A mistake-filled opening game by both sides led to a low scoreline, as the Riverton Wolverines played spoiler against the Powell Panthers in their home opener, scoring late in the fourth quarter to claim a 7-0 win in a game that came down to the final play.

RIVERTON 7, POWELL 0

Opening up the season at home the Panthers (0-1) and the Wolverines (1-0) tried to sense each other out early, as neither team had the upper hand throughout much of the game.

The first turnover of the game came from the Wolverines, when Trevon Abraham recovered a fumble and gave the Panthers the ball near midfield with 3:53 remaining in the first quarter.

Powell returned the favor, when Jordan Loera fumbled two minutes later as the Panthers were driving, and the two teams were scoreless after the first.

In the second quarter more of the same followed, as Keona Wisniewski fumbled with 9:02 left as Powell was driving to give Riverton the ball back.

“A lot of week one mistakes,” coach Chase Kistler said. “We made a lot more mistakes than they did, and that’s really the name of the game.”

Out of the locker room the Panthers found some momentum, as McKale Foley broke open a long run to get Powell across midfield into Riverton territory.

Powell got the ball into the red zone, but another turnover cost the Panthers as an off target pitch by Wisniewski to Foley gave the ball back to the Wolverines.

Despite some communication miscues on the Panther defense and turnovers, the Panther defense continued to hold the Wolverines off the scoreboard.

“We got young guys in that secondary,” Kistler said. “They took advantage of some of it but, you know, we got kinks to work out. Uncharacteristic things that we saw, like how wide open some of the guys were. They were wide open. If they would have actually been good passes, we would have been in bigger trouble.”

Powell once again got the ball back and started driving at the end of the third quarter on the back of another big  Foley run.

Starting out the fourth the Panthers had an opportunity to get on the board, but after a high snap  Ivy Agee’s 35-yard field goal came up short as the game remained scoreless.

Riverton took over, and drove the ball down the field, finishing with a 25-yard touchdown pass to give the visitors the lead with 3:25 left.

Powell answered with a drive down the field, including a large screen play to Trevon Abraham that allowed the Panthers to convert on a fourth-and-2 late.

Powell got all the way down to the 1-yard line, spiking the ball with one second on the clock to get one more play.

A toss to Caden Nelson found the edge, and he raced towards the pylon but was ruled down before reaching the end zone by the official as the Panthers fell just short of the Wolverines 7-0.

It was the first time the Panthers had lost to the Wolverines since the 2015 season.

“Even though it sucks that we lost, we learned a lot about ourselves this week,” Kistler said. “I think it kind of gives us a little bit of fire in our gut of anger. We know what it takes now. We know what we have to do. We know what we need to fix, and these guys have just got to step up and get the job done.”

Wisniewski led the Panthers at quarterback after going 8-15 for 72 yards, while Foley led the Panthers on the ground with 92 rushing yards on 10 attempts.

Abraham led the Panthers with 41 receiving yards on five receptions.

Wisniewski and Abraham led defensively with seven total tackles, two solo and one tackle for loss.

WORLAND CONTEST

Powell now heads on the road to take on 2A Worland (0-0) at 7 p.m. on Friday.

After Nelson and Wisniewski split time at the quarterback position this week, Kistler did not name a starter right away after the Riverton game and said they will review film before making a decision, but noted both of them will likely have to be at quarterback at some point this season regardless of who ends up starting.

“I’m going to watch some film and see what each quarterback did well,” Kistler said. “If it’s Keona or Nelly (Nelson), you know, they both play both ways. So they’re going to have to be in at quarterback at some time.”

He added that the Panthers were without several key players in the first game, but will likely need to get in better shape as the team does not possess much depth across the field.

“We’re not in shape yet so we gotta get in better shape,” Kistler said. “If we’re going to play Iron Man football then we have to get in better shape. We’re so thin with depth.”