Terrible weather conditions played a factor in the final game of the regular season, as the Powell High School football team’s playoff chances were dashed in a 24-3 loss to the Evanston Red Devils on Friday night.

EVANSTON 24, POWELL 3

In a game that decided a playoff position, the Panthers (3-6 overall, 0-5 3A West) hosted the Red Devils (6-3 overall, 2-3 3A West) in windy conditions from the start.

After the Red Devil defense stopped the Panthers on three straight plays, Powell was forced to punt.

The Red Devils broke through and blocked the kick, and it rolled out of the end zone for a safety to give the visitors a 2-0 lead.

Powell’s kickoff from its own 20 rolled out-of-bounds, giving the Red Devils good field position at the positive 45-yard line.

Evanston took advantage of the field position, and raced to the end zone on the first play to make the lead 9-0 early.

The Panthers settled in and grinded out a long drive, which resulted in a short field goal from Gianeye D’Alessandro to make it 9-3 with 2:29 left in the first quarter.

“I thought we actually did kind of bounce back offensively, we went all the way down the field and we had to settle for a field goal,” coach Chase Kistler said. “The hardest part was the limited amount of touches with the ball. If you were going into the wind, it was like both teams were one dimensional, and you had to be even more one dimensional with your special teams, it was tough.”

A bad punt from the visitors late on in the half gave Powell the ball at the positive 36-yard line, with a chance to score with 4:44 left.

Evanston got a sack, but an unsportsmanlike conduct moved Powell 15 yards to preserve the drive.

Eventually the Panthers were forced into a field goal attempt with 35 seconds left, but that was blocked and the game remained 9-3 going into the half.

Powell’s defense slowed down the Red Devils in the third, but the wind at the back of the visitors again played a factor, as they punted all the way down to the 1-yard line.

Needing a spark, the Panthers opted for a fake punt from their own 8-yard, as Breckyn Kobbe raced to the sideline to save the drive with 3:20 left in the frame.

Powell held onto the ball and nearly escaped having to punt into the wind, but couldn’t hold on long enough and had to give the ball back with 30 seconds left in the third.

That punt hung in the air where it was caught in the wind until it was in the backfield, picked up by a Red Devil who raced into the end zone to make it 16-3.

“That punt was in the air for 20 yards backwards, it was just a backbreaker,” Kistler said. “We should have just gone for it, and we were actually going to go for it. Then we got the foul for 5 yards and it took us back. So then I was like ‘let’s just punt it. There’s no way we can throw for 8 (yards).’ We don’t have a run play that’s great for 8, but hindsight, we should have just tried to run the ball and give them the ball at the 20 … We were just trying to get through that, grind it out on the ground in the third and then we could maybe open up (in the fourth).”

Evanston stopped a Panther drive with 9:53 left in the fourth quarter, and eventually scored on a touchdown run with 4:34 left as rain joined the wind late in the contest and a two-point conversion made the final score 24-3.

Lincoln Crawford led the Panthers on the ground with 20 carries for 77 yards, and had one long reception for 25 yards to lead Powell in receiving.

“I thought our guys did a great job of controlling, not turning it over on the ground even with these elements. I was afraid to even run toss because it was like the wind was going to take it,” Kistler said.

Broc Frank led the Panthers with nine tackles, eight of them solo.

He and Trevin Morton each had two tackles for loss.

SEASON WRAPS UP

Evanston’s win advanced the Red Devils to the playoffs, and ended the Panthers season early for the second year in a row.

The Panthers showed significant growth throughout the season, improving to three wins after going winless a year ago.

“Our younger guys got to play a lot of football this year. Last year, even our younger guys had a lot of games canceled,” Kistler said. “We’ve got a really talented eighth grade group coming in and hopefully we can keep them at the freshman and maybe at the JV/Froshmore level so they can have another year of growth. The guys we’ve got coming back I’m really impressed with. We’ve got a lot of guys coming back, and they had really good kids in front of them that kind of showed them the way and how things are done.”

Powell does lose seniors in important positions, including skill positions as well as some linemen.

“We lost some really good kids, some really talented kids, tough kids,” Kistler said. “These kids did it right, this senior group after going 0-9 last year they could have easily walked … They hung in there. They did the right thing in the offseason, they came back, we’re a much improved team from last year. I would just say the injury bug really hurt us even worse in critical positions.”