33 yards coming on a scoring strike to Duggan that gave SV its first lead of the year at 7-0 with 7:38 left in the period.

The Blue Devils (2-3, 2-1) responded by going for a fourth-and-3 at their own 40-yard line on the ensuing series.

Mullen went around the left end and sprinted down the sideline past several defenders for the score.

With the Blue Devils up 14-7 late in the first quarter, SV took over at its own 35-yard line and began an eight-play that Lee ended with a 1-yard touchdown run to tie the game.

Mt. Lebanon's Shea Anderson gave his team the lead for good with an 11-yard run before Till found Mathews for the two aerial scores later in the second quarter.

Lee added an 11-yard scoring run and threw a 14-yard scoring pass to tailback Evan Braithwaite in the second half to cap Seneca's scoring.

The Blue Devils won the total yards battle 431-295.

The Raiders (0-5, 0-3) plays at Shaler next Saturday for a Quad North contest.