Senior night and a strong crowd helped propel the Powell Panther wrestling team to a dominant 57-19 victory over the visiting Lander Tigers on Friday night.

POWELL 57, LANDER 19

Kicking off the night the Panther girls took to the mat for a pair of bouts, with Allison LeBlanc at 115 pounds getting a pin in the second period and Yessenia Teague at 125 pounds falling in a tight match via pin in the second period.

“Yessenia lost a tough one and Allison wrestled really well,” coach Nick Fulton said.

For the boys, Gabe Whiting made his return to the mat at 106 pounds after sustaining an injury the weekend prior, getting a pin in the first period to give Powell a 6-0 lead.

Tyler Wenzel got a pin in 2:48 at 113 pounds and Weston Thomas got a pin in 18 seconds at 120 pounds to quickly make it 18-0 in favor of the Panthers.

“Three quick pins got the dual started and that was fun,” Fulton said. “It got us on a roll a little bit having those lighter-weight guys getting big wins for us.”

A tight battle at 126 pounds had Vinny Timmons ahead 3-2 after the first period, but he was unable to escape in the second and fell to a pin at the 2:53 mark to make the score 18-6.

Patrick Haney and Drew Valdez got pins in just over a minute at 132 and 138 pounds to help the Panthers push the lead further out to 30-6.

A tough battle at 145 pounds had Jeremy Harms battling with Charles Snyder, with Snyder getting the better of Harms in the second period with a pin at the 2:56 mark.

Jack Van Norman responded with a pin in 33 seconds at 152 pounds, and Lannon Brazelton earned points at 160 after Lander was open to make it 42-12.

Slotting in at 170 pounds, Dusty Carter put up a battle against Gabe Harris, but after a tied first round Carter fell behind Harris after a takedown in the final two rounds to lose by a 6-2 decision.

“Dusty wrestled great,” Fulton said. “He was giving Harris fits and is going to be a great one in there at 170 for us.”

Denton Wainscott and Tres Pickerd had a bout that came down to the end at 182 pounds, with Wainscott cutting Pickerd loose multiple times and earning a late takedown to take an 8-7 decision and give Powell a 45-15 lead.

Jimmy Dees got a victory by forfeit at 195 pounds and Stetson Davis continued his string of victories at 220 pounds with a pin inside a minute.

The final bout of the night was a test at 285 pounds for Doug Bettger, matching up with the returning state runner-up in 3A, Cody Cunningham.

Cunningham earned a takedown in the first period and extended the lead out further in the second through a takedown and a stalling call on Bettger to take a 5-0 lead into the third period.

“Doug was frustrating him but that’s a kid that we can wrestle with,” Fulton said.

Cunningham finished the bout with a 9-0 major decision to make the final dual score 57-19.

“It was a nice crowd with great energy coming off two basketball wins that kept the Powell faithful invigorated,” Fulton said.

GREYBULL INVITE AND DUAL

On Saturday the Panthers took a mix of varsity and junior varsity wrestlers to the Greybull Memorial Invite to compete after the dual on Friday.

Placers for Powell included Chevy Hill finishing second at 113 pounds; Haney third at 132 pounds; Jonathan Harms fourth at 220 pounds; Chase Visocky fifth at 138 pounds; Jacob Eaton fifth at 220 pounds and Zain Younas fifth at 285 pounds.

“It was a good showing for our young guys in a varsity tournament like that,” Fulton said. “It’s important to get them mat time and that next level of competition. That’s our future — quite a few of them will be going to regionals and making some noise there too.”

Powell will also take a mixed lineup over to Greybull for a dual on Tuesday, with a few varsity wrestlers expected to be in the lineup to head over to battle for the Panthers.

CODY DUAL

The final regular season event for the Panthers will be on Thursday in Cody, taking on their rivals in the final dual of the season before heading to the 3A West Regionals in Evanston next weekend.

“Cody is one of the top-tier teams in 3A right now,” Fulton said. “A lot of talent and good wrestlers with good coaching. Cody has been dealing with injuries but I expect them to put a full lineup on the mat.”

Junior varsity matches are set to start at 5 p.m. followed by the varsity matches set to start at 6 p.m.