The Powell Panther boys’ soccer team fell short at the state tournament in Gillette against two difficult opponents, losing 3-0 to eventual state champion Buffalo on Thursday before losing on a late penalty kick against Worland in a 1-0 consolation contest Friday.

BUFFALO 3, POWELL 0

Kicking off the tournament the Panthers (7-8) looked to hold their own against the top seed out of the east in the Bison (12-5).

Powell did that for much of the first half, not allowing the Bison to get many clear chances at goal.

The Panthers were unable to find many opportunities on the counter, before a late Buffalo push found the back of the net twice before the end of the first half.

A long throw-in into the box found its way past the Panthers and was tapped home by the Bison to make it 1-0 with 9:40 left in the half.

Buffalo wasn’t done, scoring again on a scramble in the box with the ball poked home among a host of bodies and making it 2-0 just 55 seconds before the end of the first half.

In the second half Powell was able to generate more offense, but couldn’t find any momentum to carry past the Bison before they got a third goal.

A corner kick was sent into the box, and an attempt to clear it away led to a difficult result for the Panthers.

The clearance was sent high, dropping back down and hitting the turf with an awkward spin which caught the Panthers off-balance and led to the ball bouncing into the roof of the net and making it 3-0 in favor of the Bison with 19:21 left in the game.

That scoreline proved to be too much for the Panthers to overcome, resulting in a 3-0 defeat.

“Overall, Buffalo was a more skilled team than us so the goal wasn’t to play them toe-to-toe and hope for the best,” coach David Gilliatt said. “I thought the guys did a good job of making it difficult for Buffalo to score, but in the end we had a few mistakes that proved costly. All three of the goals were the direct result of failed clearances, two of which we actually hit last before going in. Not the result we were hoping for of course, but I thought Buffalo proved that they deserved the win.”

Buffalo went on to defeat Lander and then Cody in a shootout to claim its first state title since 2013.

WORLAND 1, POWELL 0

That loss Thursday meant the Panthers dropped down to the consolation bracket, taking on the east No. 3 seed Worland Warriors (8-9) on Friday.

Seeking a better result from a 3-0 defeat earlier in the season, the Panthers tried to lock down the Warriors early and find a way to score on the counter.

Worland had the better chances on goal early in the first half, including several free kick attempts against the Panthers that sailed above and wide of the goal.

Powell appeared to be heading towards halftime unscathed, before a decision just before halftime caused the Panthers to lose one of their key pieces in midfield.

A foul led to a free kick for the Warriors with 5:46 left, as Panther Mikel Klepp received a yellow card for dissent after he argued regarding the call. While Klepp was going off the field, he received a straight red card for another incident regarding language.

“It was really unfortunate to lose him so early on in the game. Many guys on our team consider him to be our most valuable player so for us to lose him so early on definitely affected our team performance,” Gilliatt said.

Luckily for the Panthers, Klepp had been deemed a substitute at the time he received his red card, allowing the Panthers to continue playing 11-on-11 the remainder of the game.

The two teams went into the break tied at 0-0, as the Panthers decided on a more attacking mindset in the second half with their season on the line.

Throughout the second half the Panthers started controlling the ball and found more space in the attack. They were able to find more attacking opportunities including dangerous free kicks and several chances that went just wide of the Warrior goal.

Unfortunately for Powell, with just 3:25 left in the game the Panthers were called for a foul in their own box and a penalty was awarded to the Warriors.

Worland put the penalty just past the hand of the Panther keeper, and walked away with the 1-0 win.

“I 100% thought we looked like the better team in the second half,” Gilliatt said. “We high-pressed Worland in the second half which is something we did very little of this season. Really unfortunate to get that penalty call against us in the last three minutes.”

The Warriors defeated Rawlins on Saturday to finish fifth.

RETURNERS AND REPLACEMENTS

Heading into the offseason the Panthers have plenty of areas to replace but also return players with potential.

Powell returns nearly every attacking option it had this season alongside a couple of midfielders with experience, but will need to replace three of their starting defenders alongside a rotational goalkeeper.

“Losing seniors every year is difficult. In this case, we’ll lose every captain and 75% of the back line,” Gilliatt said. “We will need to improve our overall quality and physicality. Watching the state final this year illustrated to me our deficiencies as a team and where we need to improve if we expect to compete with the better teams.”