KARNS CITY — Outscored 81-0 in their first two games, the first-year Butler County Bears minor league football team appears to be reeling.

Or is it?

The United States Football Alliance team's roster stands at 37 players and four of the Bears' final five games are 7 p.m. home starts at Karns City High School's stadium.

"We've played the top two teams in the league," Bears coach Kirk Bergbigler said. "Things are going to get better. We're a first-year team and everybody in our organization realizes that.

"Yeah, we're disappointed in our results, but no one's discouraged."

The Bears received a 2-0 forfeit win for their scheduled June 5 game at the Cleveland Saints when the latter lost its home field. The Bears were scheduled to play the Pittsburgh Cobras June 12 at Woldland Hills, but the Wolverena was flooded and unplayable.

Because of the conditions, the league commission ruled that game a tie.

The Butler County team finally saw its first on-field action June 19 at the West Virginia Lightning — and suffered a 50-0 defeat.

"We had our butts handed to us that night," Bergbigler admitted. "But the Lightning is the most experienced team in the league. Every one of their players played four years of college football.

"We have maybe three or four players who have played in college. It was a mismatch."

The Bears' first home game was a 31-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pride June 26 at Karns City. Butler County possessed the ball for 10 minutes to start the game, then turned it over on downs inside the Pride's 25-yard line.

"On the next play, they were in our end zone," Bergbigler said. "Turnovers killed us that night. Our defense got it together in the second half and they only scored once."

The Bears are on the road July, traveling to Kenova, W.Va., July 10 to play the Ceredo-Kenova Crash at 7 p.m.

Three 7 p.m. home games follow, including July 17 against the Pittsburgh Cobras, July 24 against the West Virginia Gladiators and July 31 against the Mountain State Bruins.

"We couldn't get anything established offensively in our first two games," Bears co-owner and general manager Tony Drescher said. "It was kind of a wake-up call for some of our guys.

"We're working harder in practice, putting in more film study. Our team is realizing it's not going to be so easy to win in this league."

Karns City graduate and 2001 Butler Eagle Scoring Trophy winner Billy Graham has been the Bears' leading offensive threat with about 175 net yards through two games.

Fullback-linebacker Randall Palakovich, who played four years at Thiel College, leads the team on defense.

"Nobody's jumping off the bandwagon," Drescher said. "But we could use a lot of support at these home games coming up."