A thrilling match on the road came down to the final bout as the Panther wrestlers dropped a close dual to Lander on Friday, 40-38. It moved the Powell High School team’s conference dual record to 1-2.

The event started out strong as PHS junior Andrew Valdez won by technical fall at 138 pounds 20-4 to give the Panthers the early 5-0 lead.

Lander responded in the next three matches, as they earned a major decision over junior Jack Van Norman at 152 pounds and pinned freshman McKale Foley at 145 and junior Lannon Brazelton at 160 to take a 16-5 lead.

The Panthers responded with three straight victories of their own, as junior Stetson Davis earned a pin at 170, sophomore Jimmy Dees got a pin at 195 and senior Karson Lamb got a forfeit to give PHS a 23-16 lead.

The Tigers took the lead back in the heavyweights as freshman Denton Wainscott lost at 220 and Zain Younas lost at 285 by pin to give Lander a 28-23 lead.

Freshman Kaiden Apodaca gave Powell the lead again after a pin at 106 pounds, making it 29-28 as the two teams continued to battle for positioning.

Lander took a 40-29 lead after earning victories over freshman Sam Childers at 113 pounds and junior Yessenia Teague at 120, but senior Brent Childers gave the Panthers an opportunity to win the match, as his pin at 126 made it 40-35.

“It came down to the last bout,” PHS head coach Nick Fulton said. “Vinny [Timmons] was wrestling well and beat a kid that beat him earlier in the year; he needed a pin to win the dual but it is hard to get a pin when the kid’s only goal is to not get pinned.”

Timmons was unable to get the pin at 132, but earned a 7-4 victory by decision as the Tigers defeated the Panthers 40-38.

The Panthers gave up six pins in the dual, which Fulton said “will come back to bite you.”

GREYBULL INVITE

After the dual on Friday, the Panthers sent junior varsity wrestlers and varsity wrestlers who missed prior tournaments to the Greybull Memorial Invitational on Saturday. They came home with a third place finish.

“It is great to see those young guys go to a varsity tournament and bring home a trophy,” Fulton said.

Vinny Timmons was the top placer for the Panthers at 132 pounds, as he won the invitational by going 3-0 and winning all of his matches by pins.

“We wrestled hard all weekend,” Fulton said. “It is nice to see him [Vinny Timmons] wrestling to his capability.”

In his first time on the mat all season, senior Mikey Timmons went 2-1 and finished second at 138 pounds.

Other placers for the Panthers included Brazelton taking fourth at 160, sophomore Jonathan Harms placing fourth at 195 and Younas placing fourth at 285.

Other competitors for the Panthers included:

• Wyatt Nicholson (16-15) went 2-2 at 106 pounds;

• Apodaca  went 3-2 at 106;

• S. Childers (11-14) went 0-2 at 113;

• Wyatt Heffington (10-11) went 1-2 at 126;

• Dexter Opps went 0-2 at 126;

• Patrick Haney (11-6) went 1-2 at 132;

• Jeremy Harms went 2-2 at 132;

• Chase Visocky (6-8) went 0-2 at 138;

• Cody Seifert (8-3) went 2-2 at 145;

• Reese Lowe went 1-2 at 145;

• Foley (12-14) went 1-2 at 145;

• Mitchell Wainscott (9-15) went 0-2 at 152;

• Van Norman went 3-2 at 152;

• Rhys Bray went 0-2 at 160;

• Dusty Carter (9-13) went 2-2 at 170;

• Jacob Harms went 0-2 at 195;

• Ricky Gonzalez went 0-2 at 195;

• Colin Wilson went 0-2 at 220;

• Denton Wainscott (11-14) went 2-2 at 220.

FINAL DUAL

The Panthers will return home one last time, as they will host senior night on Thursday in a contest with Cody.

“Cody is tough, it is gonna be a fun dual at home,” Fulton said. “We need to set the pace in matches.”

Fulton said there are matches that will impact regional seeding — and he stressed the importance of getting good seeds; the Panthers’ region features five of the top 10 teams that placed at the recent Ron Thon Memorial Inivitational.

The Powell-Cody matchup will begin with junior varsity at 5 p.m. with varsity to follow at 6 p.m.

This will be the final dual for the Panthers as they head toward the final weeks of the season. They’ll be back on the road to Lander on Feb. 18 for the regional tournament.