Seneca Valley football takes low-scoring game 13-3 over Pine-Richland

HARMONY, Pennsylvania - Seneca Valley quarterback Graham Hancox threw for 198 yards and two touchdown passes to help the Raiders defeat Pine-Richland 13-3 in a non-conference matchup on Friday Night at Pine-Richland Stadium.

When the teams played each other last season, it was a much higher scoring contest, as it took until there were just 10 seconds left to decide the game when Hancox threw a 24-yard touchdown to then-senior Brandon Ross, to help the Raiders win 24-20.

This time around, Hancox once again threw a game-winning touchdown pass, but this time it happened early in the first quarter.

On the Raiders opening drive, they were able to go down the field throwing short passes and running the ball. Hancox ran with the ball down in the middle of the field and as he was trying to slide and give himself up, a defender hit Hancox hit the head, causing him to lose his helmet. It resulted in a 15-yard penalty. That play gave the Raiders momentum which resulted in Hancox throwing a fade pass to Luke Lawson for a 6-yard touchdown. Lawson recorded four receptions for 31 yards in the game.

“I know Graham had time to throw all day today,” said Lawson, a Navy football commit. “That starts with the five front linemen. We owe them the world (because) they do all the hard work. Graham just put me in a spot to make a play and I made the play, but it all starts with the team.”

After losing two home games in back-to-back weeks, the Raiders had their best defensive performance in only giving up a season-low three points.

“Our defensive coordinator kept telling us this week, ‘put the blinders on,’” said Hancox, who completed 14 of 21 passes. “He told us that, so we blocked out all of the noise about the previous weeks and we just went back to work, and it showed tonight.”

Pine-Richland never really got anything going on offense. Late in the first quarter, when it looked like the Rams were entering the redzone, a turnover happened as a missed snap resulted in Seneca Valley’s Devin Webb coming up with the fumble recovery.

It didn’t help either that Pine-Richland quarterback Kanan Huffman left in the middle of the second quarter after suffering an injury to his foot. As a result, sophomore Vaughn Spencer entered the game. Vaughn is the younger brother of Cole Spencer, who was Pine-Richland’s starting quarterback form 2018-20 and helped the team win two WPIAL Championships and a PIAA title during his time as a starter.

The Rams defense had made some plays to stay in it as Hancox threw a pass that was intercepted by Pine-Richland’s Tanner Cunningham.

With five seconds left before halftime, the Rams trimmed Seneca Valley’s led to 7-3 as Grant Argiro converted on a 42-yard field goal.

However, as Seneca Valley started with the ball to begin the second half, Hancox threw his second touchdown pass of the game to a wide-open Jackson Wetzel from 54 yards out on the first offensive play.

Pine-Richland had two drives in the third quarter in which they were close to the redzone and were able to attempt two field goals, but they missed both kicks.

In the fourth quarter, as Pine-Richland faced fourth-and-15 from Seneca Valley’s 44-yard line, Spencer threw a pass to his intended receiver Niko Andrews. Niko had outran the player that was covering him beat in Brandon Page. However, as Andrews jumped to make the catch, he could not hold onto the ball as he went down.

It was simply just a rough night for the Rams on offense. The team still had two chances to try and score, but Spencer’s final two passes of the game were both intercepted – one by Wayne Pirt and the other by Lawson.

“Coming into this game, I wasn’t starting, but one of our cornerbacks went down so I went in,” Pirt said. “We were playing cover 3, I dropped back, their quarterback made a bad throw, I went up and picked it off.”

Spencer ended the night completing 10 of 23 passes for 118 yards while Palmieri recorded 6 receptions for 65 yards.

“Beating a team line Pine-Richland is huge,” Lawson said. “Of course, they have a great program behind them. “So, taking them out on (their) homecoming and on their home turf, it’s awesome.”

Next week, Seneca Valley will go on the road to take on the defending WPIAL and PIAA 6A football champions in Mt. Lebanon as the Raiders are looking to use the win on Friday night to give them momentum heading into the next game.

“I think our coaches are a huge part of making sure that we’re ready for each game by always sticking with us and making sure we have confidence to keep us rolling and we want to turn the season around,” Lawson said. “Of course, Mt. Lebanon is a good team, they are a good program. So, we just go to focus like we have been, and just continue to roll.”