ARCANUM — Twin Valley South suffered a big loss, 33-3, to the Arcanum Trojans on the road on Friday, Sept. 23.

“This was a tough loss for us,” said TVS coach Clint Bartlett. “Arcanum is one heck of a team. They play a vicious schedule — they’ve faced against teams who combined for only three losses thus far in the season. They executed very well.”

The Panthers received the opening kickoff, but was forced to punt early. After holding their opponents to a punt, they had their own second drive stalled on a bobbled snap during a fourth-down play. The Trojans responded with a passing touchdown to take the 7-0 lead, ending the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Trojans opened up more offensively, scoring two more touchdowns. South had two drives end on turnovers or turnover-on-downs, though one drive was capped by a 40-yard field goal by Ryan Bassler.

At the break, Arcanum was up 20-3.

Arcanum opened up the second half with a quick touchdown to increase its lead to 27-3. South was held to a short drive and was forced to punt the ball away — it was taken by Arcanum who nearly drove the ball down for another touchdown but was picked off by a Panthers defender.

Unable to take advantage of the turnover, South punted the ball again, only to see the Trojans successfully drive the ball down for their fifth touchdown of the night.

The fourth quarter went by quickly, with each team having a pair of short drives but no additional scoring.

“We were able to shut down their running game for the most part, particularly in the first quarter, but they just had too many weapons offensively,” Bartlett said. “We also had some miscues that really hurt us during the game. Arcanum likes to throw the ball a lot, and their passing game worked against us.”

“We are still a competitive team. Our standings in the Cross County Conference still allows us to have a chance to finish high in the conference,” Bartlett added. “There is a lot to play for, and nobody has an insurmountable lead. We need to work with that in mind.”

Twin Valley South is currently 2-1 in the CCC, and 2-3 overall. The Panthers will take on Mississinawa Valley for homecoming on Friday, Sept. 30.