BENTON — Mike Layne has coached for 20 years and has more than 500 career wins, but Layne admitted he was nervous–like first match of his career nervous–before his debut leading the Pinckneyville Lady Panthers Tuesday night in Benton.

“Obviously I care and want the girls to do good,” Layne said. “It’s new. What a neat feeling.”

The deep and talented Lady Panthers helped dispel the coach’s nerves quickly as they rolled to a 25-15, 25-17 season-opening win over the Rangerettes.

“There were some things obviously we have to clean up,” Layne said. “Understanding how we do business was really good for them. Now we just have to get down to the execution of the game and go from there.”

Pinckneyville (1-0) will be back in action Friday night with the home opener against Mt. Carmel. Benton (0-1) will open SIRR Ohio play Thursday when the Rangerettes will visit Harrisburg.