Homecoming week not only had many different fun activities for students but there was also a plethora of games and meets going on. Over the span of last week alone, there were four different teams competing.

With what seemed like the whole town in attendance, the Panther football team took on the Douglas Bearcats. Douglas was just coming off of a major win over Bell Fouche winning by 51 points. 

Even though the Panthers were playing on their home field, they were not picked as the favorites to walk away with a victory. This caused the boys from Powell to play with a chip on their shoulder.

“We are going to prove [the voters] wrong and do it the right way,” senior Toran Graham said. “No one really picks us in big matchups so it’s our responsibility to prove them wrong.”

After a scoreless first quarter, the Panthers quickly made themselves present on the scoreboard At the beginning of the second quarter, senior Zack Ratcliff intercepted a pass from the Douglas quarterback and provided the Panthers with a much-needed spark. 

Soon after, senior Sam Whitlock scored the second touchdown on a pass from sophomore Jhett Schwahn. The score going into halftime was 14-0 and the Panther crowd began preparing for the next half.

 “We needed to play clean football,” Graham said. “And keep our emotions in check.”

Once halftime was over, the Panther defense really shined.

Though the offense didn’t get points on the board until the 4th quarter, their defense kept the Bearcat scoreless. 

This was the first time that Douglas had been shut out in a game since 2017. The final score was 17-0 with the Panthers coming out on top. 

The Lady Panther swim team was an unbeatable force at the annual Gene Dozah swim meet. The results left the Lady Panthers on top with a team score of 310 by the end of the day on Sep. 11. This was the first time in many years that the team had won their largest home meet of the season. There were some notable personal bests as well as qualifiers for the state meet. Sophomores Aramonie Brinkerhoff, Aubree Fisher and senior Dakota Hansen all qualified. 

Although it didn’t show on the stat sheet, the Panthers made a good final effort on the tennis court before heading off to state. Singles junior Chase Anderson placed 5th in Sheridan being bested by Thunder Bason’s Sarah Rasse. And senior Ethan Bartholomew placed 4th after losing to CJ Dominick of Cody. 

The Lander Tigers volleyball team came to town on Sept 16. They had just come off winning the gold bracket tournament in Rawlins the weekend before. The Lady Panthers knew they were going to have their hands full.

“Since we knew we were going up against a good team we decided to switch up the game plan,” sophomore Kenzie Ratcliff said, “That meant switching up our rotation to what [Coach Leslie Spencer]  thought would be the best to beat Lander.”

Lander came out firing, winning the first set 25-12 then the next two 25-19 and 25-18. The Lady Panthers left the court in total defeat.

“There’s always room for improvement,” junior Sydney Spomer said. “Lander is a tough, good team. Next game we will beat them.” 

It isn’t a very often occurrence when a Panther bus rolls into Sheridan, but on Saturday the Cross Country team made the trip over. The boys and girls both ran against not only 3A teams but also teams from all over the state. 

The top finishers for Powell were Riley Schiller with a time of 19:07.04 and Kinley Cooley with a time of 21:27.39 14. The boys placed 9th and the girls finished 8th.

“I think I did okay, I’ve been running at a consistent pace,” senior Riley Schiller said. “I think I can improve on pushing myself more throughout the race.

As the busy week came to a close, Panther sports teams experienced the usual ups and downs of the athletic world. Overall, PHS athletics is following in suit with the 2020-21 season.