After a difficult season full of injuries that resulted in a 4-6 record and a second consecutive loss to Douglas in the state quarterfinals, the Powell Panther football team is hoping to take a step forward in 2023.

“When you make the playoffs, especially coming out of the 3A West, you’re lucky to even make the playoffs,” coach Chase Kistler said. “That’s the same way this year, the 3A West conference is so stacked. You have to be on your game every week just to make the playoffs.”

Powell returns a significant amount of talent on both sides of the ball, starting with senior All-State receiver Trey Stenerson who finished second in the state for receiving yards with 813, alongside a team leading 10 touchdowns on 54 receptions.

Returning to throw him the ball will be fellow senior Jhett Schwahn, who finished with 1,612 yards on 50.4% passing, along with 14 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Other receivers returning for the Panthers at the top include junior Alex Jordan and senior Evan Whitlock who both had 145 yards receiving last season.

In the backfield the Panthers had a number of different running backs take control  due to injuries last year, something Kistler is hopeful will change this year.

“We were so banged up last year that we had so many of our younger players get so many reps throughout the season,” Kistler said. “Sophomores were playing heavy minutes, and juniors were playing heavy minutes.”

Back in the backfield will be junior Cody Seifert, who was injured in the second game of the season and did not return the rest of the campaign after having 214 rushing yards in the first two contests.

On the defensive side of the ball the Panthers return a strong core of defenders, with two of the top three defensive point getters juniors Keona Wisniewski and Trevon Abraham returning.

Those two combined for 116 tackles, along with 11 tackles for loss.

Powell will hope to generate more pressure and turnovers, having forced 17 turnovers last season and generating 17 sacks as a team.

Kistler is hopeful the team will be able to play while making less mistakes as the team grows a year older, being led by a strong core of seniors and juniors.

“This year we are a more veteran group, we are not quite making the mistakes we were in crucial moments and we just know our jobs better this year too,” Kistler said. “If we can stay healthy, we will be very competitive. That’s the name of the game is staying healthy.”

He said that the team wants to be faster paced and up tempo, but feels there are times the Panthers will slow it down and use physicality to wear teams down.

RIVERTON ROAD OPENER

The Panthers will head out on the road to take on Riverton at 6 p.m. on Friday in a non-conference opening game against the 3A East opponent.

Kistler said that early in the season the team will be figuring out where everybody lands on the depth chart, and looking at each position to find out where each player plays best.

“Riverton and the first couple of games we are going to do a lot of rotation,” Kistler said. “I am not going to establish a depth chart until after Riverton … Just so we can get an idea of who we have at every position from top to bottom.”

Kistler said that the team needs to work on finishing plays to take that next step to get past the quarterfinals, and hopefully make the team’s first state championship appearance since 2019.