Powell blanked in SheridanThe Powell High School boys’ soccer team departed for state tournament play in Sheridan hoping for a slice of school history. They returned home empty-handed after the Panthers were dispatched by eventual state champion Jackson and Cody.

“It was a disappointing weekend for the boys and myself,” said Panther soccer coach Travis Rapp. “Both games were winnable.”

Heading to Sheridan, the Panthers knew they had their work cut out for them. Powell’s half of the bracket contained both the 2011 state champion and state runner-up, as well as final 2012 regular season No. 1 Jackson.

The Panthers opened against that Jackson team, which owned a pair of 3-0 victories over Powell during the regular season. The Broncs scored in the opening minute to get Powell playing from behind virtually the entire game.

Jackson tacked on a second goal before the Panthers could crack the scoring column. Ty Ouellette put Powell on the scoreboard after converting a penalty kick for a foul in the goal box.

Jackson recovered the goal, but Ouellette again pulled the Panthers to within one as he pulled in a long diagonal pass from Dewey Schwahn and beat the Jackson keeper. The goal made the score 3-2 in the second half.

The Broncs eventually looped a ball over the head of goalkeeper Heston Swenson for some insurance. Minutes later, officials blew an early stop to the contest due to lightning hazard.

“We played well against Jackson, but made three or four key mistakes in the back that led to easy goals for them,” said Rapp. “When you are playing a team of their caliber, you can’t give them easy chances.”

On the positive, Rapp noted that Jackson had arrived at the state tournament having surrendered just four goals all season. The two goals scored by the Panthers were the only two scored in the entire state tournament against the Broncs, who went on to shut out Buffalo and Worland and claim the 3A crown.

“We were the only team to score on them at state,” said Rapp. “I really feel like if we would have defended as a team a little bit better, we would have won this game. Too much space and too much time allowed to the Jackson players was pretty much the difference in the game.”

The Panthers’ coach applauded the play of Ouellette, Ethan Landers and Cooper Wise in the contest. Cody Wichman and Noah Katz were also given kudos by their head coach for their play.

With Powell’s dream of advancing to the championship half of the bracket for the first time in school history crushed, the Panthers had to recover to face Park County rival Cody less than 24 hours later.

“We started out pretty flat against Cody for the first 20 minutes,” said Rapp.

During that time, the Broncs were able to get on the board thanks to a free kick that appeared to take advantage of some disorganization on the part of the Panthers’ defense.

“We took too long setting up our wall,” said Rapp. “They took advantage of the miscommunication in our defense and sent the free kick into the bottom right corner of the goal, and it proved the difference.”

Although the Panthers would eventually snap out of their early-game funk, Cody maintained pressure on the goal and added a second tally for a 2-0 lead. Powell came out and showcased better control in the second half, but failed to crack the net until Wichman put an unassisted goal off his toe with 15 minutes to play.

Powell made repeated pushes at goal in the game’s waning minutes, but failed to put a ball on target, eventually falling by a 2-1 count.

“It’s hard to beat the same team three times in one season,” said Rapp. “Both games were winnable.”

The Panthers wrap up their season with a 9-9 record.

“I am going to really miss this senior class,” Rapp said. “We have a lot of talent and hard workers returning next year. The goal again will be winning a state title.”

Wise, Wichman, Charles Wittick, Keithen Schwahn, Jakob Himmelstrup, Jesse Pomeroy and Jaden Herd all graduated from the Panthers roster on Sunday.