After splitting two games on the road, the Shelby County Wildcats (2-1) opened up a two-game home stand Friday night with a demanding 41-0 shutout win over the Butler County Magnet School Panthers.

Coming off a week two loss, the Wildcats were left with the uneasy feeling of defeat and searching for an identity to hang their helmet on. While the shutout win over the Panthers may have boosted morale leading into week four, there is still room for improvement.

“I am very happy the way our guys bounced back this week and were able to get a win tonight,” said Shelby County head coach Ryan Herring. “We still have a ways to go, but we are getting better. Our guys were challenged this week and they responded tonight.”

Despite the trickery of a fake punt on the first Panther possession, the Wildcats released an all-out assault following a big hit by Chad King on a corner blitz, causing a Panther fumble at the Wildcats’ 34-yard line.

Nine plays later, the Wildcats had pieced together an eight-play drive that ended when Braten Dill found Tae Lewis for an 11-yard touchdown strike. As the first quarter came and went, the Wildcats held the narrow 7-0 lead.

As the game pressed along in the second quarter, Shelby County had three offensive drives. The Wildcats scored on two on the ground, both by Lewis. A 19-yard scoring run and a 39-yard dash around right end to cap off a 11-play, 91-yard drive had the Wildcats sitting pretty with a 21-0 lead going into the half.

Coming out of intermission, the Wildcats picked up where they left off with Dill orchestrating another lengthy scoring drive of 11 plays covering 83 yards. On first-and-goal from the Panthers’ 9-yard line, Dill connected with Lewis for his fourth score of the night.

Before the final horn sounded, the Wildcat offense hoisted up two more scores with Dill connecting with Kevin McNorton on an 11-yard toss and Brandon Johnson reeling off an 80-yard scoring run.

When it was all said and done, the Wildcats rolled up 332 yards on the ground with Dill going 6-of-14 passing for 89 yards through the air. Demonte Ford added 94 yards on the ground for the Wildcats.

“I thought we played well offensively tonight,” Herring said. “We didn’t play without mistakes, but we did some good things. We still have to improve every week.”

“I do think we made some careless mistakes as far as penalties go,” Herring mentioned about the Wildcats being penalized 13 times for 105 yards. “We have to correct that and limit those mistakes.”

The Panthers managed to rake in 193 yards on the ground on 49 carries and 21 passing yards on 1-of-4 attempts.

The Wildcats will host the Sylacauga Aggies next week for a pivotal Class 5A, Region 4 matchup.