The Seneca Valley Raiders varsity football team improved to 3-1 with a blowout win on Friday over the Connellsville Falcons in Nextier Stadium.

The Raider offense stole the show in part due to the game of senior halfback Forrest Barnes.

Barnes ran for a school single-game record of 306 yards on just 16 carries and found the end zone seven times, also a school record.

Barnes’ seven scores came on rushes of 10, 96, 50, 31, 55, 23, and 5 yards respectively.

Barnes had 278 yards and six touchdowns in the first half, which is more than the total number of yards and touchdowns he had in the previous three weeks combined (273 yards, 4 touchdowns).

Barnes said, “It was a great feeling knowing that I was a part of something really special and realizing that I have teammates willing to help me complete my goals.”

Two sophomores also found the end zone Friday night, halfback Sam Henson scored on a two yard carry and junior quarterback Mike Jones connected with sophomore TJ Holl on a 59 yard touchdown late in the game.

The defense also was on top of their game Friday night.

The Raider defense took a shutout into the locker room at the half with the Raiders up 43-0 and kicked off to start the second half, which is when senior Jonathan Dorogy recovered the fumbled kickoff and set up the Raider offense in scoring position.

The Falcons did find the end zone on their first possession of the second half after the fumble making the score 43-7, and again on a 69 yard run by halfback Jordan McCray, but the Falcon offense just couldn’t keep up.

Senior free safety Ben Hodges stated about the defense, “The goal is to shut the opposing team down and not allow them to score, so there are a few things we could work on and get better at, especially for the upcoming game [against Central Catholic]. All in all though, I think the defense is playing well. All 11 guys have the ability to make a game changing play at any time, so we all trust each other to play well together. We are getting the ball back into our offense’s hands, which is great!”

Hodges also said “This game was a great bounce back for us to get our confidence back after a deflating loss like we had [to North Allegheny]. I’m proud of the guys and I know we will stay hot and keep rolling the rest of the season.”

The Raiders now look forward to their Thursday night matchup with the Central Catholic Vikings at Nextier Stadium.

The game will start at 7:05 instead of the regular 7:30, and will also be televised by Root Sports.