A shift in defensive strategy wasn’t enough to stop one of the top teams in the West at home on Friday as the Powell Panther boys’ soccer team lost 2-0 to visiting Green River in the final game of the regular season.

Powell will now head to Green River to take part in the 3A State Championships starting with a matchup against Torrington in the quarterfinal round on Thursday.

GREEN RIVER 2, POWELL 0

With the game bearing no weight for the Panthers (8-8 overall, 6-6 3A West), the team opted to experiment with a different defensive shift against the Wolves (12-3 overall, 9-2 3A West) who were still battling for the top spot in the West.

“We were trying something different against Green River,” coach David Gilliatt said. “It’s always fun to win but the result of that game didn’t matter, and so we viewed the matchup as a pre-state tournament exercise.”

That exercise led to the Panthers holding off the Wolves throughout the first half, despite constant pressure from the Green River attack.

“With some of the injuries we’ve experienced this year we’ve had to adapt in order to compete,” Gilliatt said. “I’m proud of the team’s willingness to transform a little and I think they’ve done a good job of playing together and staying organized.”

Green River finally got its breakthrough in the second half, scoring with 28:30 left in the game to make  it 1-0.

Powell was unable to find a lot of attacking moments in return, as the Wolves doubled the lead on a strong shot with 23 minutes left to seal the contest at 2-0.

Despite the loss, Gilliatt felt the team found out it can still compete without some key players in the lineup.

“That final regular season game showed us that we can hang with teams that have better attacking threats than we do,” Gilliatt said. “We just need to be more effective on the counter-attacking opportunities we have.”

STATE TOURNAMENT

No. 4 seed Powell heads to Green River, taking on the No. 1 seed out of the East in Torrington (13-2 overall), which claimed the top spot after Worland dropped a contest midweek against Rawlins.

“Torrington looks like they pass well and have good movement off the ball,” Gilliatt said. “They’ve always been a tough opponent and I don’t think this year will be any different.”

That contest will be at 4 p.m. on Thursday at Lincoln Middle School in Green River.

If Powell pulls off the upset it will then advance to the semifinals at 4 p.m. on Friday against the winner of West No. 2 Green River and East No. 3 Buffalo (7-8 overall).

The losers of the two contests will drop down to the consolation bracket at 11 a.m. on Friday morning, also at LMS. Games will also be played at Green River High School over the course of the weekend.

“We aren’t going to the state tournament for fun,” Gilliatt said. “We are going there to compete and we hope to be the one providing upsets this year.”

3A BOYS STATE BRACKET 

Game location in (), GRHS is Green River High School, LMS is Lincoln Middle School

THURSDAY

Game 1: 11 a.m. — No. 2E Worland vs. No. 3W Lander (GRHS)

Game 2: 11 a.m. — No. 1W Cody vs. No. 4W Douglas (LMS)

Game 3: 4 p.m. — No. 2W Green River vs. No. 3E Buffalo (GRHS)

Game 4: 4 p.m. — No. 1E Torrington vs. No. 4W Powell (LMS)

FRIDAY

Game 5: 11 a.m. Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 (GRHS)

Game 6: 11 a.m. Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 (LMS)

Game 7: 4 p.m. Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 (GRHS)

Game 8: 4 p.m. Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 (LMS)

SATURDAY

Game 9: 11 a.m. Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 — Consolation final (GRHS)

Game 10: 11 a.m. Loser Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8 — Third place game (LMS)

Game 11: 3 p.m. Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 — Championship (LMS)