Bloomington South came into Bulleit Stadium Friday night averaging a margin of victory of 35.3 points in its six wins so far this season.

The Owls scored a late touchdown with 11 seconds left to cut the deficit just below that as they suffered a 42-13 loss to the fourth-ranked Panthers.

It was a game in which Seymour had chances to make it close, but head coach Tyson Moore said it all came down to execution.

“They executed,” Moore said. “They’re a very experienced football team, and there’s a reason they’re No. 4 in the state.

The Panthers started the game with a methodical drive, marching 80 yards down the field and capping it off with a 5-yard touchdown rush from Lucas Waldon to take a 7-0 lead.

On Seymour’s first drive, the Owls showed the mindset they wanted to have on Friday. They were faced with a 4th and 1 on their own side of the field, and Moore dialed up a fake punt where Evan Smith took the snap and picked up a first down.

The Owls’ opening drive got all the way down to the 10-yard line, but Bret Perry threw an interception in the end zone to Griffin Gillard. It was Perry’s first interception all season.

In the second quarter, South had great field position after Seymour had to punt from its own end zone. The Panthers took advantage of the short field as Gavin Adams rushed it in from three yards out.

“Special teams we didn’t do great tonight,” Moore said. “They were in our face a couple times. They didn’t make very many mistakes, and they ran the ball down our throat. We didn’t do a great job responding tonight.”

Seymour’s next drive had a big pass play to Jaylan Johnson, but it was negated by an unsportsmanlike penalty — one of many penalties that hurt the Owls on Friday.

The Panthers added their third score after Adams rushed for an 11-yard TD to give South a 21-0 lead with 4:53 left in the first half.

It was a necessity for Seymour to get points before half, and the Owls did just that. After getting it inside the five, Perry threw a strike to Johnson, who made a great hands catch for a touchdown with 15 seconds left in the first half.

Perry was 14-24 for 107 yards in the first half, which was the most pass attempts he’s had in a half this season.

The Owls got the ball to start the second half, and after a pair of first downs, Perry had a screen pass tipped up into the air by Tysen Smith, who also came down with the interception. The Panthers used that takeaway to go up 28-7 after Adams scored his third rushing TD of the game.

“You want to talk about the poster child of running the football, their running back ran like a man tonight,” Moore said. “Defensively, we didn’t wrap up.”

Ben Morrison added another touchdown for the Panthers with 1:42 left in the third quarter when he ran it in from 15 yards out.

In the fourth quarter, the Panthers got a running clock started after backup quarterback Jarrin Alley found Ty Tschetter for a 17-yard touchdown.

The Owls’ late touchdown came on an 11-yard pass from Perry to Pennington.

“Jaylan and Jack made some good plays tonight, and so did Kyle (Hileman),” Moore said.

Titus Boyd have seven tackles and a fumble recovery for Seymour, Will Mahoney had seven tackles and Johnson had six tackles.

After the game, Moore told his team to be ready for criticism during practice on Saturday. Despite the disappointing loss, it was Seymour’s first defeat since Sept. 2.

The Owls are now 6-3 this season and will be off next week as they get ready for Bloomington North in sectionals on Oct. 28. There’s a chance Seymour and South could meet again in the sectional title game on Nov. 4. For that to happen, the Owls would have to beat the Cougars and the Panthers would have to beat Columbus East.

But for now, Moore wants to get his team back on track, especially offensively.

“When you don’t have success running the football, it makes throwing the football that much more difficult,” Moore said. “We have to get back to running the football more successfully.”