BUTLER TWP — Seneca Valley needed a jump-start. Aiden Lyczek and T.J. Border provided it.

From there, the Raiders motored to a 42-7 football victory over Butler (4-2) Friday night at Art Bernardi Stadium, winning the Butler Eagle Traveling Trophy — presented to the winner of the rivalry game — for the 14th straight time.

The game was scoreless late in the first quarter with the Golden Tornado possessing the ball at the SV 30-yard line. On second down, Butler quarterback Mac Schnur was intercepted by Lyczek, who returned the ball 20 yards to near midfield.

Seneca Valley (4-2) dented the scoreboard seven plays later as Graham Hancox found Jackson Wetzel for a 4-yard touchdown strike. Late in the first period, Border recovered a Butler fumble at the Tornado 34. Six plays later, Wyatt Craver scored on a 9-yard run for a 14-0 Raider lead.

“One thing we emphasize is winning our turnover-to-touchdown ratio each game,” SV coach Ron Butschle said. “No doubt, those takeaways got us rolling. We got out to a big lead and that’s what we were hoping for.”

The Raiders had a 28-7 lead by halftime. Hancox threw for 168 yards in the first half alone, including a 53-yard scoring strike to Luke Lawson. Lawson had seven catches for 118 yards in the first half.

“You can’t give a team like Seneca Valley second chances with the ball and that’s what we did,” Butler coach Eric Christy said. “They are as good as advertised. That is a very hard team to contain.”

The Tornado’s lone touchdown of the game was a 17-yard scoring toss from Schnur to Declan Dobson. Schnur threw for 184 yards, but could only complete 14 of 38 passes. He was often under duress from Seneca Valley’s pass rush.

“They were much bigger than us. We knew that coming in,” Christy said. “We worked all week on getting the ball out quick, but their defensive front made that difficult.”

Hancox completed 17 of 26 passes for 230 yards and the two touchdowns. Craver and Kai West rushed for two touchdowns each, the latter scoring on a 37-yard run with 3:40 left in the third quarter to invoke the mercy rule. There was no scoring in the fourth.

“Our team is coming together right now,” Hancox said. “We wanted to get our up-tempo offense going and run off plays as fast as we could. I think we surprised Butler a little bit with that.”

At one point in the first half, the Raiders completed four consecutive passes in a span of 26 seconds.

Both teams moved the football, combining for 31 first downs. Seneca Valley ran 43 plays for 351 total yards. Butler ran 61 plays for 350.

“We moved the ball, but we didn’t finish,” Christy said.

“Butler football is definitely moving in the right direction,” Butschle said. “They generated a lot of yards. We just got the stops at the right time.”

Seneca Valley has allowed 16 total points in its last three games, all wins.

“We’re hanging our hat on our defense,” Butschle said. “Our goal is to win the WPIAL and go as deep into the state playoffs as we can. You need a good defense to do that.”

Both teams had more than 100 yards in penalties. The Raiders had 11 flags for 110 in the first half, only one penalty in the final two quarters. Butler was flagged 14 times for 126 yards.

“Definitely something we have to clean up,” Butschle said.

Braylon Littlejohn recovered a fumble for Butler early in the third quarter, giving the Tornado possession at the Raiders’ 38. The ensuing possession fizzled on downs at the SV 13.

“That’s just how the night went,” Christy said. “But Seneca Valley came in here and showed what kind of team they have ... very impressive.”

SV visits Hempfield for a non-conference clash Friday.

Seneca Valley 7 21 14 0 — 42

Butler 0 7 0 0 — 7

First Quarter

SV — Jackson Wetzel 4 pass from Graham Hancox (Jake Adams kick), 2:49

Second Quarter

SV— Wyatt Craver 9 run (Adams kick), 11:11

SV — Luke Lawson 53 pass from Hancox (Adams kick), 8:18

B — Declan Dobson 37 pass from Mac Schnur (Alex Catalfano kick), 4:52

SV — Kai West 37 run (Adams kick), 3:40

Third Quarter

SV — Craver 16 un (Adams kick), 6:12

SV — West 5 run (Adams kick), 3:34

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Seneca Valley, Graham Hancox 1-(-1), Wyatt Craver 9-40, Kai West 4-80, Brody Pirt 3-2. Butler, Mac Schnur 8-8, Dashawn Cox 10-60, David Graef 3-27, Landon Lacey 1-1, JuJu Andrada 2-18, Braylon Littlejohn 3-20, Zane Summerville 2-9, Alex Catalfano 4-24.

Passing: Seneca Valley, Graham Hancox 17-26-230-0. Butler, Mac Schnur 14-38-184-1.

Receiving: Seneca Valley, Luke Lawson 8-119, Jackson Wetzel 3-41, Amari Henson 4-33, Wyatt Craver 1-3, Aiden Lyczek 1-36. Butler, Dashawn Cox 6-64, Braylon Littlejohn 3-69, Ian Wilson 1-16, Declan Dobson 1-17, Ryan Mclister 1-11.