Powell Repeats As 3A State Football Champs [VIDEO]

Highlights of the 3A Football State Championship game, between Star Valley and Powell.

Scroll down to watch the highlights of the game!

After finding themselves trailing, for the first time this season, the Panthers would rally to win their 2nd straight 3A state championship.

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I’ll give credit to the mascot…he may not have the chant down, but he’s got the moves to keep up with the cheerleaders.

Star Valley vs. Powell in the 3A state championship game…first quarter…Star Valley wearing the white… Marshall Watkins was hungry for a sack lunch and down goes another victim. The senior leads the state in that defensive category and he would get more later.

On the next possession..Powell would get something going…Hayden Cragoe sees a receiver deep over the middle and he’s going to find Garrett Lynch on the run for a 32 yard pickup…across mid-field to the enemy 46 yard line and that would keep the drive going.

A few plays later…this is Vince Sleep…sleep-walking his way through the defense for a 6 yard touchdown run…the senior had 132 rushing yards in the game..PAT no good, but his team is up 6-zip.

This game was a matchup of the top 2 team offenses and defenses in the state in Class 3A…and we saw some of both on both sides. Trace Haderline will dump the ball to Sam Gertsch who will rumble for 36 of his 109 total receiving yards on this play, down to the Powell 33 yard line...and the Braves were making progress even though they were still down 6-zip after the first 12 minutes.

2^nd quarter…they’d get down to the 1, but then an illegal shift penalty pushed them back…so Byron Anderson was called on for a 22 yard field goal try. His kick is just inside the right upright for 3, and his team still trails 6-to-3 at this point.

Now for some more defense…Cragoe is under pressure…Watkins is coming in from the left side of your screen and he’ll get himself another sack. It’s a 9 yard loss and it would snuff out that scoring threat, as the Panthers would have to punt the ball away.

Star Valley would then put together a 14 play 79 yard drive that took 6 ½ minutes to complete…Ryan Brough will bust his way in from 1 yard with less than 1 minute to go before the break…and the boys from Afton would go into the locker room…up 10-to-6.

3^rd quarter…the Panthers were in a very unfamiliar position as this was the first time all season that they were trailing…and it didn’t get any better on this play. Cragoe’s pass is going to be picked off by Tyler Allerd and Star Valley was in business once again as they would try to avenge a loss from earlier this season.

But a couple of plays later…the boys in black would wake up and return the favor…Haderlie thinks he has somebody and he did, it just happened to be Sleep who will snag the pass and go the other way with it. Not much else happened in the quarter, so the Braves were still hanging on to the 10-6 lead, going into the final 12 minutes.

4^th quarter…the offense for the defending champs would snap out of their funk. Cragoe is rolling out to his left…he needs 9 yards and he’ll hook up with Dewey Schwahn who leads the state Class 3A in receiving touchdowns...and showing off in front of the camera. The refs gave him a celebration penalty, but I don’t think he really cared. Powell is back on top 13-to-10.

Star Valley needed to answer because time was starting to become a factor in this game. Haderlie is scrambling one way and then throwing in the other direction. Unfortunately, for him, Cory Heny is going to step in front of that pass for an interception, as things were beginning to look promising for the boys in black.

The Braves would get the ball back on more time and they had to go 96 yards in a little more than 2 minutes. Haderlie had the right idea throwing the long bomb to Allerd, but the connection was just a little bit off and the pass is incomplete and that would seal the deal on this one.

The Powell Panthers…repeat as state champs…winning this game 13-to-10. Coach Jim Stringer and his boys finish the season with a perfect 11-and-oh record.