Capping off the regular season at home against their rivals the Powell High School boys’ soccer team fell 2-0 to the Cody Broncs, as the Panthers now take the No. 4 seed into the state tournament this weekend in Gillette.

CODY 2, POWELL 0

With both teams needing a win to secure seeding at the state tournament, the Panthers (6-7 overall, 5-5 3A West) welcomed in the Broncs (11-1-1 overall, 9-1 3A West) on Friday night.

The visitors got the better chances early, as Cody hit one off the post seven minutes into the half, and had another close one two minutes later.

After applying pressure early the visitors got the breakthrough 16 minutes into the game, as the Broncs headed in a corner kick to make it 1-0.

Following the goal the Panthers had a couple decent chances to score, but couldn’t find an answer.

Just before the half, the Broncs doubled their advantage on a shot from 30 yards out with 49 seconds left to make it 2-0.

“We really analyzed where their attacks were coming from, where they created the most shots, where they scored the most goals and adapted our defense to prepare for that specifically,” coach David Gilliatt said. “Cody has the most offense in the state from what I’ve seen so far, so our first goal was to stifle that as much as possible. Outside of two mistakes the whole game, I thought we did really well and showed huge improvement.”

Powell remained in the game through good saves by Ryan Rivas in net, but the Panthers were unable to generate significant offensive threats as they fell to the Broncs 2-0.

“I thought we did really well considering I moved 1-2 guys that normally play wing back to defensive roles,” Gilliatt said. “Gianreye [D’Alessandro] was able to make some good runs but other guys like Noah Young, Hudson Miller, Knox Johnson and Santi Gutierrez did a good job of getting into the attacking third as well.”

STATE TOURNAMENT

Following the week’s results, the Panthers were tied with Mountain View on points with 15 each following the conference season, and the two teams had identical records against conference opponents.

The tiebreakers went down to goals against to determine the No. 3 seed, with the Panther boys giving up 25 goals in conference action and the Buffalos giving up 16 goals to give Mountain View the third seed.

That means the Panther boys start the state tournament once again against repeat 3A East champion and defending state champion Buffalo Bison (11-3 overall, 9-1 3A East).

“We’ll have some key players to watch out for, but I think our second half at home this year will give us some confidence the second time we face them,” Gilliatt said. “I think we are peaking at the right time. It’s been a constant process of course, trying to minimize mistakes and improve our quality. I think we could continue to work on ball possession and quality shot creation. We tend to settle for shots from 25-30 yards out at times and I’d like to see us get into the box more to take higher percentage shots.”

Powell takes on Buffalo at 11 a.m. Thursday, with the winner advancing to the semifinals at 4 p.m. Friday against the winner of the No. 2 seed out of the west, Lander (12-2 overall, 9-1 3A West) and the east No. 3 seed Torrington (8-5 overall, 7-3 3A East).

“I’m really proud of the guys this season. This is the lowest player turnout I’ve ever had as a coach, and to be completely honest, the least amount of club playing experience as well. The boys have come together though and played as a team and shown really great heart all season,” Gilliatt said. “I’m proud of their commitment to each other and their own self-improvement. We have one of the best team spirits I’ve ever had here and the group has exceeded some of my early season expectations. I hope we continue that streak at the state tournament.”

The losers of those games will play at 11 a.m. on Friday.

All games on Thursday and Friday will be at the Energy Capital Sports Complex, with Saturday games at the complex as well as Campbell County High School and Thunder Basin High School.

3A BOYS STATE TOURNAMENT

(All games at Energy Capital Sports Complex Thursday and Friday, Saturday games TBD)

THURSDAY

Game 1 — 11 a.m. No. 2W Lander vs. No. 3E Torrington (SC1)

Game 2 — 11 a.m. No. 1E Buffalo vs. No. 4W Powell (SC2)

Game 3 — 4 p.m. No. 2E Worland vs. No. 3W Mountain View (SC1)

Game 4 — 4 p.m. No. 1W Cody vs. No. 4E Rawlins (SC2)

FRIDAY

Game 5 — 11 a.m. Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 (SC1)

Game 6 — 11 a.m. Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 (SC2)

Game 7 — 4 p.m. Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 (SC1)

Game 8 — 4 p.m. Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 (SC2)

SATURDAY

Game 9 — 11 a.m. Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 (Consolation championship, SC1)

Game 10 — 11 a.m. Loser Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8 (Third place game, Campbell County HS)

Game 11 — 1 p.m. Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 (Championship game, Thunder Basin HS)