Opening the season on the road, the young Powell Panthers fell in a difficult contest to an experienced Riverton Wolverine team on Friday night 52-14.

RIVERTON 52, POWELL 14

Starting off where the previous season ended, the Panthers (0-1) matched up with the Wolverines (1-0), with the hosts getting on the scoreboard early and often.

Riverton scored just over one minute into the game and quickly took control, making it 21-0 before the end of the first quarter.

The Wolverines added another score to start the second, before the Panthers finally got on the board.

A trick play started with a halfback toss to Rowan Diaz, who then reared back and launched it to Breckyn Kobbe who raced down the field and scored an 81-yard touchdown to make it 28-7 with 8:23 left in the second quarter.

“Spent the weekend really watching film and there’s a lot more positive plays in there where we’re doing the right thing,” coach Chase Kistler said. “But their team, I gotta give them a lot of credit. They are a veteran team. I knew they were going to be a veteran team, I just didn’t know they’re going to be that loaded. They were big and physical up front, they controlled the line of scrimmage.”

Riverton kept pressing the initiative, adding two more touchdowns and a late field goal before the break to make it 45-7 at halftime.

The Wolverines got their final score of the game on a 5 yard run with 2:26 left in the third, resulting in a running clock the remainder of the second half.

Powell got a second score with 5:12 left in the game, when Tanner Seifert found Pratt Wambeke on a 29-yard touchdown pass to make it 52-14.

“For our first game, it taught us a lot and it showed us a lot too. What we can get better at, what we need to get better at,” Kistler said. “One of the biggest things I can say is that our kids played for four quarters. In the fourth quarter they were still trying, it was never a lack of effort or trying … I told them after the game, with being as inexperienced as we are, we’ve got to get our technique to where it’s almost perfect because teams are going to be more veteran, they’re going to be bigger than us so we’ve got to rely on technique.”

Riverton finished with just over 400 yards of offense while the Panthers mustered just under 200 in the defeat.

One positive for the Panthers was the turnover margin, as each team committed one turnover in the contest.

“They had quite a bit of their offense down and then defensively they were moving up front, blitzing and our guys did a pretty good job of picking it up,” Kistler said. “We could always get better, but there were some bright spots in there.”

HOME OPENER

The Panthers return home to continue the early season schedule, welcoming in 2A Worland for the Warriors’ season opener at 6 p.m. on Friday.

“It’s always a grudge match with Worland, so we know what we’ve got to do. Keep prepping, get our guys back with their bumps and bruises and stuff,” Kistler said. “Worland is a great matchup, they always are. With that in mind, we try to keep pushing forward on what we need to get better at each week. We have such a huge list of things that we can get better at, it’s still just focusing on us.”

RIVERTON 52, POWELL 14

Total tackles then solo tackles in ()

Passing — Cody Seifert 5-11, 96 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception; Rowan Diaz 1-1, 81 yards, 1 touchdown; Karcher Foley 1-4, 3 yards

Rushing — Lincoln Crawford 12-11; Karcher Foley 1 for negative 12 yards

Receiving — Breckyn Kobbe 1-81, 1 touchdown; Pratt Wambeke, 2-33, 1 touchdown; Rowan Diaz 3-14; Lincoln Crawford 1-2

Tackles — Broc Frank 7 (3), Tyler Wenzel 6 (2), Braxton Nelson 6 (2), Kamea Wisniewski 6 (2), Karcher Foley 6 (1), Caleb Ashcraft 6 (4), Breckyn Kobbe 5 (5), Conner Farwell 4, Brayden Benander 4 (1), Gabe McMillin 3 (2), Daytona Menuey 3, Trevin Morton 3, Weston Hull 2 (1), Lincoln Crawford 2 (1), Riley Fagan 1, James Emmett 1, Pratt Wambeke 1

Tackles for loss — Broc Frank 1, Conner Farwell 1, Daytona Menuey 1

Pass break ups — Braxton Nelson 1

Fumble recoveries — Riley Fagan 1