Panther boys make history with shutout of No. 3 Cody

The Powell High School boys’ soccer program made a bit of history on Saturday with a 3-0 win over No. 3 Cody. The victory, which came in an important Northwest quadrant game, marked the first time a Panther team at any level had scored a win on the soccer pitch against its cross-county rival.

“It’s a big win for the program,” said Panther soccer coach Travis Rapp. “We’d never beaten these guys at any level before. To go out and play the way we did and win in that fashion — I don’t have words right now, really.”

The Panthers left little doubt about Saturday’s outcome. Cooper Wise and Ty Oullette scored goals within the first 14 minutes of action to give the Panthers an early lead. Both goals were similar in that the scorers ran onto deep passes served from near midfield into Powell’s attacking zone. In both cases, the eventual goal scorers were able to win the ensuing footrace to the ball against Cody’s defense and then beat the goalkeeper in one-on-one situations for the score.

Ouellette was responsible for the assist that lead to Wise scoring the game’s first goal. Ethan Landers then fed Ouellette minutes later for a 2-0 lead.

The Panthers maintained their two-goal advantage through the remainder of the first half. The team also had to survive an early barrage of action as the Broncs opened the second half in attacking mode. Freshman goalkeeper Heston Swenson proved up to every challenge sent his way on the afternoon.

The Panthers tallied the only goal of the second half with roughly 15 minutes to play. Wise was the man on the spot again as the senior headed home a Cody Wichman corner kick that was bobbled by the Broncs’ keeper.

From there, the Panthers played possession soccer and kept the Broncs without a clear look at the net as the remaining time expired.

“We didn’t play timid,” said Rapp. “The boys took the initiative and stepped in front of passes and didn’t allow balls to go through.”

The Panthers’ head coach also had rave reviews for the play of Landers and Charles Wittick, who traded off the duty of marking Cody’s top player man-for-man throughout the afternoon.

“They really kept him out of the game,” said Rapp. “He was a nonfactor, and it seemed like the rest of Cody wasn’t sure what to do without him. Keithen Schwahn, Dewey Schwahn and Jakob Himmelstrup did an excellent job in the defense, along with Hunter Werbelow in a reserve spot.”

Swenson earned his first shutout in net for the Panthers, who improved to 2-0 on the artificial turf at the new Panther Stadium.

Saturday’s victory was made all the more important due to a 3-0 loss the Panthers had suffered 48 hours earlier at No. 4 Worland. The win over Cody keeps the Panthers tied with Worland in points for the quadrant’s automatic qualifying berth to the 3A state tournament.

Against Worland, Powell played the Warriors to a scoreless draw in the first half. After enduring an early onslaught of attacking chances by the Warriors, the Panthers settled into a groove and spent the last 20 minutes of the first half largely in possession of the ball and looking for shot attempts in their offensive zone.

None of those shots were able to find the back of the net, however.

The Warriors renewed their attack following intermission. Their first goal, however, came from a ball that wasn’t even kicked from the Panthers’ defensive zone.

Instead, it came off the toe of a Worland midfielder standing a few strides across the midstripe. The looping goal, estimated to have come from 60 yards away, drifted in the wind and caught a backpedalling Swenson unable to get enough of the ball to punch it out of the net.

Minutes later, Worland tacked on a more conventional goal as the Warriors used a quick counterattack to get one-on-one against Swenson and tally their second score of the game. The host school tacked on one final goal, again on a counter-strike, in the waning minutes for a 3-0 win.

The Panthers played the contest without their head coach on the sideline. Rapp was at the hospital with his wife, who was giving birth to the couple’s first son.

“After Worland scored, it sounded like we kind of put our heads down,” Rapp said. “I was happy to see that we were able to erase that disappointing loss and compete against Cody.”

The Panthers, now 4-3 on the season, take this week off. The break comes at a useful time for the squad.

“It’ll give us some time to deal with some bumps and bruises,” Rapp said. “We’ll be able to work on a few things that we’ve seen these last couple of weeks and hopefully keep playing strong.”

Powell returns to action on April 13 when the team hosts Jackson. Powell hosts Star Valley on April 14 and Worland on April 17. Those games will be the final home games for the Panthers, who will play away from home for the final month of the season.