It was a night to remember in the home opener for the Powell Panther football team, cruising past the Worland Warriors with a lopsided 51-0 scoreline at Panther Stadium on Friday night.

POWELL 51, WORLAND 0

After the first week on the road against Riverton, the WyoPreps No. 3-ranked Panthers (2-0) opened their home account against the Warriors (0-1) who came to Powell after a scrimmage against 2A Thermopolis during zero week.

Powell was unable to score on its opening drive, but a deep punt by Zane Graft, his only one of the night, pinned the Warriors deep in their own territory.

Three plays later, pressure by Keona Wisniewski forced the Worland quarterback into an intentional grounding penalty — resulting in a safety to give Powell a 2-0 lead.

“We played with a lot more energy tonight because we are on our home field for our first home game,” coach Chase Kistler said.

After receiving the ball, Powell drove down the field and a 45-yard run by Jhett Schwahn gave Powell a 9-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

Late in the first, Powell extended the lead after Schwahn found Dexter Opps on a 5-yard pass to make it 16-0.

A punt in the second quarter was blocked by Graft, giving Powell the ball in Worland territory.

Facing a fourth down of their own, the Panthers had a conversion called back on a chop block before Trey Stenerson snagged a pass to secure another first down.

A field goal at the end of the drive from 29 yards away sailed wide left, keeping the score at 16-0.

Powell was able to get one more score just before the half, with Cody Seifert finding the end zone from 2 yards out to kickstart his night and give Powell a 23-0 lead at the half.

“My goal is to run with heart and play as a team,” Seifert said. 

The third quarter started strong for Powell, with Seifert forcing and recovering a fumble on the first play from scrimmage to give the Panthers the ball back.

Unfortunately no points came from the drive, with Schwahn throwing an interception in the end zone to give the ball back to Worland.

Fortunately for Powell, Seifert came up with an interception that landed in his hands while looking around in coverage to give the Panthers the ball in Warrior territory.

“I did not know (the ball) was coming my way. I was in my zone and I was looking around,” Seifert said.

That led to another 3-yard touchdown from Seifert, and a 30-0 advantage.

Stenerson then came up with an interception of his own, and Seifert once again converted from 9 yards out to make it 38-0 after a two-point conversion by Case Bradish.

“We put pressure on them and caused turnovers,” Kistler said. “When our defensive ends were very disciplined it made their offense hard to run.”

Powell converted another fourth down on its next drive, and eventually Schwahn converted his second rushing touchdown of the game to extend it to 44-0 after a missed PAT.

Seifert capped off the scoring with his fourth touchdown of the night late in the third quarter, giving Powell a definitive 51-0 scoreline.

Seifert finished off his night with 111 yards on 21 carries with his four touchdowns, just a year after he was injured in the same matchup with the Warriors in Worland.

“Loving this sport means a lot, I missed it while sitting out,” Seifert said. “This is a brotherhood here, it’s hard to go watch your brothers go play without you and you can’t help them from the sidelines besides cheering.”

Wisniewski led the Panthers defensively with eight tackles, six of them solo in addition to the sack and safety.

Powell held Worland to 77 yards of total offense, 58 through the air and 19 on the ground.

“I’m proud of our guys, I thought our defense played a heck of a lot better,” Kistler said.

FREMONT COUNTY FLIP

After the victory the Panthers will head back on the road this Friday, making the trip to Lander (0-2) to take on the other half of Fremont County at 6 p.m. after having already defeated Riverton to start the season.

“We are looking to get better, our focus is still on us,” Kistler said. “We still have a lot of room for improvement.”

That will be the final non conference road game for the Panthers before returning home for a test against No. 4-ranked Douglas the following week.

POWELL 51, WORLAND 0

Total tackles then solo tackles in ()

Passing — Jhett Schwahn 13-25, 166 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception; Keona Wisniewski 0-2

Rushing — Cody Seifert 21-111, 4 touchdowns; Jhett Schwahn 5-52, 2 touchdowns; Trevon Abraham 2-16; Keona Wisniewski 2-11; Case Bradish 2-7; McKale Foley 1-2; Caden Nelson 1-2

Receiving — Trey Stenerson 4-55; Trevon Abraham 2-27; Caden Nelson 1-27; Alex Jordan 2-26; Evan Whitlock 2-20; Zane Graft 1-16; Dexter Opps 1-5, 1 touchdown

Tackles — Keona Wisniewski 8 (6), Trevon Abraham 6 (1), Wyatt Blackmore 6 (1), Cody Seifert 5, Seston Shoopman 5 (3), Dusty Carter 3 (2), Dexter Opps 2, Jordan Loera 2 (1), Tyler Wenzel 2, Evan Whitlock 1 (1), Zane Graft 1 (1), Doug Bettger 1, Jhett Schwahn 1 (1), McKale Foley 1, Julian Frost 1, Caleb Ashcraft 1

Tackle for loss — Keona Wisniewski 6, Seston Shoopman 3, Cody Seifert 1, Doug Bettger 1, McKale Foley 1

Sacks — Keona Wisniewski 1

Pass breakups — Trey Stenerson 1, Caden Nelson 1, Dawson Griffin 1, Tucker Oliver 1

Fumble recoveries — Cody Seifert 1

Interceptions — Cody Seifert 1, Trey Stenerson 1

Blocked kicks — Zane Graft 1