Panther boys have goal at state soccer

One year after celebrating a consolation title in Sheridan, the Powell High School boys’ soccer team is returning with a bigger objective in mind. In a wide open state field, the Panthers are looking to make waves on the championship half of the bracket.

Throughout the Panthers’ existence, the consolation half of the bracket has been their state tournament home. No Powell team has ever won its first-round game to begin state play. After a 9-7 regular season that saw the team ranked as high as fourth in the state, this year’s side is hoping to change that.

To do that, the team will have to get past top-ranked Jackson in their Thursday quarterfinal. The Broncs hold a pair of 3-0 victories over the Panthers this season, but Powell head coach Travis Rapp looks at those games with an asterisk.

“They’ve beat us twice 3-0 this year, but they haven’t seen our whole team yet, either,” Rapp notes.

The Panthers were without one of their top offensive threats in Ty Ouellette when the two schools faced off in Powell early in the year — a game the Panthers trailed just 1-0 before a pair of late goals pushed the margin higher. In a late-season game at Jackson, the Panthers were forced into a series of stop-gap positional assignments after the team suffered a rash of injuries 24 hours earlier in a physical game against Star Valley.

Although Powell still won’t be at full strength — the Panthers will likely be without the services of Logan Hartman when they kick off on Thursday and Cooper Wise “isn’t 100 percent” according to Rapp — the Panthers’ coach feels he’ll be fielding a lineup that should give Jackson a stronger challenge this time out.

“I think we have a great chance,” said Rapp. “We match up pretty well against them, we just haven’t played our best games against them. We should be able to have a better offensive push against them this week.”

Win or lose on Thursday, the Panthers’ work will  just be starting. The team will face either Buffalo or Cody in the second round as the two schools who have squared off in every 3A championship game played since Wyoming shifted to a two-class format in 2008 meet instead in a quarterfinal game this season.

“It is really amazing how lopsided the bracket is,” Rapp said. “I’ve been talking to coaches around the state and many are in support of a change to the strucure of state. I would like to see it move towards a seeding where the number one seed plays the number eight seed and on down. We are in the hardest half of the bracket.”

And the difference isn’t much, Rapp notes.

“I was talking to my guys about how much easier this weekend would be if we would have just beat Worland once,” Rapp said. “Instead of having Jackson first, we would have had Pinedale.”

Regardless of opponent, the Panthers’ goal for the weekend hasn’t shifted. Rapp has been a vocal advocate for Powell’s arrival on the 3A soccer scene the last two seasons. With a winning regular-season record and some showcase wins during the regular season against ranked competition, all that’s left to complete the arrival would be for the school to post a Thursday win at state.

The Panthers and Broncs kick off at 4 p.m., Thursday, in Sheridan (see inset for schedule). State tournament play continues Friday and Saturday.