BUTLER TWP — Butler’s defense got a bit offensive Friday night.

The Golden Tornado intercepted five passes, returning two for touchdowns and jump-starting two other scoring drives — all in the first half — on their way to a 35-22 football triumph over Brashear Friday night at Art Bernardi Stadium.

Butler (2-1) took a 28-0 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Golden Tornado opened the second half with an 8-play, 65-yard drive that ended with Mac Schnur’s third touchdown pass of the game — a 21-yard scoring toss to Dashawn Cox in the left corner of the end zone — for a 35-0 lead. That got the mercy clock running.

“Our goal was to come out and score to begin the second half, get the mercy clock going and get some other kids in the game,” Butler coach Eric Christy said. “We don’t have a JV game this weekend, so we wanted some other kids to get some time on the field.”

Brashear (0-3) scored three times in the fourth quarter, once on defense as Jayden Atkins returned a fumble 40 yards for a score.

But the Tornado defense put this game away early.

Facing fourth down from their own 6-yard line on the game’s first possession, the Bulls were intercepted by Ayden Davis at the Brashear 32-yard line. On fourth down from the 16, Schnur found Davis for a touchdown pass and the game’s first points.

Moments later, Ian Wilson stepped in front of a Donovan Meadows pass and retuurned it 32 yards for a score. A Landon Lacey interception short-circuited a Brashear drive at the Butler 13-yard line. The Tornado marched 87 yards in 13 plays, Schner finding Ryan McLister for an 11-yard strike and a 21-0 lead with 1:21 left before halftime.

“This is the third year our quarterback has played football and it’s his first year at quarterback,” Brashear coach Andrew Moore said. “He’s still learning. The first interception was intentonal because we don’t punt. We threw the ball deep hoping they would interceopt it.

“The other ones, Butler put good pressure on our quarterback. All of the picks weren’t his fault. The receivers ran wrong routes in some cases.”

The Tornado closed the first half in electrifying fashion. The Bulls threw deep on third down from the Butler 38 and Braylon Littlejohn picked it off at the 10, ran laterally to open space and completed a 90-yard return for a touchdown as time expired.

“Just excited for Braylon and Ian,” Christy said. “They worked hard to get back. Both are playing with casts or wraps on their hands and they were rewarded tonight.”

Friday marked Littlejohn’s first game since recovering from a broken thumb he suffered during preseason. Wilson broke his wrist in a 7-on-7 drill in June and came back last week against Meadville.

“This felt pretty good,” Wilson admitted of the pick-six. “I read the pass because he (Meadows) was under pressure. Next thing I knew, I had the ball in my hands and there were six blockers in front of me.”

The five first-half interceptions are believed to be a Butler record. Landon Lacey and David Graef had the other thefts.

“Our game-plan was to pressure the quarterback and force his hand,” two-way lineman Brock Popovich said. “We came at him hard. We felt like we could turn momentum right away and we did that.”

Schnur threw for 107 yards and the three TDs. Butler tallied 219 yards offensively and was actually outgained by Brashear running back Shawn Solomon, who had 30 carries for 225 yards and a pair of fourth-quarter scores.

“He’s a workhorse and we’re going to ride him this season,” Moore said. “The kid deserved the ball because of his work ethic. He never stops working.

“We never quit in this game. I was glad to see that.”

The Bulls were plagued by penalties, getting whistled 13 times for 120 yards. Eleven of those flags were thrown in the first half.

Butler travels to Hollidaysburg next Friday night.

“Our offense wasn’t real crisp tonight, but we worked on running the ball more in the second half,” Christy said.

Brashear 0 0 0 22 — 22

Butler 14 14 7 0 — 35

First Quarter

B — Ayden Davis 16 pass from Mac Schnur (Max Gianneski kick), 8:17

B — Ian Wilson 32 interception return (Gianneski kick), 6:14

Second Quarter

B — Ryan McLister 11 pass from Schnur (Gianneski kick), 6:21

B — Braylon Littlejohn 90 interception return (Gianneski kick), :00

Third Quarter

B — Dashawn Cox 21 pass from Schnur (Gianneski kick), 7:49

Fourth Quarter

BR — Shawn Solomon 6 run (run failed), 11:04

BR — Jayden Atkins 40 fumble return (Solomon pass from Donovan Meadows), 8:01

BR — Solomon 49 run (Meadows run), 2:54

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Brashear, Shawn Solomon 30-225, Donovan Meadows 3 (-6). Butler, Mac Schnur 4-24, Dashawn Cox 8-40, David Graef 1-3, Landon Lacey 4-30, Landon Dubyak 1-(-4), Zane Summerville 2-4, Noah Ritchie 1-(-2), Alex Catalfano 1-17.

Passing: Brashear, Donovan Meadows 3-12-29-5. Butler, Mac Schnur 8-17-107-1.

Receiving: Brashear, Julian Valdez 1-3, Shawn Solomon 1-20, Daquan Ollison 1-6. Butler, Ayden Davis 5-68, Braylon Littlejohn 1-8, Ryan McLister 1-11, Dashawn Cox 1-21.