Bonney Lake High hosted an improving but still average Auburn Mountainview team Friday night in front of a partisan crowd that understandably had sky high expectations.

The Panthers overcame a woeful beginning and their patience paid huge dividends as Bonney Lake eventually tamed the upstart Lions 34-7.

“We didn’t get off to a very impressive start, I’m afraid,” coach Chad Barrett said. “Then these guys woke up and really began to get after it in the second quarter, and from then on out our timing was considerably better and we regained control offensively and defensively.”

Indeed, his squad put it in high gear from that point on as by the tilt’s conclusion the high-powered Panther offense had rolled up 527 yards of total offense.

Panther quarterback Chris Brown broke the scoring ice just into the second stanza when he hooked up with Austin Marshall on a 48-yard scoring pass, the first of four touchdown aerials for the twosome.

The second BLHS tally came on a 25-yard touchdown jaunt by Tyler Babukas, who finished with more than 100 yards rushing.

Marshall notched his second touchdown on a 6-yard Brown TD dart to make the score 20-0 just prior to intermission.

Bonney Lake was not about to loosen its stranglehold in the third quarter. Brown and Marshall played pitch and catch, dialing in this time with a 25-yard touchdown strike. The terrific tandem was not done, as just into the fourth frame of the drubbing they connected on an 84-yard catch and run by the mercurial Marshall.

Brown then took a seat having completed 21-of-32 passes for 341 yards. Marshall gathered in a dozen grabs for 226 yards.

Reserves played the fourth quarter as Bonney Lake won its South Puget Sound League 3A debut and improved to 4-1 overall.