Plenty of action on the mat led to a busy week of improvement for the Powell High School boys’ wrestling team, as the Panthers defeated Lovell 42-33 on Tuesday and Lander 39-34 on Thursday, both at home, before the team placed sixth at the Greybull Invitational on Saturday.

POWELL 42, LOVELL 33

Powell opened with a forfeit win for Hunter Moulton at 106 pounds against the Bulldogs, before Jonathan Hine earned a pin at 113 pounds in 2:28 to make it 12-0.

Dylan DeBoer added to the lead with a pin 38 seconds in at 120 pounds to make it 18-0, and both teams were open at 126.

Lovell started rolling and took the lead quickly, getting pins at 132, 138, 144, 150 and 157 pounds in addition to a 7-3 decision at 165 pounds to make it 33-18.

Powell got a forfeit win at 175 pounds for Tucker Muecke, before consecutive pins for Justin Marquez at 190 pounds (3:24) and Tristan Snell at 215 pounds (1:18) gave Powell the guaranteed win as Jacob Christofalos got a forfeit win at 285 pounds to make it a 42-33 scoreline.

“I was really pleased with the kids and their effort. We were wrestling a little short-handed … But I thought the kids wrestled hard, got the wins we needed to be able to win that dual,” coach Nick Fulton said.

POWELL 39, LANDER 34

Against the Tigers on Thursday the Panthers again got a forfeit win at 106 pounds for Moulton, before the Tigers went on a roll.

A 17-0 tech fall at 113 pounds, a 9-5 decision at 120 pounds, a 6-4 decision at 126 pounds on a last second takedown and a 20-2 tech fall at 132 pounds made it 16-6 Lander.

“I knew we had some kind of tough matchups (early),” Fulton said. “We kind of dug ourselves a hole there early … I think a lot of people miss the value of wrestling for six minutes. It’s just more mat time to get better. I thought we competed even in losing efforts … Going the distance and getting off our back. I talked to Sean [Lowe] and Jonathan [Hine] in particular, the integrity to not give up a pin. It would have been easy for either one to give that up. I think that shows a lot of pride and overall integrity. ”

Powell rallied with a response of its own, as Forest Kleinfeldt got a pin in 2:52 at 138 pounds, and Tyler Wenzel got the pin in 24 seconds at 144 pounds to give Powell the 18-16 lead.

Jayce Lejeune added an 8-5 decision at 150 pounds, Trevin Morton got the pin in 28 seconds at 157 pounds and Isaiah Torres got a pin in 3:33 at 165 pounds to make it 33-16.

“The string of wins in our middleweights, it was fun, a lot of those kids got their first win under the light,” Fulton said. “That’s pretty exciting. That’s things that I’ll always remember down the road when they’re competing for state titles.”

Lander got a forfeit win at 175 pounds, before Powell secured the victory when Marquez got a pin in 1:45 at 190 pounds to make it 39-22.

Lander added pins at 215 and 285 pounds to make the final scoreline 39-34.

“Thursday, I thought they actually wrestled better,” Fulton said. 

GREYBULL TOURNAMENT

At the Greybull tournament on Saturday the Panthers got plenty of varsity experience for its younger wrestlers.

DeBoer (2-1) at 120 pounds, Channing Wenzel (3-1) at 132 pounds, Marquez (3-1) at 190 pounds and Christofalos (2-1) at 285 pounds all placed second in their respective brackets.

Morton (4-1) took third at 157 pounds and Snell (2-2) was fourth at 215 pounds as the other two placers.

Other wrestlers competing were Desmond Bear, who took second in the 138B bracket going 3-1; James Schaefer was 1-2 at 132 pounds; Owen Jones, Kleinfeldt and Weston Loeper were 1-2 at 138 pounds; Lejeune was 1-2 at 150 pounds; Muecke went 1-2 at 157 pounds; William Taylor and Moulton were 0-2 at 106 pounds.

“For a relatively inexperienced team, they wrestled outstanding Saturday … We had some huge wins during that tournament,” Fulton said. “It’s exciting for me seeing some of the things that we’ve been working on and preaching for three months here really starting to pay off. These kids are getting better, and starting to compete toward their potential.”

The Panthers finished sixth as a team with 116 points as the highest placing 3A team, Moorcroft took the team crown with 168 points.

CODY DUAL

Finishing up the regular season the Panthers will make the short trip to Cody, getting an early preview of the regional site as Powell will take on the Broncs at 5 p.m. on Thursday.

“Cody’s a great team. They’re the best team in the state right now,” Fulton said. “I’m excited. These are matches that they have everything to gain. That type of dual, going into a hostile environment … I’m looking forward to going in and competing with them. That’s not something that we shy away from … Cody’s a really good team, hats off to them. But we’re gonna put our toe on the line. My guys will go compete.”