The 2012 Seneca Valley Raiders varsity football team kicked off their 2012 campaign Friday night under the lights in Nextier stadium against county and Northern section 8 rival, the Butler Golden Tornado.

The game was also Veterans’ Recognition Night. Before the game, Veterans of US Armed Forces were invited into the locker room by Head Coach Don Holl to put the final touches on the Raider uniform, an American flag decal.

The Raiders continued another tradition of being led onto the field behind a senior leader holding an American flag that flew over in Afghanistan. Zane Augustine was bestowed this honor this year.

The first half of the opening game for both teams was a back and forth scoring battle, and it looked as if this game was turning into a shoot out early. Butler and Seneca Valley both got the ball on their opening drive and went right down the field and put up six points.

After one possession each, Seneca Valley led 7-6 thanks to junior nose guard Dan Miller, who blocked the Golden Tornado extra point attempt.

The scoring slowed down and the score at the half was Seneca Valley 17, Butler 9 after sophomore kicker Chad Izenas knocked down the first field goal of his career near the end of the first half.

The Raiders’ offense was led by senior quarterback Jordan Brown, who completed 13 of his 28 pass attempts for a total of 191 yards, 2 touchdowns and added a 19 yard rushing score. Senior halfback Forrest Barnes tallied 101 yards running behind his beefy offensive line to help balance out the Raiders’ attack.

Senior captain and tight end Ryan McCauley caught two touchdown passes (8, 6 yards) from Brown and Senior Jonathan Dorogy was a weapon all night on offense, but especially on punt and kickoff returns for the Raiders.

The Raiders’ defense came out in the second half and shut down the Butler offense, forcing five straight three and outs. Senior cornerback Tyler Bommer and McCauley also intercepted one pass each.

Senior middle linebacker and team leader Carson Kessler said, “We came back out confident about the adjustments we made at the half. We knew what they were going to run, and we did our job by getting three and outs and not letting them back in the end zone.”

With a final score of 24-9, the Raiders won their sixth consecutive game against the Golden Tornado and claimed ownership of the Butler Eagle AAAA Traveling Trophy for a school record sixth straight year.

The Raiders look to improve to 2-0 this Friday when they take on the Rams of Pine Richland at Nextier Stadium at 7:30.