The Powell High School football team opened 3A West action with a big test — hosting the defending champion Star Valley Braves, who used a quick start to pull away from the Panthers in a 48-7 contest.

STAR VALLEY 48, POWELL 7

Back home after a two week road trip the Panthers (3-2 overall, 0-1 3A West) welcomed in the four-time defending state champion Braves (4-1 overall, 1-0 3A West).

A big kick return by the visitors set up a short field for their first series, as the Braves quickly capitalized with a touchdown pass from 4 yards out to make it 7-0 with 10:52 left.

Star Valley immediately got the ball back, recovering its own squib kick up the middle, and the Braves again had a short field to work with.

“I think we were a little starstruck at the start of the game, and Star Valley is really good at getting after you when they sense they’ve got you down,” coach Chase Kistler said. “They’re gonna get after you, they’re gonna try to make big plays when they’ve got you down and they did, they capitalized on it.”

Another touchdown pass followed, this time from 5 yards out, to make it 14-0 1:44 into the game.

Powell received the ball and moved the ball on its initial drive, but a turnover on downs gave the Braves the ball with 7:31 left in the first quarter.

Another quick drive was capped off with a 13-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-0 with 6:56 left in the quarter.

Star Valley continued its first quarter scoring, adding a 1-yard touchdown run with 3:54 and a 25-yard touchdown pass with 2:02 left to make the score 34-0 after the first frame.

The Braves added a 4-yard touchdown run with 8:02 remaining in the second quarter and a 53-yard touchdown pass with 1:51 remaining to make it 48-0 at the break.

“I told the guys the only things we can control are our effort and our attitude … We had guys (in the first half) walking back to the huddle, guys just kind of feeling sorry for ourselves, and that hasn’t been us,” Kistler said. “In the second half, we cleaned that up. Guys kind of highlighted and were like ‘yeah, I need to do a little bit better on my effort, my attitude.’”

Despite the large deficit and a running clock in the second half, the Panthers fought hard, getting a late touchdown on a punt return by Braxton Nelson from 85 yards out with 2:41 left in the game to make the final score 48-7.

“Braxton finally got his breakaway touchdown that didn’t get called back, so I’m happy for him,” Kistler said.

Powell finished with 55 yards of total offense, while on defense Russell Goolsbey led with six tackles and an interception, Nelson added two pass breakups and a fumble recovery.

IMPORTANT CONTEST

Powell heads back on the road to Green River at 6 p.m. on Friday night for a game against the Wolves (2-2 overall, 0-1 3A West) who lost on a goal-line stand against Evanston 25-20.

“They’re (Green River) big up front … We were looking at this week’s scores, the first week of conference play to kind of get a feed on where guys are really at,” Kistler said. “I know they’re getting better each week because I’ve had to watch film of them scouting other teams … They’re a good opponent.”

STAR VALLEY 48, POWELL 7

Total tackles then solo tackles in ()

Passing — Karcher Foley 5-12, 35 yards, 1 interception

Rushing — Lincoln Crawford 16-27, Trevin Morton 2-10, Russell Goolsbey 3-3, Sean Lowe 1 for negative 1 yard, Karcher Foley 10 for negative 19 yards

Receiving — Breckyn Kobbe 3-25, Broc Frank 1-8, Braxton Nelson 1-2

Tackling — Russell Goolsbey 6 (3), Braxton Nelson 5 (4), Broc Frank 5 (3), Forest Kleinfeldt 5 (3), Trevin Morton 4 (1), Sean Lowe 4 (1), Brayden Benander 3 (2), Pratt Wambeke 2, Connor Farwell 2 (1), Gianreye D’Alessandro 1, Weston Hull 1 (1), David Stearns 1 (1), Gabe McMillin 1, Isaiah Torres 1 (1)

Tackles for loss — Isaiah Torres 1

Pass breakups — Braxton Nelson 2, Broc Frank 1, Breckyn Kobbe 1

Fumble recoveries — Braxton Nelson 1

Interceptions — Russell Goolsbey 1