After graduating nearly its entire offensive and defensive production from a year ago and having a limited number of seniors this season, the Powell Panther football team is expected to see some growing pains early in the year that kicks off on Friday in Riverton.

The lone returning starter for the Panthers is senior kicker Ivy Agee, who returns to the field this year after going 2-4 on field goals and 27-30 on extra points last year.

“They are very young,” coach Chase Kistler said. “If you really think about it, starter wise, we don’t have one returning starter other than Ivy — but they’re doing a great job.”

Two players with returning experience for the Panthers are seniors Rowan Diaz and Tyler Wenzel, who got time on the defensive side of the ball as a defensive end and linebacker, respectively.

With those being the primary returning defensive cogs for the Panthers, Kistler said he anticipates it will take time with a team primarily made up of freshmen and sophomores along with a committed group of juniors.

“What I’m expecting from these guys is that we’ve got to get better every single day,” Kistler said. “We don’t have a whole lot put in in terms of offensive playbook and we don’t have a whole lot put in, in terms of defensive playbook, because we’re still learning techniques and schemes and stuff like that. We’ve (coaches) got to be patient and focus on the little things, getting better at those little things week in and week out.”

Kistler said he was impressed with some things the Panthers did in a live practice on Friday night, and feels like they have some options in the backfield this season.

One of those top options at running back is junior Lincoln Crawford, who returns as the Panther with the most yards from a year ago with 94 total offensive yards, 73 of those rushing along with two touchdowns.

“Lincoln, I’m really impressed with how he’s running the ball,” Kistler said. 

He added that he was impressed with the fullbacks for the Panthers, with Diaz, Wenzel and sophomore Karcher Foley getting carries at times. Kistler said they are all learning the running back positions to help with depth.

At the other skill positions the Panthers will look to a set of juniors in Broc Frank and Breckyn Kobbe at wide receiver and Pratt Wambeke at tight end as key pieces of the offense.

“We’ve got the pieces, we’ve just got to get better,” Kistler said.

The fight for the quarterback position is between junior Tanner Seifert and Foley, with Kistler saying they’ll likely rotate between the two in order to get reps early in the year.

“I would like to split them just because it gives us two options at quarterback,” Kistler said. “Just in case one gets hurt and one goes down, I know that another quarterback has gotten reps in the season … instead of putting a quarterback in a conference game that’s never even gotten any reps.”

He said Foley features more as a scrambling quarterback while Seifert has put in a lot of time to his passing and improved his accuracy over the past year.

“It’s definitely a good combo to have,” Kistler said.

He said he is hopeful that work over the summer will shine through for the Panthers along their offensive line, with the youngest Panthers bringing size to the team despite their inexperience.

“They’re big boys, they did great work this summer,” Kistler said. “We had amazing commitment to the weight room, especially with our guys up front. Their size is big, but they are definitely young. It’s not even the strength right now, we’ve got to build their confidence up.”

Starting the year the Panthers head to Riverton, where they last finished with a disappointing 36-35 double overtime loss.

“They’re one of the top teams, they knocked us out of the playoffs last year,” Kistler said. “I think there’s a little bit of a bitter taste in our mouth from that. But it’s not even about that. It’s about us getting better and getting a lot of reps from a lot of people and just seeing what we have, and the most important thing is coming out healthy that first week.”

That game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. kickoff on Friday. The Panthers’ home opener will be against 2A Worland at 6 p.m. next Friday, Sept. 5.