MAYBE JOE KNOWS: Even without titles, PHS fall sports season was great

Posted 11/13/14

I get it. A year ago, the PHS football team was creaming anybody and everybody on its way to a third straight Class 3A state championship.

On the hardwood, the Lady Panthers were enjoying their own success story, as they put together an …

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MAYBE JOE KNOWS: Even without titles, PHS fall sports season was great

Posted

Several times during the recently concluded Powell High School athletics fall season, I had coaches, players and parents relay to me a statement of reminiscence.

“You should have been here last year,” they’d tell me.

I get it. A year ago, the PHS football team was creaming anybody and everybody on its way to a third straight Class 3A state championship.

On the hardwood, the Lady Panthers were enjoying their own success story, as they put together an impressive run to capture the 3A state volleyball title. And in the pool, the PHS girls swim team placed second at state.

But as much as I’m sure I would’ve enjoyed watching the 2013 Panther athletes run roughshod through their Wyoming prep competition, I’m perfectly content with having shown up for this fall campaign. In fact, getting a full serving of PHS football and volleyball over the past few months has left me hungry for more.

Everybody enjoys winning because it’s more fun that way. When the winning goes away, as it did a little bit for the Panthers this season, it can be painful to endure — for everybody.

And believe it or not, not all of us journalists are cold-blooded hitmen, arriving at a location to do our jobs before leaving without a trace. Some of us actually buy in to these kids. I invested in our Powell athletes this season, and they made good on my investment — with interest.

No, the Panther football team didn’t win what would’ve been a historic fourth straight state title. No, the Lady Panthers didn’t repeat as champs, instead settling for third place at the state meet in Casper over the weekend. Yes, both teams still made an impact on this community and the guy lucky enough to be reporting on Powell’s teams.

Some really cool stuff happened this year.

I watched the Panthers rally from a 12-point deficit late to stun Douglas in week one of the football season. Following a Homecoming loss, I saw quarterback Carter Baxter and lineman Riley Stringer share a moment of best friendship you’d have needed to see to believe. I watched Baxter tough out a sprained ankle to lead his team to battle in the first round of the 3A state playoffs on Halloween night.

I wrote about PHS volleyball’s impressive 16-game winning streak before later bearing witness to sophomore sensation Kalina Smith’s battle with a badly swollen right hand at the state tournament. She still led her team in total kills in four state matches.

I saw laughs and smiles, tears and heartbreak. And just as much as I saw it, fortunately, I felt it too.

The biggest takeaway from my first season of PHS sports is a lesson I learned quickly and often: for all the talent the young athletes in this town possess, it pales in comparison to the amount of heart, passion and dedication they not only have for their sports, but also for their coaches, fans and most importantly each other. And although the Panthers’ journeys back to champion status ended in defeat this year, they showed an undying will to join together and endure as a family. There was no quit in the PHS jersey this season.

With that in mind, I’d like to leave the PHS fall athletes (many of whom will venture into winter sports in a few weeks), with a quote from American author Ben Stein:

“It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated ... it is finished when it surrenders.”

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