Riley Stringer nearly vomited as he hobbled to the sideline. Carter Baxter needed help from his coaches to make it to the Panther bench. Kalei Smith could be seen limping in the PHS secondary due to a hip injury.

As the foundation of the PHS football team began to crumble, the Cody Broncs wasted no time in pressing the detonation button.

CHS rushed for a robust 374 yards, limited the Panthers to just 154 yards of total offense and decimated host PHS for a 39-0, 3A West Conference-clinching victory at Panther Stadium on Friday night.

“This was about as physical of a game as you’re going to see,” PHS interim head coach Chanler Buck said. “We got beat up tonight.”

The Broncs (7-1, 5-0) needed a victory to win the 3A West outright. A PHS victory would have created a three-way tie between CHS and Jackson Hole, requiring a coin flip to decide the West’s top three seeds for the playoffs. But the Broncs immediately showed they had no intention of leaving their fate to a piece of metal, throwing punches left and right that PHS had no answer for.

“We knew it was important to come out strong and pound them,” said CHS’ senior running back Carter Myers. “We had a chip on our shoulders and we were determined to heal old wounds.”

Those old wounds came in the form of four straight Panther victories over the Broncs, including a win for PHS in one of last season’s 3A state semifinal games. But Myers did his best to bury the past with 187 rushing yards on 17 carries and a touchdown.

After the Panthers (5-3, 3-2) were forced to punt on the opening drive of the game, Myers and his younger brother, junior Cameron Myers, began marching the Broncs down the field. Starting from the 50-yard line, Noah Rivera carried the football for 9 yards before Carter Myers’ first carry was negated by a holding penalty. He made good on his first official carry however, breaking off a 12-yard burst followed by an 11-yard carry. He and his brother traded carries of 3 yards before Cameron Myers gave CHS a 6-0 lead with 5:02 left in the first quarter.

“Once they came out and punched us in the face, we needed to answer quickly,” PHS senior running back Ty Herd said. “Unfortunately we didn’t get the job done.”

The Panthers’ best scoring opportunity came on its ensuing drive. After a touchback on the kickoff, PHS marched 79 yards to the CHS 1-yard line. Baxter fueled the drive with passes of 48 and 25 yards to sophomore TJ Abraham, and another toss to Herd for 14 yards. On first and goal from the Bronc’s 7, Ryan Ferro was tackled for a 2-yard loss, but Baxter countered with a 9-yard carry back to the CHS 1. But on the next snap, Baxter could not corral the transfer and fumbled the ball into the hands of the Broncs.

From there, it was all CHS.

“That pretty much took the wind out of our sails,” Ferro said. “We were so close to tying them and getting some momentum back, but it just slipped away from us. “

And CHS made the hosts pay. Relying heavily on Carter Myers this time, the Broncs went 98 yards for another score. Myers collected 34 yards during the series, his final carry of 12 yards setting up Rivera’s 8-yard touchdown run for a 12-0 cushion with 6:19 remaining in the first half.

“They know how to run the ball,” Buck said. “And we just couldn’t tackle them. It didn’t help that we lost one of our key components on the defensive line in Riley Stringer, and it kinda went downhill from there.”

Stringer left the game before halftime with flu-like symptoms, and CHS took advantage of the hole. Myers added a touchdown with 33 seconds left before the break on a 4-yard score, and when Abraham just missed recovering PHS' onside kick after halftime, Rivera helped the Broncs pour it on with another rushing touchdown at the 7:36 mark in the third.

Things worsened in the second half for the Panthers, as Smith was hurt during a tackle attempt and finished the game at less than 100 percent. Baxter was then hurt in similar fashion on CHS’ next drive, succumbing to a right ankle injury before the Broncs went on to take a 32-0 lead on a Cameron Myers 2-yard touchdown scamper with 11:35 left to play. Junior backup QB Mason Olsen was inserted in Baxter’s place, but couldn’t save the ailing Panthers.

“These things happen when you get to this point of the season,” Buck said of the string of injuries. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the depth on this team to always overcome those injuries, and I think we were victims of that tonight.”

CHS finished out the scoring less than three minutes later, using two runs from Tate Pehringer to go 40 yards for another six points. Pehringer scored on a 34-yard-run.

The Broncs totaled 423 yards of offense. Following Carter Myers’ big game, Cameron Myers rushed for 65 yards. Pehringer collected 49 and junior quarterback Blake Hinze picked up 42. Baxter was on his way to a strong outing before his injury, completing 7-of-12 passes for 128 yards. Abraham caught two of those passes for a game-high 73 yards. For the first time this season, Smith, the Panthers’ standout wide receiver, did not catch a pass.

As the West’s No. 1 seed, the Broncs will host the East’s No. 4 Rawlins on Friday. PHS will travel to Riverton, the East’s No. 2 seed, for a rematch in the first round of the playoffs. Riverton handed the Panthers their first defeat in a dramatic 20-14 decision in week three.

“This is going to be an important week of practice for us,” Buck said. “We either have to improve or that’s it for us. We need to get some kids healthy as soon as possible, and ready for the most important game of our season.”