JACKSON TWP — Kai West would have preferred that the first five weeks went a different direction for the Seneca Valley football team. But following a 42-13 nonconference win over Hempfield Friday night at NexTier Stadium, the Raiders are starting to build some confidence.

During its past two games, Seneca Valley has outscored its opponents 97-13. Winning has provided a good feeling for the Raiders after a difficult five-game slide to start the season.

“It feels great, especially with a young team,” said West, who ran for a game-high 132 yards on nine carries. “Once you get those tough games under your belt, you kind of know what you have to do. You take the mistakes and build on them. We have two great games where we’ve played amazing. We want to keep stacking wins.”

Hempfield (1-6) has been a consistent get-right game for the Raiders over the past six seasons. Seneca Valley has won all six meetings by an average margin of 34.2 points per game. The Spartans, who have lost six straight since beating Greensburg Salem to open the season, have been working through some injuries.

Dom Detruf made his second career start at quarterback for Hempfield, while the Spartans found out starting running back Rogan Katchur was unavailable Friday due to a hip injury he suffered in practice this week.

Detruf passed for 153 yards and threw two touchdowns to Keiran Lippman in the fourth quarter. The Spartans struggled to run the ball, finishing with -11 rushing yards.

“I was proud of our effort in the second half,” Hempfield coach Nick Keefer said. “We had a lot of guys in positions today where they haven’t been starting all year. This is big boy, Class 6A football. We are going to be back in it next year, so we’re going to try and grow from it a little bit.”

The Raiders (2-5) didn’t wait long to hit a big play. Seneca Valley forced Hempfield into a three-and-out on its first possession.

On the Raiders’ first offensive play, West went 69 yards for a touchdown. All five of the Raiders’ first-half drives ended in touchdowns.

“I was happy because we executed,” Seneca Valley coach Ron Butschle said. “We are starting to put it together. I’m happy for the kids because they went out and executed.”

West would score two more touchdowns, one a 42-yard pass from Sean O’Shea and a 31-yard run, to help stretch the lead to 21-0 at the end of the first quarter. West credited the offensive line for having plenty of space to move.

“They played phenomenal,” West said. “They did great getting off the ball and moving people. It’s easy to run behind a line like that, you make one cut and you go all the way.”

Hempfield would mount its only serious scoring challenge in the first half following West’s 31-yard touchdown run.

The Spartans would move the ball to the Seneca Valley 1-yard line. Hempfield had a touchdown pass waved off due to an ineligible man downfield penalty. The Spartans would send the next snap flying over Detruf’s head.

Hempfield would take an 11-yard loss and would end up turning the ball over on downs. The Raiders responded with another touchdown drive that ended with quarterback Sean O’Shea scrambling for a 31-yard score. O’Shea would throw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Adam Gehm to give Seneca Valley a 35-0 lead at halftime.

Parker Brugos the Raiders’ lone touchdown after halftime on a 2-yard run.

Seneca Valley will have another nonconference matchup next week on the road against Class 5A North Hills before two difficult games against Tri-County Conference opponents Central Catholic and North Allegheny to close the season. Butschle hopes the Raiders can continue to build their momentum to challenge two of the top teams in Class 6A.

“We’re happy to stack wins,” Butschle said. “North Hills is a good team and we are going to work hard to prepare for them. Hopefully, we get the same execution and outcome.”

Hempfield 0 0 0 13-13

Seneca Valley 21 14 7 0-42

First Quarter

S — Kai West 69 run (Jacob Adams kick), 10:05

S — West 42 pass from Sean O’Shea (Adams kick), 5:04

S — West 31 run (Adams kick), 1:10

Second Quarter

S — O’Shea 31 run (Adams kick), 3:20

S — Adam Gehm 3 pass from O’Shea (Adams kick),: 44

Third Quarter

S — Parker Brugos 2 run (Adams kick), 7:14

Fourth Quarter

H — Keiran Lippman 8 pass from Dominic Detruf (Francisco Lopez Diaz kick), 10:57

H — Lippman 24 pass from Detruf (kick failed), 2:20

Individual Statisics

Rushing: Hempfield, Lucas Moore 8-14, Keiran Lippman 1-2, Andrew Bentz 1-0, Dominic Detruf 6-(-27). Seneca Valley, Kai West 9-123, Kyler Matson 8-96, Sean O’Shea 1-31, Adam Bayer 1-19, Parker Brugos 2-11, Owen Mancuso 5-10, Joe Ward 2-4.

Passing: Hempfield, Dominic Detruf, 18-29-153-0, Keiran Lippmann 0-1-0-0. Seneca Valley, Sean O’Shea 7-12-98-0, Parker Brugos 1-2-6-1.

Receiving: Hempfield, Mitchell Bitar 6-67, Keiran Lippmann 5-66, Nicholas Marquis 2-21, Jack Kopas 1-13, Domin LoPinto 3-8, Andrew Bentz 1-3. Seneca Valley, Kai West 2-47, Adam Gehm 2-34, Kyler Matson 1-10, Dajuan Webb 1-6, Cayden Parker 1-5.