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MT. LEBANON — Dillon Gallagher gave Seneca Valley a respite from the forward, methodical march of the Mt. Lebanon football team Friday night on the road.
Gallagher intercepted a deflected pass from Blue Devils quarterback Joey Daniels on the goal line in the first quarter to halt an 11-play drive, 65-yard drive. The Raiders' problem in a 38-7 Class 6A Conference loss was they could never find a way to move the ball.
Seneca Valley, which was playing without injured starting quarterback Graham Hancox, was limited to 138 yards of total offense.
Defensively, the Raiders had a hard time keeping Blue Devils running back Alex Tecza contained. Tecza, who ran for 174 yards against Seneca Valley in their meeting last year, added another 180 yards on 27 carries this time around.
“We didn't get off the field,” Raiders coach Ron Butschle said. “We didn't get stops on defense. Part of the reason is we give a really good team field position with turnovers, penalties and bad execution. When you put your defense in a bind, good teams are going to take advantage of it.”
Two plays after Gallagher's interception on defense, Seneca Valley sophomore quarterback Sean O'Shea was intercepted by Navy recruit Eli Heidenreich.
The Blue Devils (9-0, 6-0) didn't waste time surging ahead. Tecza scored on a 1-yard run four plays later to put Mt. Lebanon ahead for good, 7-0, with 6 minutes, 10 seconds left in the first quarter.
Blue Devils coach Bob Palko said his team was prepared to handle the rainy conditions and the early adversity that caused them.
“It's amazing to watch the growth and development and maturity of these kids,” Palko said. “How they've matured and they've come to the point where they are happy for each other. Splash plays are great, but they will tell you you couldn't have done it without their teammates.”
Seneca Valley (6-3, 4-2) was also slowed down on offense by miscues. The Raiders took the game's opening drive into Mt. Lebanon territory. However, Seneca Valley was pushed back by a delay of game and penalty and were later forced to punt the ball away.
“On the first series, we executed,” Bustchle said. “That delay of game, that's on me. That slowed the momentum. Again, everybody in our locker room has to get better, starting with me. I stopped that drive. Penalty on me, that's not OK.”
The Raiders' opening drive was successful thanks to a pair of 10-yard runs by Nolan Dworek, who finished with a team-high 59 rushing yards.
Mt. Lebanon wanted to make sure it didn't see a repeat of successful runs on subsequent drives.
“We needed to make some adjustments with what they were doing offensively,” Palko said. “The run-pass option stuff. They were running a counter play and we were playing it wrong.”
After the initial interception, the Blue Devils didn't do much more wrong on offense for the rest of the evening. Another three-yard scoring run from Tecza and a 20-yard field goal by Noah Bhuta gave Mt. Lebanon a 17-0 halftime lead.
The Blue Devils would score three more touchdowns in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. Heidenreich, who finished with 122 yards on three carries, had the game's longest score with a 70-yard run in the third quarter.
Luke Lawson recorded Seneca Valley's only score, hauling in a 24-yard pass from O'Shea in the fourth quarter to prevent the shutout.
Seneca Valley 0 0 0 7 — 7
Mt. Lebanon 7 10 21 0 — 38
First Quarter
ML — Alex Tecza 1 run (Noah Bhuta kick), 2:52
Second Quarter
ML — Bhuta 20 field goal, 6:10
ML — Tecza 3 run (Bhuta kick), 1:53
Third Quarter
ML — Tecza 60 run ((Bhuta kick), 10:36
ML — Eli Heidenreich 70 run (Bhuta kick), 8:43
ML — Heidenreich 11 pass from Joey Daniels (Bhuta kick), 1:31
Fourth Quarter
SV — Luke Lawson 24 pass from Sean O'Shea (Camden Bush kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Seneca Valley, Nolan Dworek 14-59, Sean O'Shea 10-13, Zekai Edwards 1-1. Mt. Lebanon, Alex Tecza 27-180, Eli Heidenreich 3-122, Joey Daniels 6-14, Fred LaSota 3-13, Beckham Dee 1-3, Idris Wilson 2-2.
Passing: Seneca Valley, Sean O'Shea 5-21-67-2. Mt. Lebanon, Joey Daniels 3-9-65-1.
Receiving: Seneca Valley, Brandon Ross 3-27, Luke Lawson 1-24, Aiden Lyczek 1-16. Mt. Lebanon, Eli Heidenreich 2-52, Alex Tecza 1-15.
