The Powell High School boys soccer team earned a program-best fourth-place finish in the Class 3A state tournament a season ago.

Head coach Travis Rapp was happy with the positive finish, but is even more elated that his players weren’t.

“They were disappointed in our fourth-place finish, which was the best the school has ever done and the boys were disappointed ... so that says something about hunger in the program,” Rapp said.

The Panthers, who finished 7-8 overall and 3-1 in Class 3A Northwest play in 2014, are looking to push the envelope in Rapp’s fifth season, and may need some of that hunger to carry a team that was left with holes to plug.

“We lost a little bit more than we thought we were going to, had a couple kids not come back that we expected to come back,” Rapp said. “... so we have some shoes to fill.”

Rapp’s team lost its best defender from last spring, All-Conference and All-State defender Noah Katz, as well as two-time All-State forward and scoring threat Tyler Ouellette. The Panthers return just one of its top three scorers this season — Ouellette’s younger brother and junior Trey Ouellette — leaving PHS with offensive question marks.

One player who could supplement the Panther offense is senior striker Heston Swenson. The forward was having what Rapp called a “phenomenal season” in 2014 before being dismissed for team rule violations. Swenson is back this spring looking to make up for lost time.

“It didn’t go how it should’ve gone,” Swenson said of his shortened campaign. “This year, going to stay out of trouble and things will be better.”

Rapp said that while his team is young, they still bring a lot of experience to his program thanks to years spent with the Heart Mountain United club soccer program.

“Even though we’re young and have some new faces, we’re more experienced than we have been in the past at both levels,” the coach said, adding that the experience should also make for good inner-team competition. “One of our philosophies is that we’re a competitive program, so your spot is open always. You have to hold onto your spot always. Never has my opening day roster looked like my last-day roster.”

Swenson echoed his coach’s comments, saying that the entire program is filled with talent that will compete for starting spots all season.

“Our offense is going to be pretty strong. We have a good five or six people up front that are pretty good on the ball and can all score,” Swenson added. “We’ve got a bunch of younger guys, and we have a few that could step up and probably be starting varsity by the end of the season.”

Whoever finds starting roles for PHS this season will likely be the players most comfortable in Rapp’s 1-5-3 formation. Rapp said the new offense hasn’t entirely strayed away from what his players are used to, but said the formation does present enough changes to both challenge his team and their opponents.

“We’re actually doing something a little new this year, not completely new but it just looks a little different so the guys are learning something new again,” Rapp said. “We’ve ran pretty much the same formation for the last four years. What we’re doing, same philosophies: getting the ball wide, using all the space you can ... but maybe different people doing it in different spaces.”

Rapp expects Jackson Hole (2014 state champion) to be another strong presence in the class this season, and is anticipating strong challenges from fellow Northwest foes Cody and Worland.

The coach also expects the hunger that generated from his team’s fourth-place finish, as well as a strong work ethic to keep his team competitive throughout the year.

“I think we’ve got some great leadership on the team. We have some guys last year that didn’t succeed as much as they thought they should’ve, and that always brings you back hungry,” Rapp said. “I think one big positive we have is a work ethic and a want to take that next step to where there’s never any question of what Powell’s doing.”

And as far as weaknesses go, Rapp will leave that challenge up to his adversaries.

“I guess I’ll let the other coaches try to figure that one out.”