The Powell Panther football team overcame a slow start in a must win game, as Keona Wisniewski’s four touchdowns helped the Panthers push past the Jackson Broncs into the postseason with a 34-14 win in the final home game of the season on Friday.

POWELL 34, JACKSON 14

With a playoff berth on the line, the Panthers (5-3 overall, 2-2 3A West) needed a strong start against the Broncs (3-5 overall, 1-3 3A West).

That strong start did not happen for the hosts.

Wisniewski’s pass was intercepted on the first play of the game, giving Jackson the ball at the Panther 42-yard line.

Powell forced three straight incompletions and got the ball back, before another disaster struck midway through the quarter.

A bad snap on a punt went over Alex Jordan’s head, resulting in him covering it up at the Powell 15-yard line to give the Broncs good field position.

Jackson took advantage of the short field, scoring on an 11-yard pass on fourth and 5 to give the visitors a 7-0 lead.

Penalties reared its ugly head early and often for the Panthers once again, with the Panthers accounting for 13 penalties for 131 yards.

After another punt, the Panthers appeared to get on the board when Jordan Loera intercepted a tipped pass near midfield, returning it all the way to the end zone with 2:30 left in the first.

Unfortunately for Powell, a blindside block called the play back to the Bronc 43-yard line.

On offense, Loera caught two key conversions to set up a 16-yard touchdown pass to Alex Jordan with 10:12 left in the second quarter.

“Once we made a couple plays here and there it gave us some breathing room and we at least tied it up,” coach Chase Kistler said. “From the start it was us kind of hurting ourselves. Penalty yards killed us again. Offensively, that’s our Achilles’ heel.”

Jackson’s ensuing drive was stopped on fourth down by the Panthers, giving Powell the ball back with 6:46 left.

A more than five minute drive was capped off by a 25-yard run by Cody Seifert to give Powell a 14-7 lead with 1:10 left in the half.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Broncs’ kick returner weaved his way through the Panthers, and appeared to be heading for the end zone before kicker Ivy Agee dove and stopped him at the Panther 29-yard line to save a touchdown.

“I think what really woke us up is when Ivy hit that person on the sideline,” Kistler said. “Everyone else was celebrating, I was not, I was just waiting for her to get back up. She was pumped when she got up.”

The Panthers held off any progress by the Broncs, and went into halftime with a 14-7 lead.

Jackson had the first drive, and was moving the ball down the field to start the third quarter.

Powell’s defense stood tall on fourth down, when Seifert forced a fumble.

Wisniewski picked it up and raced 74 yards up the sideline for a touchdown to extend the lead to 21-7.

“They didn’t really attempt to run the ball until the third quarter, it just turned into let’s just keep putting pressure in his face,” Kistler said. “It was only a matter of time, the quarterback kept getting hit like he did. He’s gonna make bad decisions and we just capitalized on those bad decisions.”

Jackson got aggressive, going for it on fourth down in its own territory early in the third quarter.

The Panther defense eventually stopped the Broncs on fourth down at the Panther 25-yard line, but Powell returned the favor on its next drive at the Jackson 38-yard line.

The Panthers got the ball back but eventually turned it over at the Jackson 32-yard line early in the fourth quarter.

On the next play from scrimmage after turning the ball over on downs, Wisniewski stepped in front of a throw and took it the distance to make it 28-7 with 8:13 left in the game.

Another forced turnover on downs at the Jackson 39-yard line gave the Panthers the ball, and the hosts took their time, moving the ball deep into Jackson territory with under four minutes left.

The Panther drive stopped on Wisniewski’s second interception at the Bronc 5-yard line with 3:48 left in the game.

Jackson took advantage, scoring on a 70-yard touchdown pass behind the Panther defense to make it 28-14 with 2:24 left.

Trevon Abraham recovered the ensuing onside kick, but the Panthers were not done scoring.

Wisniewski eventually capped off the evening with a 1-yard touchdown run with eight seconds left, making it 34-14 after the extra point was blocked.

“I’m just glad that the seniors got a win on their senior night and we punched our ticket to the playoffs,” Kistler said. “We’ve still got to keep getting better though.”

Wisniewski finished 14-29 with 164 yards through the air along with 11 rushes for 36 yards on the ground.

Abraham led on the ground with 17 carries for 55 yards, just ahead of Seifert who had seven carries for 50 yards.

Jordan led with three receptions for 44 yards just ahead of Broc Frank who had three receptions for 43 yards.

McKale Foley led the Panthers with six tackles, four of them solo.

Powell held the Broncs to negative 11 yards rushing on 12 attempts.

FINAL REGULAR SEASON GAMES

The postseason scenarios are simple for the 3A West, with all four teams already in the playoffs and only two playing for seeding this week.

Powell and its opponent, the Evanston Red Devils (3-5 overall, 2-2 3A West), will be playing for the No. 3 and 4 seed heading into the playoffs at 6 p.m. on Friday, while Star Valley (8-0 overall, 4-0 3A West) and Cody (6-1 overall, 3-1 3A West) have locked up the top two spots.

“They’re just like a mirror image,” Kistler said of Evanston. “They run the ball, veteran line up front, and a lot of seniors.”

Heading into the postseason the Panthers will be playing either Douglas (5-2 overall, 4-0 3A East), Riverton (6-2 overall, 3-1 3A East) or Torrington (5-3 overall, 3-1 3A East) depending on the final weekend results.

Those three teams are guaranteed to be one of the top three seeds, while Lander (3-4 overall, 1-3 3A East) and Buffalo (3-4 overall, 1-3 3A East) will battle it out for the final seed.

Douglas currently holds the lead, and will be the top seed if the Bearcats beat Torrington and then Riverton will get the No. 2 seed after a head-to-head win over Torrington.

If Torrington defeats Douglas then it will come down to a three-way tie for the East crown and tiebreakers will determine the seeding for all three teams.

POWELL 34, JACKSON 14

Total tackles then solo tackles in ()

Passing — Keona Wisniewski 14-29, 164 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions

Rushing — Trevon Abraham 17-55; Cody Seifert 7-50, 1 touchdown; Keona Wisniewski 11-36, 1 touchdown; McKale Foley 2-7, Tyler Wenzel 1-3, Jordan Loera 1 for negative 1 yard; Alex Jordan 1 for negative 35 yards

Receiving — Alex Jordan 3-44, 1 touchdown; Broc Frank 3-43; Evan Whitlock 1-27; Jordan Loera 3-21; McKale Foley 2-15; Trevon Abraham 2-14

Tackles — McKale Foley 6 (4), Keona Wisniewski 5 (4), Jordan Loera 5 (2), Dusty Carter 5 (2), Evan Whitlock 5 (5), Trevon Abraham 4 (2), Brady Harvey 3, Doug Bettger 1 (1), Ivy Agee 1 (1), Cody Seifert 1 (1), Karcher Foley 1 (1), Breckyn Kobbe 1 (1), Gabe McMillan 1 (1)

Tackles for loss — Dusty Carter 2, Keona Wisniewski 1, McKale Foley 1, Evan Whitlock 1, Cody Seifert 1, Gabe McMillan 1

Sack — Dusty Carter 2, Keona Wisniewski 1, McKale Foley 1, Cody Seifert 1, Gabe McMillan 1

Pass breakups — Jordan Loera 3, Evan Whitlock 2, Trevon Abraham 1, McKale Foley 1, Alex Jordan 1, Nathan Preator 1

Forced fumbles — Cody Seifert 1

Fumble recoveries — Keona Wisniewski 1, 1 touchdown

Interceptions — Keona Wisniewski 1, 1 touchdown; Jordan Loera 1