Coming into Friday in a win or go home situation to make the playoffs, the Panther football team responded by running over the Evanston Red Devils en route to a 39-6 victory.

“I am just happy for the whole team and that we were able to get past this team and into the playoffs,” said Panther head coach Chase Kistler.

Senior night started in abnormal fashion for the Panthers (6-3 overall, 2-3 in Class 3A West), as they opened the drive at midfield and then suffered three penalties.

“I was getting a little bit nervous like, ‘Is this how we are going to go this game?’” said Kistler.

However, the Powell squad overcame the setbacks with a run-heavy drive. It was capped by the power of senior running back Reed Smith, who switched directions off a toss to the right, ran up the left sideline and stiff-armed a would-be tackler to score the first touchdown from 8 yards out.

“The ability of our guys to continue to chug along and get that first down is just unheard of,” Kistler said, adding, “We got that one in there early, and it set the tone for our defense.”

The rest of the first quarter saw the Panthers and Red Devils (5-4 overall, 1-4 3A West) go back and forth; both teams battled the yellow flags of the officials, which led to three and outs by both teams.

Heading into the second quarter, however, the Panthers took control. 

Smith got his second touchdown of the game as he took a 9-yard run off the right edge two minutes into the second quarter to extend the PHS lead to 14-0.

Aided by the ensuing kickoff going out of bounds, Evanston then marched down the field before stalling at the Panther 13-yard line. Facing a fourth and 3, and with their backs against the wall, the Red Devils decided to go for it, only to have the Panthers break up a pass attempt.

Taking over deep in their own territory with seven minutes left in the first half, the Panthers failed to pick up a first down and had to punt from their own 20. However, PHS’s Kaleb Brown was up to the challenge.

Brown was able to flip the field position with a booming punt that bounced to Evanston’s 2-yard line. The net punt of 78 yards dropped the Red Devils deep in their territory.

“That was a tremendous change in field position,” Kistler said.

The Red Devils were unable to make up any ground, and Zach Ratcliff returned their ensuing punt 20 yards to allow the Panthers to start their next drive at the Red Devil 25-yard line.

A quick five-play drive was capped by another Smith run off the right side from 12 yards out. His third touchdown of the half made the score 21-0 with just under a minute remaining in the half.

But the Panthers were not done.

The Red Devils attempted a reverse on the kickoff and wound up on their own 18-yard line. After a short run and timeout, Red Devil quarterback Jaxin Moore dropped back to pass, and while under pressure, he didn’t see linebacker Toran Graham waiting in the open. Graham intercepted the pass and returned it 22 yards for the touchdown giving the Panthers two touchdowns in 30 seconds.

Aided by a horse collar tackle, the Panthers decided to go for two with the ball at the 1 1/2-yard line  Smith punched in the two-point conversion with a run off the left side to give the Panthers a 29-0 lead heading into halftime.

Fully in control of the game the Panthers were able to play strong defense with multiple stops deep in their own territory and hold the Red Devils out of the end zone for a majority of the second half behind 17 tackles by Graham in the game.

Smith added a goal line interception to his impressive statline in the third quarter; he finished with 108 yards on the ground on just 14 carries.

The Panthers added a 29-yard field goal from Hawkin Sweeney to make the score 32-0 with 8:48 remaining in the game. Trey Stenerson then added a pick-six of his own, intercepting a Moore pass and returning it 20 yards to extend the lead to 39-0.

The Red Devils controlled the ball for the remaining seven minutes of the game, scoring a touchdown as time expired. It ended the Panthers’ bid for a third consecutive shutout at home, marking the first points they’d allowed at Panther Stadium since playing Worland in week one.

PLAYOFFS

The Panthers enter into the 3A playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the west, meaning they’ll have to be road warriors if they hope to make a push to the championship game in Laramie in two weeks.

The quest for a state championship begins Friday in Douglas (7-1 overall, 5-0 3A East). The Panthers will look to replicate the success they had early in the season, when they shutout the Bearcats at home 17-0.

In that game, the Panthers struggled to move the ball in the second half, finishing with only 15 yards on 13 carries, but were aided by a 42-yard pick six from Ratcliff and a 69-yard touchdown pass from Jhett Schwahn to Sam Whitlock. However, they came out of that game with multiple linemen banged up and weren’t at full strength for weeks.

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Friday.