The Butler County Bears found the balance they were looking for Saturday night at Memorial Park.

The team forced five turnovers, scored twice on defense, ran and threw the ball effectively in a 37-12 semi-pro football victory over the Strabane Spartans.

“This was a big improvement over last week, but we’re still not close to where we want to be,” Bears coach Kirk Bergbigler said. “We have a lot more potential than this.”

The Bears opened the season May 31 with a 36-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Pride at J.C. Stone Field, losing eight fumbles in the process.

Saturday, Butler County lost only two fumbles, both occurring late in the game with the outcome no longer in doubt.

The Bears opened the game with a 58-yard drive that ate the first 7:50 off the clock. Josh James scored on a 10-yard run. The Spartans responded with a 65-yard drive of their own, capped by Jason Santeli’s 36-yard touchdown pass to Dave Marx.

Randall Palakovich and Butler graduate Bill McCaslin combined to stop an attempted two-point conversion run and the Bears maintained the lead throughout the night.

Santeli threw for 202 yards and two TDs, but was intercepted four times. Three of those picks occurred on successive passes — by Butler resident Keith Gary, Marcus Stewart and Slippery Rock grad Vince Papley.

Stewart returned his theft 31 yards for a touchdown.

“We gave up two long touchdown passes last week, too,” Bergbigler said. “That’s a part of our defense we need to shore up.

“Our strength is running the ball and stopping the run. We did that well tonight.”

The Bears (1-1) rushed for 188 yards. Moniteau graduate James Shope led the way with 54 yards on seven carries. Eugene Clark had seven carries for 52 yards, Steve Cupec seven carries for 49 yards and a touchdown.

The Spartans (0-2) had negative 14 yards rushing on the night. Udell Ramirez returned a fumble 55 yards for a score and Cranberry Township resident Mike Dubois added an interception for the Bears.

Antawane Davis, recovering from a torn ACL late last season, saw action at quarterback in the second half. His first pass was a 41-yard TD strike to Josh Taylor.

Davis had to be helped off the field later, aggravating an injury while being sacked.

“The only reason we had him in there was because I thought their defense was tired and we could get him some work,” Bergbigler said. “Antawane had an ankle problem, too, and he walked off the field (after the game) with a slight limp. We’ll get him checked out.”

The teams combined for 210 yards in penalties. The Bears had 14 penalties for 140 yards, including nine for 100 in the first half.

“Needless to say ... we’ll clean that up,” Bergbigler said.

Jason Majocha booted a 37-yard field goal for the Bears, who host the Pittsburgh Stealth at 7 p.m. next Saturday at Memorial Park.