CODY — In devising their plan for a comeback win Saturday in Cody, the Powell High School boys soccer team used their heads — twice.

Sophomore Brian Crawford tied the match with a header early in the second half, and junior Kristian Stenlund put the Panthers in front for good with another header in overtime as PHS held on for a 3-2 Class 3A Northwest Conference victory over the Broncs.

PHS (4-7, 2-1) was in dire need of a win after suffering a 5-0 loss at the hands of Buffalo on Friday in Powell. The Panthers got back on track in Cody, and now have a chance to win the Northwest if they can defeat Worland when the two teams play at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Powell. Worland defeated PHS 2-1 in overtime on April 14.

“It’s nice when you’re in possession of your own destiny,” PHS head coach Travis Rapp said. “We go out and beat Worland, we win our quadrant — if we don’t, we don’t.”

A win against Worland punches the Panthers’ ticket to state, and it was all made possible by a quick rally in about a minute’s time in the second half.

After the Broncs’ Bailey Lasko and Zachary McIsaac got to Powell goalkeeper Sean Wagner for a 2-0 lead in the first 40 minutes, PHS junior Trey Ouellette came out firing for the Panthers in the second. In the 42nd minute, Ouellette handled the ball deep in Cody territory where he broke away from the last Broncs defender. In a one-on-one situation with Cody goalie McIsaac, Ouellette fired a sharp ground ball into the net to cut the deficit in half.

In the 43rd minute, senior Heston Swenson teamed up with Crawford, tossing a ball that bounced over one Powell player and right to Crawford, where he headed it to the left of McIsaac to tie the game.

“That’s huge — that’s Brian. From the first week of practice we noticed Brian has a great head,” Rapp said of the 5’6” athlete. “He goes up and wins a lot of balls for a little guy ... he has good direction on it once he hits it, and that’s his responsibility — far post.”

Sophomore T.J. Abraham had a chance to give PHS a lead in the 71st minute, but his far cross sailed over the top rail by less than a foot to keep things tied and set up Stenlund’s heroics.

In the first 10-minute half of overtime, Ouellette launched a kick near the corner into the Cody box, where Stenlund challenged McIsaac for the ball. Stenlund won with his head, posting the ball into the net for the game-winner. The Panthers and Broncs played one more overtime half, but Stenlund’s goal held up.

“The ball came in and it was just a perfect ball,” Stenlund said of Ouellette’s pass. “I just got a bunch of adrenaline and went up over the goalie and got a piece of it and it went into the back of the net.

“The timing is really hard — the pros make it look really easy — but your timing has to be perfect and your jump timing has to be right on, so it’s a tough shot.”

“I personally as a coach, as a player ... headers are my favorite goals,” Rapp added. “They’re awesome, they look really pretty, but that goal happened because Trey didn’t end his run. He could’ve easily stopped at the (18-yard-line), but he didn’t. He gets to his spot and sends a nice line to Kristian for the goal.”

Cody out-shot PHS 11 to 6. Wagner made 10 saves.

Buffalo 4, Powell 0

Buffalo poured on three goals in about a 90-second span to virtually put away the Panthers in the first half. The Bison’s Zane Hengel scored back-to-back goals in the 29th and 30th minutes on Wagner before Buffalo added a third in the 30th minute.

Meanwhile, PHS was unable to answer, mustering just five shots for the game.

The Bison added insult to Powell’s injury when Tommy Fieldgrove fired a shot that deflected off PHS sophomore Owen Dent’s back and scooted past Wagner for a 4-0 Bison lead.

Wagner made 10 saves.

Rapp opted to save the legs of some of his regulars by using his reserves for extended minutes. But at times, PHS as a whole appeared to lack energy, and Rapp said that was addressed after the match.

“That’s what we talked about after the game — coming out every game playing the same. We’ve just really lacked consistency throughout the season,” he said. “They scored a couple of goals and we hit the panic button it seemed like, and we went away from what we do well, which is possessing, and we tried to force stuff.”

In the post-game huddle, Rapp put it on his players to step up against Cody with a chance to “resurrect” their season, which the Panthers took a step toward doing with Saturday’s win.