Following a winless 2025 season, the Powell High School football team brings back nearly all of its production from a year ago as it looks for an improved campaign on the gridiron.

That returning experience has helped the Panthers start further ahead than last season, creating a strong base at practices and helping the team continue to progress right away.

“I kind of chuckle because I always get asked, ‘How many returners you got on both sides?’ I’m like, pretty much everyone other than like three and a kicker,” coach Chase Kistler said. “So we are way further ahead than we were last year. Linemen have done the right thing all summer long. They look good. When we actually combine all of our linemen, we’re going to be really good.”

Kistler added that the skill guys for the team know their jobs and have been performing well in early practices.

“There’s not a lot of mistakes. It’s early, don’t get me wrong there, but our guys are for the most part doing a great job and they know what their jobs are. Now we’re just kind of tweaking and fixing things,” he said. “It’s not like we’re trying to implement a whole new thing.”

Production comes in many different forms. That includes their leading rusher in senior Lincoln Crawford, who finished with 658 yards of production as well as two touchdowns.

Through the air the Panthers return a dynamic duo at quarterback, as senior Tanner Seifert returns as the leading passer with 559 total yards along with four touchdowns, while junior Karcher Foley is also back after throwing for 225 yards and two touchdowns.

Kistler said both returning QBs will see the field in certain situations and play an important role for the Panther offense.

“There’s a nervousness because they’re both so important,” the coach said. “You don’t want to see either one get hurt because they’re going to be a huge part. Both of those guys are going to be on the field during games … They’re just special athletes that have to be out there.”

Those receivers also come back in several forms. Seniors Breckyn Kobbe and Broc Frank both return, while the Panthers hope to use their size and athleticism at their skill positions to try getting the ball in the hands of their playmakers.

“We’ve got great athletes who can be big-play athletes all over the field. It’s important for us to try and share the love and get those players the opportunity to make a play,” Kistler said. “We have a lot of speed at some positions. We have a lot of size up front, so getting guys out and running, or getting guys in space is definitely what we want to do.”

He added that the quarterbacks have been doing a good job of getting the ball to their playmakers, and also looking to make a play on their own if they need to.

Defensively, Frank returns as the top defensive points-getter  with 54 total tackles. Powell also returns junior Braxton Nelson, who had 46 tackles, and Foley, who had 34.

In bringing back so much of that defensive experience, Kistler is hoping it will help bring depth to the team on both sides of the ball.

“We bring back just about everybody. Our freshmen that are now sophomores are going to help out a lot with depth. Our sophomores now that they’re juniors are some big dudes, and then our seniors will help out a lot just with knowing what we do and being good leaders,” Kistler said. “I think we lost maybe a couple guys on the defensive side, and the rest are all returning. Even the guys that didn’t even start last year, that came off the bench and are starting this year, they played a lot. We had a lot of guys get a lot of minutes last year.”

The Panthers welcome in the Riverton Wolverines at 6 p.m. Friday to kick off their season. The Wolverines earned the top seed in the 3A East a year ago and were a state semifinalist.

“Our focus is us. To us this is a scrimmage,” Kistler said. “I think Riverton’s probably going to be one of the best teams in the east again. They did lose some major people, but I think they’re going to reload.”

Powell starts the year with a two-game homestand as they also welcome in the Worland Warriors on Friday, Sept. 4, as the Warriors made the leap back to 3A this year.