BUTLER TWP — Rob Densmore was concerned his Butler football team might be quitting.

Central Catholic was just getting started.

The Vikings scored five touchdowns in the first quarter — before a play ever took place in Central territory — and cruised to a 55-14 Northern Eight victory over the Golden Tornado Friday night at Art Bernardi Stadium.

An intentionally squibbed opening kickoff by the Tornado was returned 44 yards to the Butler 24-yard line. Grant Foster carries of 13 and 11 yards resulted in the game's first touchdown.

The Vikings (8-1, 6-1) needed just three plays to march 40 yards on their next possession. Butler fumbled away a snap inside its own 10 seconds later, Central scoring on the next play.

A 20-yard interception return by John Petrishen set up a 46-yard scoring drive and Petrishen returned a punt 59 yards for a touchdown with 2:44 left in the opening quarter. The punt return was the fifth for a touchdown by the Vikings this season.

The score was 35-0 and Butler (2-7, 1-6) hadn't run a play for positive yards from scrimmage yet.

“I was afraid we might quit this week and in that first quarter, we did,” Densmore said. “We were just handing it to them.

“I wish we could take that first quarter back. We can't. But we regrouped in the second quarter. Hey, they're good, They drove the ball on us. But at least we started to make them work for it.”

Central scored twice in the second quarter and led 49-0 at intermission. Mike Navarro found Damar Hamlin for a 26-yard touchdown pass in the right corner of the end zone on a 3rd-and-21 play. The Vikings converted a 4th-and-1 at the Butler 6 to set up a 2-yard scoring run by Vinny Emanuele with 12 seconds left in the half.

Navarro completed nine of 12 passes for 117 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. He had thrown only five touchdown passes in the first eight games.

“We worked on some things we don't normally do tonight,” Central coach Terry Totten said. “We needed to iron out some wrinkles.”

The Vikings were coming off a 48-28 loss to Pine-Richland in a showdown of unbeatens last week.

“We came out focused and took care of business right away,” Totten said. “That's what I wanted to see.

“The plan was to play some younger kids in the second half if we built up a big lead early. Those kids got some quality reps because Butler didn't quit.”

On Senior Night, Lucas Dubyak and Jeremy Hanford enjoyed senior moments. Dubyak scored on an 88-yard run in the third quarter and Hanford recovered a fumble in the second quarter.

The fumbled recovery marked the only first-half possession on which Centtral didn't score.

The Tornado drove 75 yards with the game's final possession. Antonio DeVaughn scored on a 1-yard run on the game's final play. Noah Ryder had a 28-yard run during the drive.

“Each year, we are going to get better,” Densmore said. “We're not happy with 2-7. But the first thing we wanted to accomplish was to not quit and play hard every game.

“This was my first group of seniors and they will always be special to me. They stayed committed and worked hard to lead by example. They made things easy for me.”

Butler was out-gained in the first half, 252 yards to -27.

The Tornado out-gained Central 158-85 over the final two quarters.