Photo Courtesy of Greg Wise

The Panther football team storms out of the tunnel, prepared to take down the Worland Warriors for the first time on the newly laid turf.

The early stages of school brought countless victories for all PHS Athletics. From the field to the pool, the Panthers dominated.

The PHS football team outscored their first two opponents 93-24, including a 51-0 shutout against the Worland Warriors for their first game on the new home turf on Sep. 1.To kickoff their regular season, the Panthers blew out Riverton 42-24 on Aug. 25.

“So far we have played very well in the first two games,” Head Coach Mr. Chase Kistler said. “We have had mistakes [but] that is to be expected early in the season.”

The Panthers have played flawlessly fresh in the season. They hope to continue that trend as they welcome the Douglas Bearcats to Panther stadium on Sep. 15.

“The guys have been having a ton of fun in these games,” senior quarterback Jhett Schwahn said. “They say winning fixes everything, and it’s true, so we are just looking to get better each week and go from there.”

Moving on to the court, the PHS volleyball team went 6-2 overall over the past two weeks. The Lady Panthers would go 4-1 at the Border Wars tournament from Sep. 1 through the 2. 

“We know that we have a target on our backs, and that we’re the team to beat this year,” junior Alexa Richardson said. “We bring the intensity everyday at practice and work very hard to keep improving as the season goes along.”

The volleyball team will enter a stretch of tough competition. Sep. 21 they welcome a 9-0 Cody Broncs team who haven’t allowed a single point all season.

The girls swim and dive team continues to find success in the pool. A total of 12 athletes achieved 26 state qualifying marks in the first meet at Lander on Aug. 26. A little under a week later, the team would go to the Cody Terry Bartlett Quad Meet and place first with a total score of 335.

“We are going to keep winning swim meets,” sophomore Kaitlin Diver said. “I think everybody will just keep improving.”   

The girls have had a similar season from last year. They remain undefeated and stand at 3-0.

Progressing to the PHS Cross Country teams, the girls would finish third at the Billings Invitational on Aug. 29 and the boys would have solid individual performances from Liam Taylor and Korbyn Warren.

“Our runners are working hard in practice,” Head Coach Mrs. Ashley Hildebrand said. “We look for everyone on the team to continue to get stronger as our season progresses.” 

On a different course, the PHS Golf team has shown drastic improvement. Over the course of the season, everyone’s scores have done nothing but skyrocket.

“I think some of the freshmen are a little nervous for state,” sophomore Coy Erickson said. “They know what’s expected of them though and they’ll meet those expectations.” 

The state golf tournament will take place at Worland on Sep. 15 and 16.

Taking things to the tennis court now, the team saw up and down results in the first few tournaments. The boys top 2 singles players, senior Cade Queen and sophomore Nathan Preator, have only lost one match each so far. The girls season started on a rough patch, but they continue to work hard and keep improving.

“I think we’ve just had a great team this year,” sophomore Nathan Preator said. “It has been a fun season.”

The tennis team heads to regionals on Sep. 14 in Gillette. 6 days later on Sep. 20, they will make the same bus trip for the state tournament.