McMURRAY — Consecutive road trips have put 178 miles of travel on the Seneca Valley football team’s tires. Taking a pair of losses to teams that will be contenders for the WPIAL Class 5A title has the Raiders feeling road weary.

Seneca Valley, which has another 94-mile round trip to open conference play against Canon-McMillan next Friday, lost 48-7 to Peters Township Friday night at Confluence Financial Partners Stadium.

Raiders coach Ron Butschle wants to focus on preparation this week.

“It’s not about Xs-and-Os. It’s not,” Butschle said. “It’s about finding the guys with the want to. The guys that want to be there and get after it.”

Luke West scored Seneca Valley’s lone touchdown in the fourth quarter. West hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass from Parker Brugos with less than five minutes remaining.

What really ground down Seneca Valley (0-2) was Peter Township’s offensive line. At no point did the Indians look more dominant than after halftime.

Already ahead 28-0, Peters Township took the opening kickoff to the second half and made a statement.

The Indians marched 74 yards and ran nearly 10 minutes off the clock. Peters Township capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run by Vinny Sarcone that extended the lead to 35 points.

Sarcone finished with a game-high 126 rushing yards and scored three touchdowns.

“We were excited,” Indians coach T.J. Plack said. “It’s one thing we wanted to do. It’s something we lacked the last couple of years is a run game. Our line is back and we try to preach physicality.”

Much like in its Week Zero loss to Penn Hills, Seneca Valley didn’t settle in quickly enough. Peters Township’s first touchdown came on its first possession, which followed a Seneca Valley three-and-out. The Indians capped a nine-play, 50-yard drive with a 1-yard Sarcone touchdown with 7 minutes, 15 seconds left in the first quarter. Peters Township never lost the lead.

“That’s a veteran team,” Butschle said. “Those are mostly the same guys we looked at last year. They are a good team.”

Peters Township (2-0) quickly doubled its lead. Following Sarcone’s touchdown, the Raiders let the ensuing kickoff bounce on the ground and it was recovered by Peters Township on the Seneca Valley 21.

Butschle said Seneca Valley expected Peters Township to try a few directional kickoffs.

“Sure,” Bustchle said. “Because we had a couple good returns last year. We weren’t surprised by that. We saw them practicing it in the pregame. You have to catch and field the ball.”

Three plays later, Sarcone plunged in for a 1-yard touchdown and to propel the Indians to a 14-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Seneca Valley’s offense floundered in the first half. The Raiders didn’t produce a first down on four of their six first-half possessions. Seneca Valley’s other two possessions ended with a missed field goal and an interception.

Peter Township’s defense and special teams caused havoc for the Raiders. The Indians scored on a blocked punt, recovered a fumble in the end zone for a score and intercepted a pass to kill a Seneca Valley drive in the first half. Seneca Valley finished with 118 yards of total offense, including only 16 on the ground.

Kyler Matson led the Raiders with 22 rushing yards, while Sean O’Shea passed for 77.

The Indians increased their lead to 28 points by halftime thanks to a pair of second-quarter touchdowns. Peters Township running back Parker Blair scored on a four-yard run and Reston Lehman caught a two-yard touchdown pass from Nolan DiLucia.

While the Raiders have had two tough tests to open the season, Butschle wasn’t sure how his team has benefitted.

“I don’t even know,” Butschle said. “Right now, we have to lick our wounds, see who is healthy and prepare the best we can each week.”

Seneca Valley 0 0 0 7-7

Peters Township 14 14 13 7-48

First Quarter

P - Vinny Sarcone 1 run (Carter Shanafelt kick), 7:15

P - Sarcone 1 run (Shanafelt kick), 6:25

Second Quarter

P - Parker Blair 4 run (Shanafelt kick), 11:41

P - Reston Lehman 2 pass from Nolan Dilucia (Shanafelt kick), 3:20

Third Quarter

P - Sarcone 1 run (Shanafelt kick), 2:47

P - Shanafelt 26 punt block return (Kick blocked), :03

Fourth Quarter

P - James Spratt 0 fumble recovery (Shanafelt kick), 6:14

S - Luke West 25 pass from Parker Burgos (Adams kick), 4:03

Rushing: Seneca Valley, Kyler Matson 4-22, Kai West 5-9, O’Shea 10-(-3), Parker Brugos 3-(-17). Peters Township, Vinny Sarcone 27-123, Nolan DiLucia 13-57, Parker Blair 8-52, Darius McMillon 3-45, Mark Ripepi 1-(-1).

Passing: Seneca Valley, Sean O’Shea 7-14-77-1, Parker Brugos 1-1-25-0. Peters Township, Nolan DiLucia 5-10-48-0, Chris Cibrone 0-1-0-0.

Receiving: Seneca Valley, Luke West 2-31, Kai West 1-21, Kyler Matson 1-17, Amari Henson 1-17, Dajuan Webb 1-17, Adam Gehm 1-3, Luke Challingsworth 1-2. Peters Township, Nick McCoullough 1-17, Mickey Vaccarello 1-16, Nate Miller 1-8, Carter Shanafelt 1-5, Reston Lehman 1-2.