Are you ready for some football? Friday Night Lights begin at Panther Stadium

Posted 8/22/17

“It’s always good to have them at home,” PHS head coach Chanler Buck said of the non-conference rivalry game against the Bearcats. “It’s always exciting playing that Douglas team.”

The Panthers look to rebound from a 41-6 drubbing at …

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Are you ready for some football? Friday Night Lights begin at Panther Stadium

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Panther gridders open season Friday against Douglas

On Friday night at 6 p.m., the Powell High School football team will host the first game of the season against the Douglas Bearcats.

“It’s always good to have them at home,” PHS head coach Chanler Buck said of the non-conference rivalry game against the Bearcats. “It’s always exciting playing that Douglas team.”

The Panthers look to rebound from a 41-6 drubbing at the hands of Douglas to open last season.

“They were the more physical team, they were the more disciplined team,” Buck said. “They were out to play and we certainly weren’t prepared for that that early in the year. We need to change that.”

The Panther football team shook off that early loss, improving throughout the season to come back to play for the state championship title.

“Coming off a pretty exciting year for us last year, the program gained a lot of popularity among the school,” said Buck. “We got a lot of kids out for football this year.”

The football program started with 74 athletes, and after a week and half of practice, the team has about 65 players.

“Really pleased to see that,” Buck said. “With numbers, as far as camp has gone, we’ve had a couple extra days, and honestly I thought we would be a little further along than we are right now as far as exertion and execution from practice. But that’s not the kids’ fault, that’s strictly because of numbers, just getting kids through drills and making sure kids are on the same page.”

“We got a lot of newcomers to the program, kids that decided to come out who took a year off or just young kids in general,” Buck said. “So that’s OK, that’s expected.”

Buck added that the coaching staff has seen improvement with each practice. On Thursday, Powell’s upperclassmen had an intrasquad scrimmage.

“What we saw tonight [Thursday] is about what we intended to see, you don’t plan to execute offensively — it’s very difficult when you put a big spread of ability and age and experience, especially up front,” Buck said. “It’s very difficult to execute and run the ball.”

Of the scrimmage, Buck said the coaching staff looked at individual performances and how far the players have come, as well as how they executed the plays.

He said the team will “try to put the best 11 together going into next week and preparing for Douglas.”

For the season ahead, Buck said it is hard to grade where Powell stands right now.

“There’s probably a lot of molding taking place right now,” Buck said of the teams around the state.

Powell will have four home games this season, the second against Worland on Friday, Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. The third will be against Evanston on Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. and the fourth and final home game of the regular season will be against Green River on Oct. 6 at 7 p.m.

“We have a great season this year,” Buck said of the schedule.

The first playoff game is set for Oct. 27 with when and where to be determined from conference/season records. The state championship for the 3A classification is Nov. 10 at 3 p.m. in Laramie.

Coach Buck also extended a thank you to the officials who came out to ref the scrimmage game on Thursday night.

“We always appreciate the officials coming out, they’ve always done a great job in the past and we certainly appreciate them [coming out] tonight,“ said Buck.

Friday, Aug. 25

Home vs. Douglas, 6 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 1

Home vs. Worland, 7 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 8

At Jackson, 6 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 15

At Buffalo, 7 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 22

Home vs. Evanston, 7 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 6

Home vs. Green River, 7 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 13

At Star Valley, 4 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 20

At Cody, 7 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 27

Playoff, TBD

Friday, Nov. 3

Playoff, TBD

Friday, Nov. 10

State Championship in Laramie, 3 p.m.

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