Penalties erased big plays for the Powell Panthers on the road in Green River on Friday night, as they fell to 0-2 in the 3A West with a 27-21 loss to the Wolves.

GREEN RIVER 27, POWELL 21

Hoping to rebound on the road after their three game winning streak was snapped, the Panthers (3-3 overall, 0-2 3A West) took on the Wolves (3-2 overall, 1-1 3A West).

After forcing a punt on the opening drive, the Panthers marched down the field and finished a seven play, 68-yard drive with a 17-yard touchdown run by Lincoln Crawford, his first of a big night.

“Offensively we did OK. We moved it at will when we wanted to, when we didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot,” coach Chase Kistler said.

After another defensive stop, a short punt on the next drive  set up the hosts in Powell territory.

A face mask on the first play of the drive set up Green River at the Powell 26, and the Wolves scored on the next play, but a missed PAT made it 7-6 Panthers with 3:05 left in the first quarter.

“It wasn’t jumping offsides or lining up incorrectly. This game they [penalties] were costly like holding penalties or face masks,” Kistler said. “Those types of penalties are just killers. Morale killers too … In practice we try to call penalties, which we did this week, and that kind of helps with getting guys lined up and not lining up offsides or jumping offsides. It kind of helped with those, but the face mask and the holding ones now, that’s got to be technique. We’re too high on our tackles, and then blocking-wise, we’ve got to know when to let up.”

Powell’s offense again stalled, which led to a punt, but the Panthers got a big play to end the first quarter.

A fake punt by the Wolves looked like they were going to throw it, but a split decision change led to a punt attempt that was blocked by Pratt Wambeke and recovered by the Panthers at the Wolves’ 26-yard line.

A four-play drive, aided by a 21-yard run by quarterback Karcher Foley, was capped off by another Crawford touchdown from 2 yards out to make it 14-6.

Green River marched down the field on the next drive, capped off with a 15-yard touchdown catch to make it 14-13.

The Wolves got one more on the board before the halftime break, with another touchdown reception from 8 yards out to make it 20-14 Wolves heading into the locker room.

Green River extended the lead in the third quarter, as a wide receiver screen led to an 11-yard touchdown reception to make it 27-14.

Powell did not find the end zone again until the fourth quarter, when Crawford got his third from 3 yards out to make it 27-21 with 4:03 left in the game.

“Lincoln getting in the end zone is always great, and it’s really a credit to our linemen up front, they did a great job punching holes,” Kistler said. “I think two of the three Lincoln went into the end zone untouched, that’s just a credit to the guys blocking up front and Lincoln running hard.”

The Panther defense stood tall and didn’t allow the Wolves to get a first down, and got the ball back with two minutes remaining near midfield.

The Panthers got a first down on two passes, but a deep attempt down field was intercepted by the Wolves to seal it and send the Panthers to a second straight loss 27-21.

Penalties were a big story, as the Panthers finished with 14 for 135 yards, including one called back touchdown by Crawford in the contest.

“We had over 200 yards on offense, 130-plus in penalties, that doesn’t include the touchdown that we had called back,” Kistler said. “It was a frustrating ending. We had our shot there at the end, and plenty of time to get it done. I told Karcher after the game, it’s not that one pass that makes the whole game. We could have been ahead by 14 points, whether it was on offense or just the defense getting a hold at some point in the game. It’s a team thing.”

Foley went 12-26 for 169 yards through the air, Crawford led on the ground with 16 rushes for 58 yards, Broc Frank led with seven receptions for 84 yards, just 2 yards behind Braxton Nelson who had 86 yards on five receptions.

Russell Goolsbey led with nine tackles, Trevin Morton led with 2.5 tackles for loss, Weston Hull and Pratt Wambeke each recorded a sack as Nelson and Goolsbey each had an interception.

“We played extremely hard … We gave ourselves a chance to win at the end of the game … But we’ve just got to find a way to execute plays in the critical moments,” Kistler said.

JACKSON FRIDAY

The Panthers return home this week still seeking a first conference win, as they welcome in the Jackson Broncs (5-1 overall, 1-1 3A West) at 5 p.m. on Friday.

“They’re definitely gonna test our secondary over the top,” Kistler said. “We’re gonna have to sustain a lot of long drives to try and help our defense, getting them off the field and just keeping the ball in our possession. I think with our run game we can do that definitely … We’re gonna work a lot this week on coverage and mixing things up to maybe try and confuse or make that quarterback think twice.”

GREEN RIVER 27, POWELL 21

Total tackles then solo tackles in ()

Passing — Karcher Foley 12-26, 169 yards, 2 interceptions

Rushing — Lincoln Crawford 16-58, 3 touchdowns; Karcher Foley 7-45; Sean Lowe 2-5; Braxton Nelson 1-1

Receiving — Broc Frank 7-84, Braxton Nelson 5-86, Breckyn Kobbe 1-8

Tackles — Russell Goolsbey 9 (7), Trevin Morton 7 (5), Braxton Nelson 5 (4), Pratt Wambeke 5 (2), Broc Frank 4 (1), Brayden Benander 3 (2), David Stearns 3 (2), Weston Hull 3 (2), Owen Jones 2 (1), Conner Farwell 2, Breckyn Kobbe 1 (1), Forest Kleinfeldt 1, Sean Lowe 1 (1), Marco Mendoza 1 (1), Gabe McMillin 1 (1)

Tackles for loss — Trevin Morton 2.5, Pratt Wambeke 2, Marco Mendoza 1, Gabe McMillin 1, Conner Farwell 1, Weston Hull 1, Forest Kleinfeldt .5

Sacks — Weston Hull 1, Pratt Wambeke 1

Interceptions — Braxton Nelson 1, Russell Goolsbey 1

Blocked kicks — Pratt Wambeke 1