The Panthers lost 42-7 to the defending 4A State football champions, the Chiawana Riverhawks, on Friday night.

After the Sept. 5 victory over the Mead Panthers 20-7, Wenatchee came into Friday’s highly anticipated game ranked No. 7 in the state and facing off against the No. 3 Riverhawks.

Friday’s game was a rematch from last season, in which the Riverhawks came to Wenatchee twice and trounced the Panthers both times: when they marched into the Apple Bowl on homecoming last year and destroyed the Panthers 48-7, and also brought the hammer to Wenatchee 56-34 to advance to the 4A State semifinals.

The Panthers struggled right out of the gate Friday when junior quarterback Brandon Graves threw an interception on the first play of the game. This gave Chiawana and their star running back Austin Urlacher great field position.  Three plays later, Urlacher pounded the ball into the end zone. Urlacher continued to run all over the Panther defense and ended the game with 233 yards and four touchdowns.

Wenatchee struggled offensively all game and only accounted for five first downs. Chiawana held the Panthers to 168 yards of total offense. It was a rough game for Graves, who ended the night 11 for 29 with 107 yards through the air, four interceptions and a touchdown. Senior Killion McGinnis caught the touchdown pass.

The Panthers will travel to play Eisenhower Thursday night to face the Cadets at 7 p.m. at Marquette Stadium. The Wenatchee game will be broadcast on 94.7 FM Z-Country or online at zcountry947.com.