CODY - The Worland Warriors soccer team took the No. 1-ranking last week and since then, coach Ron Overcast has reminded his team just because they are No. 1 it doesn't mean teams are going to roll over for them. Quite the opposite, now everyone is going to be gunning for them with every team out to take down the No. 1 Warriors.

Knowing the targets are on their backs the Warriors (9-1) have trained harder to avoid any letdown and Thursday night, with the opportunity to clinch the 3A Northwest division, they took care of business as they downed the Broncs 2-1.

WHS boys soccer coach Ron Overcast said, "We started out really well but missed a couple goals we should have made. I told them at halftime that a 2-0 lead in soccer is a dangerous lead and we weren't going to fall back and play defense. We were going to come out and press them all over the field. Then injuries got us and we lost three players to injury in the second half. We had players out of position and almost had to fall back into a bunker mentality.

"They [Cody] can possess out at the half but as soon as it got into our defensive third we had to clear it downfield. We did a good job, stayed compact defensively and were able to keep the ball out of the goal."

Rylan Mocko scored the Warriors only two goals of the match, coming in the fourth and 17th minutes. The Broncs added their single goal in the 51st minute and were gathering some momentum as several Warriors had to leave the match due to injury.

Yet, while the Warriors were starting to run out of bodies, their reserve players came through as they shut the door on any comeback.

"We were quite literally running out of players. That's something we've talked about since the beginning of the season is developing depth. We had people all over the field playing in different spots and I'm really proud of them for hanging in there and gritting out this win. The depth we've develop really paid off in this game," said Overcast.

With their spot at the 3A State tournament in Jackson on May 17-19 guaranteed and five regular-season matches still on schedule, Overcast and his staff will use this time to test out different lineups for different scenarios.

"It does allow you to relax and not worry about a bad draw in a qualifier game," said Overcast about having clinched a spot at state. "Tonight we actually stumbled upon a different lineup. But we can move some players around and see where we are strongest defensively or strongest in the attack if we need a goal. The main thing is to keep showing up every day and improving as a team. Their goal isn't just to be at state, our goal is to do better than just getting to state."

The Warriors five-match road trip ends next week with contests at No. 2 Star Valley High School on Friday, April 27, at 5 p.m. and Pinedale High School on Saturday, April 28, at 1 p.m.

The No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup will be 3A's match of the week but Overcast doesn't want his players getting wrapped up in those kind of distractions.

"I told the guys this week was about managing distractions and we did that well. We made it through a Monday game coming off of prom and all the testing stuff. Next week there will be more distractions and we'll have to reshuffle our back four again, but these guys are mentally tough and know how to compete," said Overcast.