A tough, physical battle left the Powell Panther wrestling team on the wrong side of the scoreboard on Thursday — dropping the final dual of the season 48-27 to Cody on the road.

CODY 48, POWELL 27

The teams started the dual at the top, pitting heavyweights Doug Bettger and Zach Barton against each other at 285 pounds.

Bettger took the lead early and held onto it throughout, walking away with a 5-1 decision to give Powell the early 3-0 lead.

“Doug stayed in a good position and wrestled smart and had a good win for us there,” coach Nick Fulton said.

Gabe Whiting kept the momentum going at 106 pounds, pinning Lance Baggs in the second period (2:46) to make it 9-0.

Cody got on the board at 113 pounds after William Wood pinned Tyler Wenzel after 52 seconds to make it 9-6.

That started a string of pins for the Broncs, as Ty Peterson pinned Kaiden Apodaca at 120 pounds (1:20); Taylor Baggs pinned Vinny Timmons at 126 pounds (1:17) and Trey Smith pinned Wyatt Heffington at 132 pounds in one minute.

Mitchel Wainscott stopped the run with a pin of his own at 138 pounds, pinning Myles Hensley in 2:56.

“Mitchel is coming around, he is doing well,” Fulton said.

Cody won by fall at 145 pounds after Micah Grant pinned Jeremy Harms (1:42) to make the score 30-15.

The Panthers answered back in a difficult 152 bout, with Jack Van Norman grinding out a win by pin in the third period (4:50) over Tyler Kenney.

“Jack is really hitting his stride for us, he has wrestled really well,” Fulton said.

Cody had answers at 160 pounds and 170 pounds — grinding out victories by pin in the second and third periods over Lannon Brazelton and Dusty Carter.

The two teams split a pair of first round pins, with Cody winning at 182 pounds after a pin of Dillon Melton and Jimmy Dees earned a pin at 195.

In the final bout of the night, two of the top wrestlers in the state at 220 pounds went to battle, with Stetson Davis squaring off with Jace Grant.

The pair went into the second period tied 2-2 after Grant scored a takedown in the first and Davis earned points through an escape and an illegal maneuver called on Grant.

In the second Davis started on bottom, earning an escape to take a 3-2 lead.

Blood time continuously brought the match to a standstill, with Grant taking the lead on a takedown after the first blood time of the second period.

Davis earned an escape and a takedown of his own coupled with an escape by Grant to make it 6-5 heading into the final period.

In the final period Grant chose down, and Davis maintained his top advantage and earned a two point near-fall, making it 8-5.

Grant earned an escape, but two subsequent blood times stalled the waning seconds of the bout, and Davis gave up a point to a stall with just seconds remaining to make the final score 8-7.

“It was everything it was hyped up to be, it was a great match,” Fulton said. “Jace is a talented kid, it’s good for Stetson to wrestle those matches … Having that type of match heading into regionals and state is just what we needed.”

That result made the final score 48-27, handing the Panthers their first dual loss since December.

REGIONALS AND FINAL TOURNEY

The weekend for the Panthers will kick off early this week, with the Panther girls heading down to take part in a tournament in Lyman on Thursday due to there not being a regional tournament established in the first year of girls’ wrestling.

“I’ve got two pretty tough girls and we want to get them some mat time before state,” Fulton said.

After the tournament on Thursday, the Panther boys will compete in Evanston on Friday in the 3A West Regional Tournament.

The Panthers are expected to be in a tough battle against Cody, Evanston, Green River and Pinedale in the team competition for trophy placement at the tournament.

“It’s the second most important tournament of the season for us,” Fulton said. “I like where we sit as a team, our region is going to be deep… There’s five legitimate teams — it is what it is, we need to get wins where we can and get as many as we can in that top four.”