Boys open in Worland

Powell High School boys’ soccer coach Travis Rapp is confident he’ll see one of the state’s top 3A soccer teams taking the field for the black and orange of the Panthers this year. He just might not see it right away.

Powell High School opens the 2012 soccer season this Saturday in Worland. While Rapp is hoping for good things, he notes the team that takes the field on Saturday will be but a shadow of the Panthers’ eventual lineup.

“We’re just fighting to have enough guys this weekend,” notes Rapp.

Numbers shouldn’t be a problem for the Panthers. Rapp had 32 players report for Powell, but some have battled an illness making its way through the high school halls and won’t have attended the requisite number of practice sessions to be available for the Worland jamboree. Others will be overseas as part of the school’s band and choir trip to Italy. Toss in a few other weekend events that are pulling students away from the soccer pitch and Rapp’s pool of 32 players dwindles to a roster of roughly 15 for Saturday.

“We don’t even have a goaltender for this weekend,” Rapp said, noting the Panthers have a four-way battle currently under way in practice to see who dons the varsity jersey in net. None of those four will be available on Saturday. “We’re having to improvise and put someone back there who normally won’t play goalie for us.”

While the opening weekend, with its games against Rawlins, Douglas and Rock Springs, might be a matter of survival, the long-term goals for Panther soccer are far grander. One year after grabbing the program’s first-ever team hardware at the state tournament, the Panthers have their sights set on a bigger prize.

Rapp notes the biggest factors that will help push this team higher than last year’s group are experience and depth.

“Last year, we had a good top 11, but once we started subbing, there was some dropoff,” Rapp said. “This year, I feel we’ll be able to go 18 deep without giving anything away. The other thing is just our experience. Last year we had some freshmen manning key positions for us. This year, they’ve got an extra year of experience.”

The result, according to Rapp, is “a pretty strong consensus that this could be the strongest team Powell has had since beginning the program.”

Charles Wittick, Keithen Schwahn and Jesse Pomeroy were also key contributors who are back for their senior seasons. Toss in juniors like Dewey Schwahn, Ethan Landers and Jake Christensen and you begin to see the depth Rapp alludes to.

“The biggest thing I’ve seen is that they all came ready to play,” said Rapp. “There wasn’t a dropoff in the off-season. They reported in shape, ready to play. You can see they put in some off-season work and got into the weight room and lifted.”

The Panthers’ first full-length game will take place on Friday, March 23, when the team heads to Buffalo. That game should provide a good early-season test of where the Panthers stand.

“The 3A title always goes through Buffalo,” said Rapp. “They’ve got a great youth program over there. Even when they have to replace a ton of graduating players like they do this season, they have someone who can step in.”

Powell’s first home game will take place Saturday, March 24, on the school’s new turf field.

“Already, we can see a difference,” Rapp said. “We’ve got less complaints about shin splints these first couple of weeks than in years past. The turf just helps the joints and stuff better than running on the frozen Wyoming ground.”

PHS boys’ soccer schedule

Panther girls bring back core of squad

The adage says there’s no substitute for experience. Powell High School girls’ soccer coach Brett Hanlin hopes that’s more than an old wives’ tale.

The Panther girls bring back 16 members, including nine varsity starters, from a year ago. The team will be looking to improve upon its state tournament appearance last season.

“This group has a lot of experience playing at the varsity level, and will provide some quality leadership for the season,” said Hanlin. “We had a solid JV squad last year and several of them will be counted on to make contributions for the varsity team this year.”

Sierra Baker, the 3A leader in saves last season, will be back in net for the Panthers when play opens. Baker will be one of several seniors on the roster this year as Czarina Baker, Sierra Flores, Jessica Harris, Courtney Pool, Taylor Swenson and Chelsea Segura also come back for the black and orange. Collectively, they form a group that Hanlin calls “very capable” on the pitch.

The numbers hold more good news for Hanlin. The Panther girls have 30 players out for soccer this season. That’s up six from a year ago and will provide some needed depth at all levels of the program.

“We also have nine freshmen playing,” said Hanlin. “That makes me very optimistic in regard to the future of girls’ soccer at PHS.”

That’s the good news. The bad news is that, like the Powell boys’ team, the Panther girls will be severely lacking for bodies when the team begins competition Saturday at the Cody jamboree event.

“We are really hurting for players,” said Hanlin. “At last count, we had 11.”

In other words, barely enough to field a team.

Adding insult to injury, the Panthers are scheduled to take on a pair of 4A teams at the jamboree in the form of Rock Springs and Evanston. Powell will also face off against Rawlins.

“We’ll have a mix of experienced players down to several beginners,” said Hanlin. “We’re not expecting results, just experience and the fun of playing. The girls that are coming [to Cody] will get tons of playing time against quality opponents.”

Once the Panthers get past the opening weekend, things should improve markedly for the team.

Similar to last year, soccer will deviate from the east-west format found in all other Wyoming high school sports and will instead feature a quadrant system.

For the second season, the Panthers are assigned to the northwest quadrant with Cody and Worland.

The first-place team at season’s end will automatically advance to the state soccer tournament. The second and third-place teams will have to play their way into the tournament field by defeating either the second or third-place team from one of Wyoming’s other three quadrants at season’s end.

The Panther girls see their first home action on Friday, March 23 with a 5 p.m. game. That contest will be the first official home game for the Panthers’ new synthetic turf field. Powell hosts Pinedale the following day.

The Panthers’ schedule also features a four-game home stand as Cody, Jackson, Star Valley and Worland parade into Powell from March 31-April 17. The price for that mid-season home run, however, is that Panther fans will be forced to travel to follow the team’s action for the final month of the season.

“I really think that we have the necessary talent, experience and attitude to make an impact this year,” said Hanlin. “I have high expectations for this team, and, more importantly, they have high expectations of themselves.”

PHS Girls’ soccer schedule