JACKSON TWP — The noise has been steadily rising over the past five weeks, but Seneca Valley’s football team hopes it didn’t hit a crescendo with a 53-14 win over North Hills Friday night at NexTier Stadium.

While the Raiders’ current five-game winning streak is an accomplishment, beating the Indians in a non-conference matchup was only the precursor to what will be the most important two weeks of the season. Next week, Seneca Valley will take on Central Catholic, which thumped the Raiders twice last season.

Seneca Valley will then close with North Allegheny in two games that will play a major factor in which team will win the conference and settle the seeding in WPIAL’s Class 6A.

So what did the win over North Hills do?

Not much for Raiders coach Ron Butschle, who said he wasn’t peeking past the Indians.

“We are 1-0 every day,” Butschle said. “We will be 1-0 on practice Monday. That’s all we care about. That’s the mentality we had for the past five weeks.”

There is no denying that Seneca Valley’s tempo offense is starting to hum. The Raiders have scored 40 or more points in the past three games.

Seneca Valley quarterback Graham Hancox had a big part in keeping the pace moving successfully against North Hills. Hancox passed for 210 yards, four touchdowns and also scored two rushing touchdowns.

Hancox believes the pace the Raiders keep is tough for opponents to hang with.

“100 percent. The main factor is that we practice the same way we play,” Hancox said. “Putting in good practices during the week helps us out.”

Seneca Valley (6-2) took control at the end of the first quarter after some unsteady moments on defense early. Seneca Valley scored on its second possession to take a 6-0 lead when Aiden Lyczek caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Hancox.

North Hills, which had a three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 3-5, answered with a 57-yard touchdown drive. Cooper Thompson capped the drive by hauling in a 31-pass for a score to help the Indians surge ahead 7-6 with 5:46 left in the first quarter. The Raiders limited North Hills to 168 yards of total offense, most of which came on a 70-yard touchdown catch by Sebastian Lopez in the fourth quarter.

“We were hoping we could get behind them a little bit,” North HIlls coach Pat Carey said. “That’s a tough defense to play against. They are a good squad and coached up well. We had to take a few shots and see if we could stretch the field.”

North Hills’ lead was brief. The Raiders immediately responded with a six play, 53-yard touchdown drive. Hancox gave Seneca Valley a 13-7 lead it would never lose when he scored with 3:39 left in the quarter.

Butschle credited his coordinators for finding openings for the offense.

“We want to get the ball set and then the tempo is hard to defend,” Bustchle said. “Especially when you are executing. Our execution was good tonight.

Wayne Pirt set up Hancox’s next touchdown with an interception. Lyczek, who finished 28 yards on three catches, also caught a 7-yard touchdown with 5:47 left in the first half to give Seneca Valley a 26-7 halftime lead.

Hancox threw his final two touchdown passes in the third quarter, which both went to Luke Lawson. Kai West led the Raiders with 93 rushing yards and scored a touchdown in the third quarter.

Another big win for Seneca Valley is in the books. Now, the Raiders will have to prove their recent momentum can carry into matchups with two traditional heavyweights.

“I know us as a team are looking forward to playing in big games,” Hancox said. “That’s what it’s all about. We have two big ones coming up and we’re going to be ready for them.”

North Hills 7 0 0 7-14

Seneca Valley 13 13 21 6-53

First Quarter

S — Aiden Lyczek 15 pass from Graham Hancox (kick failed), 7:02

N — Cooper Thompson 31 pass from John Green (Damon Mickail kick), 5:46

S — Graham Hancox 3 run (Jacob Adams kick), 3:39

Second Quarter

S — Hancox 2 run (kick failed), 9:15

S — Lyczek 7 pass from Hancox (Adams kick), 5:47

Third Quarter

S — Luke Lawson 11 pass from Hancox (Adams kick), 10:30

S — Lawson 62 pass from Hancox (Adams kick), 6:37

S — Kai West 8 run (Adams kick), 3:34

Fourth Quarter

S — Sean O’Shea 14 run (kick failed), 6:09

N — Sebastian Lopez 70 pass from Kelly McCarthy (Mickail kick) 3:54

Individual Statistics

Rushing: North Hills, Samuel Coldren 5-20, Julius Green 1-3, Kamren Hemmingway 2-4, Evan Letsky 1-3, Cooper Thompson 1-(-3), John Green 9-(-12). Seneca Valley, Kai West 16-93, Wyatt Craver 5-28, Sean O’Shea 5-60, Chase Mazanek 3-25, Kyler Matson 5-17 Graham Hancox 5-(-5).

Passing: North Hills, Jacob Green 3-17-94-1, Connor Davis 1-2-8-0, Kelly McCarthy 1-2-70-0. Seneca Valley, Graham Hancox 15-23-210-1.

Receiving: North Hills, Sebastian Lopez 1-70, Cooper Thompson 2-57, Michael Hoskey 1-37, Curtis Knobeloch 1-8. Seneca Valley, Luke Lawson 5-131, Jackson Wetzel 4-54, Aiden Lyczek 3-28, Amari Henson 1-21, Chris D’Appolonia 2-16.