Panther Valley couldn’t have asked for a better start.

But everything after that was a different story.

The Panthers scored on the second play from scrimmage against Tri Valley Friday night, but the Bulldogs clamped down defensively the rest of the way and received another strong effort from their powerful running backs to cruise to a 41-6 victory.

“We had a stunt called, and we just got caught in it,” said Bulldog head coach Jeff Sampson. “They made a great play. We settled down after that and I thought we played well the rest of the game.”

PV’s Lou Clouser slipped out of the backfield and quarterback Mike Pascoe connected with him for what would turn out to be a 79-yard touchdown pass.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, that would be their only highlight of the night.

“We did some things early pretty well, but they’re just a nice football team,” said Panther Valley mentor Rick Jones. “Their two backs run really well ... They’re very aggressive, very assertive, and a little too quick for us on offense at times.”

Following PV’s quick strike, Tri Valley marched 65 yards in eight plays to take the lead. Chase Herb (176 yards on 17 carries) had a 14-yard run and quarterback Jonas McGrath threw a 30-yard pass to Mason Bortz on a fourth down call. That set up Herb’s 7-yard tally, the first of his four touchdowns on the night.

Herb found the end zone again early in the second quarter when he broke a tackle and raced 32 yards for another score. After a PV three-and-out, it was Jacob Scheib’s turn to impress as he got to the sideline and went 55 yards for a touchdown that made it 20-6.

“Jake and Chase have been hard runners all year long,” said Sampson. “They’re not going to go down with one hit. They make a lot of yards after the play, when they’re getting hit and dragging people left and right, and then freeing up once they get hit.

“I told (our players) at halftime I thought they played well in the first half minus some mistakes. And I told them we just need to clean up those mistakes.”

McGrath recovered a fumbled snap on Tri Valley’s next possession, one of those things Sampson was referring to about playing clean football, but that miscue hardly hurt the Bulldogs. The junior QB hooked up with Layne Yoder on an 11-yard pass and Herb made it a 27-6 contest with a 17-yard scoring run.

While Tri Valley (4-1) continued to move the ball at will, finishing the game with 446 yards, the Panthers (2-6) got bogged down after their quick strike to open the contest.

PV managed just seven yards of offense on its next 25 plays after its 79-yard touchdown.

“I think with their quickness, our kids, instead of attacking, were trying to feel their way through it and that’s a recipe for disaster,” said Jones. “We weren’t assertive on that side of the ball and certainly most of the credit for that belongs to Tri Valley. But also, we’ve just got to be more aggressive offensively.”

“We had concerns about both (Pascoe and Clouser), especially Clouser because he had close to 900 yards rushing and we knew he was a tremendous athlete, but I thought we did a really good job containing him,” said Sampson.

The Panthers couldn’t contain Herb, as the senior completed his stellar evening with a 52-yard scoring burst in the third quarter.

Kameron Wetzel closed the scoring and started the Mercy Rule late in the third when he reached the end zone on a 12-yard run.

“They’re just a better football team,” said Jones. “That’s the bottom line.

“I’m disappointed with the way we played tonight. That may be one of the worst games we played in the two years I’ve been here. I thought our kids gave up and I’m disappointed in that. That has me more upset than anything else because we haven’t done that in two years.”

GUESS THE TIME ... The PV scoreboard wasn’t working, so the officials kept the clock on the field, updating the coaches at various times.

HELD IN CHECK ...The Bulldogs didn’t give Clouser room to run. They limited him to five yards on his first 10 carries.

UP NEXT ... Both teams will play in the district playoffs next week. Tri Valley will probably face Nativity, while the Panthers will likely travel to either Palisades or Northern Lehigh.