The Powell Panther football team was wiped out with a difficult second quarter, as the Panthers fell to the visiting Douglas Bearcats on Friday night 47-7.

DOUGLAS 47, POWELL 7

Getting some energy from the home crowd early, the Panthers (0-4) held off the Bearcats (2-1) and tried to limit mistakes from the start.

Douglas got on the board first with 8:22 left in the first quarter on a 6-yard touchdown pass.

Powell held off the Bearcats through the rest of the first quarter, keeping it at 7-0 heading into the second.

Douglas added to its lead early and often in the second, starting with an 8-yard touchdown pass with 10:04 left.

The Panthers fumbled the snap on their following possession, and Douglas quickly converted for another touchdown, this time on the ground, to make it 21-0 with 8:41 left.

The Panthers threw a pick-six on the next play from scrimmage, and Douglas converted again to make it 28-0.

“For the first quarter and a half we were doing alright,” coach Chase Kistler said. “But when adversity hit, it just snowballed … Right from the beginning we weren’t deer in the headlights. They came out and were executing just fine. But about the middle of the second quarter we just started having that bad snap and then it just snowballed.”

Douglas added two more rushing scores, but failed extra points made it 40-0 going into the half.

Powell held off Douglas most of the third quarter, before a touchdown throw from 46 yards out made it 47-0 and started the running clock with 3:09 left in the third quarter.

Powell avoided the shutout, as Caleb Ashcraft recovered a bad snap by the Bearcats in the end zone with 6:53 left in the fourth quarter to make it 47-7.

“I know that our guys are trying,” Kistler said. “They just haven’t had a lot of game time experience and how to overcome some of those things. That only takes time and reps. It takes being in those moments and (learning) how to overcome them. They just haven’t had a whole lot of chances to overcome them.”

The Panthers finished a combined 4-15 for 43 yards through the air with two interceptions, and Lincoln Crawford finished with 71 yards rushing on 19 carries on the ground.

Karcher Foley led the Panther defense with nine tackles, five solo, and Bradlee Lasson had Powell’s lone sack.

CODY FRIDAY

That matchup against Douglas wrapped up nonconference action for the Panthers, still waiting for their first victory this season. Despite that, Kistler feels the team is starting to show improvement against some of the top teams in the state.

“Our schedule is tough. There’s not an easy game on the schedule, they know the level that they need to play at,” Kistler said. “It’s hard to replicate in practice with the speed and how fast the game happens and how fast the guys move … I do think there’s a lot of good moments. We take one step forward and then we would take three steps back … We’ve just got to build on those and have more positive plays and less of those negative plays.”

Heading into conference action the schedule does not get any easier for the Panthers, as they start with a pair of difficult opponents on the road starting with the rival Cody Broncs (3-0) at 7 p.m. Friday.

“Our focus is still going to be on us,” Kistler said. “I think if we can limit our negative plays it gives us a better opportunity to build that confidence each week. Our confidence is getting a little bit better, and that plays a huge role in being physical and plays a huge role in playing fast. So it’s going to be tough.”

Kistler said the Panthers and Broncs will be selling T-shirts at the game once again this season, with the two teams combining to donate all the proceeds from the shirt sales to a local family.

“All the proceeds go to the local family which I think is really cool that both communities are coming together to help support,” Kistler said. “It’s cool that we’ve got football programs that give back when they can.”