WEST ALEXANDRIA – The Brian Butts era at Twin Valley South got off to a rocky start as the Panthers were over matched by visiting Carlisle 37-0 during the opening week of the high school football season on Friday, Aug. 18 at Vaughn Field.

“We were excited. And at the beginning of the first quarter, we got some plays. What we had schemed and what we thought we wanted to do get some was working well,” Butts said.

The Indians struck first on a 15-yard touchdown run by Blake Lawson with 1:28 left in the first quarter. Lawson added the two-point conversion to make it 8-0.

South fumbled the ensuing kickoff, which Carlisle recovered, setting the Indians up near midfield.

“We get the ball. We get a penalty. We hang our heads a little bit. We blow a lot of things on that next drive, just fall apart mentally because we’re fighting some demons from previous years of when we’re in a tough game and adversity hits, we hang our heads,” Butts said. “We got work to do and I think they know that. I think they’re disappointed in their effort.”

Luke Richards added a 1-yard TD run minutes later. The two-point conversion made it a 16-0 game with 8:37 left in the first half.

After a TVS punt, the Indians marched 52 yards, capped by a Lawson 1-yard TD run to make it a 22-0 game with 1:32 left in the half.

“They were big and strong and faster than we expected,” Butts said. “We knew they were bigger than us, but they were a little bit quicker. And it made it tough on us.”

The Indians added another score in the third quarter for a 30-0 lead then added a score in the fourth for the final margin.

Butts said his team is still adjusting to a new offense and defense, but he’s confident the Panthers will improve as the season progresses.

“Two new schemes. We made mistakes and we tried to really cut it back and we maybe put a little bit too much in for this week knowing that their size was going to push this around a little bit,” he said. “We’re at a disadvantage up front, but I thought our kids, the first quarter, were playing really well.”

South (0-1) will travel to Arcanum on Friday, Aug. 25.

“We got to move on, and we did not do a good job of that. Tonight. We dwelled on negativity, and we didn’t focus on positivity. That’s something we got to fix for next week,” Butts said. “I still like our team, we got some really good kids, really good players.”

Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on X @emowenjr.