The Panther football team runs onto the field during their senior night matchup against Evanston on Oct. 22. The squad, which fell in the opening round of the playoffs, will need to replace a lot of talent along the line and at the linebacker level over the coming year.

Tribune photo by Mark Davis

Seth Romsa

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With the conclusion of the girls’ swimming championships and college volleyball regional tournament last weekend, the fall sports seasons have come to a close for both the Trappers and Panthers.

Coming into this job at the tail end of golf’s season — and midway through most of the seasons — it was a lot of catch up early on. I am glad we were all able to make it through to the end of the fall season and now transition into winter sports.

First off, congratulations to all the seniors at Powell for what they achieved during the fall season and what they expect to achieve in the winter and spring.

Another congratulations to the sophomores at Northwest College and all they achieved, as well as those at both Powell and Northwest who earned or have yet to earn awards for their performances in the fall season.

Special recognition goes to Powell High School junior Kami Jensen for her performance at the state swimming and diving championships, where she earned her first diving title and will look to repeat that performance next year.

A thank you also goes out to the coaches and parents who put in the time to help the athletes throughout the offseason and help them to grow during the season as they make their next steps in their careers.

One of the things that I was impressed with throughout this season at the high school level was the amount of younger athletes who have stepped up for the Panthers. Each sport featured younger athletes at the varsity level performing at high levels.

Next year Panther sports will feature almost the entire volleyball team returning after an improved season, the entire boys’ golf team returning, almost all varsity runners from both cross country teams, most of the girls’ state qualifiers in swimming and some key returners for football.

In a discussion with Panther football coach Chase Kistler, one of the main areas they will have to replace going forward will be the linebacking corps, as they will graduate Toran Graham, Reed Smith and Sam Whitlock from that position.

The Panthers will also need to replace three senior linemen, but Kistler said they were able to gain important experience throughout the season when the line experienced injuries.

Panther volleyball coach Lesli Spencer felt as if her team came together throughout the year and was able to make improvements despite falling just short of the state tournament.

Each coach has expressed optimism for the future as they have had production from the freshmen and sophomores who played up to the varsity level as well as progress from juniors who were key contributors this year.

I appreciate each of the coaches who allowed me to work with them for each of their sports this fall and the insight they have given me moving forward for each sport.

With the fall season finishing, the college has already transitioned full steam ahead into winter sports, despite no more home contests until early December. 

Winter sports for the high school will start on Monday with both basketball teams and wrestling kicking off practices and boys’ swimming set to start a week later.

Heading into this upcoming season I hope to see the best athletes that Powell has to offer, as the teams look to make their best pushes towards either a team or individual state championship.