Wolves take tough loss

The always tough, second-ranked Powell Panthers traveled to Green River for a senior night homecoming game Friday and with a big fourth quarter, were able to pull away from the Wolves.

The Wolves played the Panthers tough for most of the night as Powell held a slim one-point lead at the half and were up by only 28-20 to end the third quarter, but wore the Wolves down in the forth to prevail 44-20.

The Wolves got the ball to start the game and were three plays and out. Despite a bad snap, punter Seth White got off a decent punt to turn the ball over to Powell. Powell ripped off two big gains on their first two plays from scrimmage, but on third down senior Kolby Ivie came up with a big defensive play to strip the ball away from Powell and the Wolves recovered the fumble. Unfortunately just two plays later the Wolves had a low snap recovered by Powell for a touchdown and a quick 7-0 lead.

The Wolves on their next possession on third down had a huge gain on a pass from senior Jachob Fuss to fellow senior Trevor Brangham to the 1-yard line and on the next play sophomore Bracken Miller, filling in for injured James King, took the ball in and helped tie the game.

Powell wasted no time however, as they mounted an eight-play drive culminating on a 5-yard quarterback run to go up 14-7.

The Wolves then mounted a big drive of their own running 11 plays, including several pass completions by Fuss and a nifty pitch and catch in which Fuss ended up receiving a pass. With Bracken Miller having three good runs on the drive before Fuss connected with junior Dylan Taylor for a touchdown pass to tie the game 14-14 on the first play of the second quarter.

Powell started their next drive with a heavy dose of runs by their top running back Kaddan Abraham with Alex Atkinson, Gabe Burdette and J.D. Renfro among others providing the defensive stops. A big hit by Renfro caused a fumble which was picked out of the air by Atkinson to turn the ball back to the Wolves.

Fuss eventually found Seth White on a first down completion, but a face mask penalty against the Wolves set them back 15 yards and after an incomplete pass, White had to punt.

Powell then ran a couple plays before a bad snap let Green River's defense came up with a big turnover as a rushed pass was intercepted by Dylan Taylor. Unfortunately the Wolves could not capitalize on the turnover and were three plays and out before punting the ball back to Powell. After two big defensive stops by Salvidar and Renfro, Powell completed a big 54-yard pass completion for a touchdown to take a 21-14 lead.

Quarterback Fuss completed passes to Taylor, Ivie and White in an eight-play drive that ended in a fake field goal try. The attempt was stopped and the ball went back to the Panthers. The Wolves, playing excellent defense, recovered another Powell bad snap on Powell's third play of their series and the Wolves had the ball right back.

After a nice fake on the sixth offensive play of the series, Fuss found White for the score, but the extra point kick was missed and the Wolves had closed the gap to 21-20 just before half time.

Powell received the kickoff with Green River's Nate Mitchell on the stop. Powell ran the ball twice with Renfro and Jacob Schiebe providing defense. On third down, they tried a pass that was broken up by White and Powell punted.

The two teams exchanged the ball several times with the defenses dominating, with the exception of a 46-yard run for a touchdown by Powell's Abraham. The third quarter ended with the score 28-20 and it was still anybody's game. A couple plays into the fourth quarter, Powell kicked a 31-yard field goal to move the score to 31-20.

On their first possession in the forth quarter, the Wolves took 10 seconds to run three incomplete passes and had to punt to Powell, who ran the ball 10 straight plays including three runs by their big running back Toran Graham, with Abraham again taking the ball in with the extra point no good the score was 37-20.

The Powell's offense and defense seemed to be wearing down the Wolves, who ran five plays before having to punt. The Panthers were successful on one more series as Abraham scored again on a 34 yard run to seal the victory for Powell 44-20.

It does not get any easier for the Wolves, now 2-4, as they will be on the road this week to take on the 5-1 Cody.