One of the toughest dual weekends of the season saw the Powell Panthers wrestle seven difficult teams Friday and Saturday at the Pat Weede Memorial in Gillette, led by Stetson Davis and Dillon Melton who went 7-0 alongside Jimmy Dees who went 6-1 and Gabriel Whiting who went 5-2.

STAR VALLEY 57, POWELL 24

A familiar face greeted the Panthers in their first dual of the weekend, taking on Star Valley who shifted up to 4A this season after winning the past seven 3A state titles.

The Braves kicked off the match with a major decision at 106 pounds with Levi Byrd defeating Gabriel Whiting 14-1. 

Star Valley added to the lead early and often, earning five straight pins in addition to a forfeit to create a commanding lead.

Powell earned its points late, earning two forfeit victories at 182 and 195 pounds, before Davis and Doug Bettger earned pins at 220 and 285 pounds.

NATRONA COUNTY 42, POWELL 33

After the first loss of the weekend the Panthers took on another 4A opponent in Natrona County, with Whiting getting the early victory at 106 pounds with a 4-0 decision.

The two teams exchanged wins, with the Panthers losing at 113 pounds before Weston Thomas got the pin at 120 pounds.

Mitchel Wainscott at 138 pounds and Andrew Valdez earned two pins at 138 pounds and 145 pounds to give Powell the narrow 21-18 lead.

Two pins with a forfeit in between made it a 36-21 contest, with Powell needing an answer late in the match.

Melton got a pin at 182 pounds, but a loss via pin at 195 pounds for Dees gave NC a big enough lead to earn the victory.

“Our upperweights wrestled well all weekend,” coach Nick Fulton said. “Dillon had a nice weekend, kind of a breakout weekend for him.”

Davis won via decision at 220 pounds while Bettger won by decision at 285 pounds.

SIDNEY (MONTANA) 45, POWELL 30

Matches shifted to heavyweights battling early, and Powell took advantage against Sidney, Montana, taking an 18-0 lead early through pins and forfeits.

Sidney earned a pin at 106, while Kaiden Apodaca extended the lead out to 24-6 at 113 pounds.

A victory at 120 pounds before a double forfeit at 126 pounds made it a 24-12 matchup heading into the middle weights.

Sidney scored four straight matches by pin to take a 36-24 lead, and a forfeit at 160 pounds coupled with a decision at 170 gave Sidney the victory.

Melton added a pin at 182 pounds to make it a 45-30 final scoreline.

THUNDER BASIN 36, POWELL 30

Swapping back to Wyoming competition Powell took on 4A Thunder Basin in a tight battle in the fourth match of the weekend.

Powell opened up with three straight pins before a double forfeit at 126 pounds to make it 18-0 early.

A long string of victories put Thunder Basin in control, taking a 30-18 lead heading into the final four weights.

“I was happy with the guys we took,” Fulton said. “Some of our middleweight guys took some growing pains, but it’s all about learning and getting better at this time of year.”

Victories by Melton, Dees and Davis tied the match at 30, but a pin at 285 pounds gave Thunder Basin the narrow victory 36-30.

SHERIDAN 45, POWELL 33

Heading into the extra rounds Powell again matched up against a 4A school, taking on Sheridan.

Davis gave Powell the 6-0 lead, but a major decision at 285 made it a 6-4 score circling back to the lightweights.

Whiting, Apodaca and Thomas all earned victories, giving Powell a 21-4 lead.

A forfeit at 126 followed by four straight victories gave Sheridan the lead 33-21. Another forfeit at 160 and a victory at 170 gave Sheridan enough to take the victory.

Melton and Dees earned pins to cut the final score down to 45-33.

MOORCROFT 45, POWELL 28

Despite dropping down to battle with 2A competition, the Panthers came up against Moorcroft which has won eight of the last 10 state titles at that level.

Powell held a small advantage 10-6 before the forfeit at 126 pounds started a string of wins for Moorcroft to build a commanding lead 42-10.

Three straight wins by Melton, Dees and Davis made it 42-28, before a victory in overtime gave Moorcroft the 45-28 win.

POWELL 48, DOUGLAS 27

After battling different levels of competition all weekend, the Panthers came up against their first 3A opponent last with a bout against the Douglas Bearcats.

Douglas started out strong early, and held a 21-6 lead before the Panthers came storming back.

Valdez got things started with a pin at 145 followed by a pin by Jack Van Norman at 152 pounds to make it 21-18.

A double forfeit at 160 followed by a pin by Douglas at 170 made it 27-18.

Five straight victories earned Powell 30 points, and earned the Panthers a 48-27 dual win to cap off the weekend.

“That is as tough a dual tournament as we will see,” Fulton said. “We were open in two weights and spotted teams 12 points in every dual.”

MORE COMPETITION

Powell split up teams this weekend, and saw strong performances out of the girls at the Pat Weede Memorial girls tournament on Friday and Saturday.

Yessenia Teague finished second at 125 pounds while Allison LeBlanc finished third at 120 pounds for the weekend.

Junior varsity went to compete at the Battle in the Big Horns in Worland, where Wyatt Nicholson finished in the best of the best and went 6-0 in duals over the weekend.

WINTER BREAK

Heading into the winter break Fulton is hopeful they have seen enough from most wrestlers to start fine tuning individually heading into a grueling January schedule.

He said that the open weights for the Panthers should shake themselves out after the break, and is hopeful the Panthers will make a jump heading into January.

“We can spend some time fixing some individual things,” Fulton said. “We are going into the holiday relatively healthy. Give them a little time off then get right back at it.”