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WORLAND - Going into the Christmas break the Worland Warriors have a lot of positive momentum to build off of after placing second at the Pinnacle Bank Battle in the Big Horns wrestling dual tournament Friday and Saturday at Worland High School.

Getting to the championship in the Gold Bracket the Warriors took down Cody 44-25 in the quarterfinals and Powell 36-32 in the semifinals.

"We saw some tough kids from Cody, Powell and Rock Springs. Cody has some tough kids and they have a tradition of putting out strong wrestlers. Facing Powell, who is a big time rival for us, I was a little nervous but once again our kids got on a roll with pins and built a lot of momentum. I was really proud of the kids for their effort.

"Anytime you get to wrestle a top-ranked 4A school and wrestle them that tightly it is going to be great experience and exposure for us. We had some huge pins, Lane McBee pinned one of the top-ranked 4A kids that got the team fired up," said WHS wrestling coach Josh Garcia.

The Warriors finished second in the Gold Bracket, falling to Rock Springs 42-36. After trading pins, first by Rock Springs' Cash Christiansen over Warrior Kein Anderson, then Worland's Domanic Hartley over Zach Vasquez, Rock Springs went on a 21-0 run to take a 27-6 lead.

The Warriors came close to regaining their footing after giving up that big run, but, ultimately, fell short. Rock Springs held a 33-18 advantage, but with the remaining weights left Worland had the possibility for a comeback victory as the strength of their lineup was due up. Enter Warrior 170-pound junior Peyton Woffinden.

If Woffinden could pin Rock Springs' Ashton Walther, it gave Worland a clear path to winning the Battle in the Big Horns. The match between Woffinden and Walther was among the best of the day and tournament. Neither could find a way to separate from the other and just when it looked as if one had the pin, the other escaped. For three rounds this continued and by the end of the third, the match was tied up at 12-all.

In the sudden death extra round, Walther was able to pick up two points for a takedown to win the match and give his team three points for the 14-12 decision.

While the Warriors did lose to Rock Springs and finish second, one of the more impressive things about their performance overall for the weekend was after each win or pin, there was excitement but not surprising excitement, like what happens when pulling off an upset. The Warriors acted all weekend with the mentality of having been there.

"That's one thing with my coaching philosophy we've been trying to teach our kids. I'm always telling our kids it doesn't matter where we go and who we wrestle, just go out there, let it all hang out and just have fun. We want them to wrestle like they know how to with the tools we've taught them and just have fun. Now they're starting to figure out that it doesn't matter who they're wrestling, they're going to go out there and try to get the win. They're really buying into that attitude and philosophy," said Garcia.

For the tournament Worland had five wrestlers, Domanic Hartley (113), Luke Goncalves (145), JR Hofmann (182), Alex Beck (220) and Morgan Tigner (heavyweight), go a perfect 6-0 during the dual tournament. Beck, Goncalves and Tigner went on to win the best of the best in their respective weight classes and finish the weekend 8-0.

"We had five kids in the best of the best and that's the most I've ever had since I've taken over the program. It was a lot of fun this weekend and we got a lot of good wrestling in there. We had a lot of our kids pushed out of their comfort zone and that's what we were looking for," said Garcia.

Warriors Daniel Weyrich, Lane McBee and Isaac Goncalves went 4-2 during the weekend.

What is also extraordinary about the Warriors performance during the Battle in the Big Horns was in order to fill weights, many wrestlers bumped up a class to give the team the best shot at winning.

"What's really impressing me right now, early on, is that the kids are buying into the team concept. I'm open in two weights but if you watched this weekend you wouldn't have really noticed it by the way we wrestled, for No. 1. And No. 2 our big guys bumped up a weight class. Even though we're going very well Isaac is giving up 12 pounds, Morgan Tigner is giving up 60 pounds, Alex Beck is giving up 18 pounds. They're rising to the occasion and telling me they're willing to bump up a weight class for the better of the team.

"That's our concept this season, we're a team and we're going after that team title. We have a lot to work still to go but I think this group is ready to keep growing and get better," said Garcia.

Luke Goncalves led the Warriors with five pins on the weekend while Hartley and Tigner tied for second with four each. Goncalves (34), Woffinden (30) and Weyrich (28) were the Warriors top three match point scorers for the weekend.

Garcia will give his wrestlers a small respite during the Christmas break, but once that is done it will be back to work as they prepare for the meat of the season.

"We're going to give them a little time off because I believe a little time off is a good thing. But we'll come back and continue to work hard so that we don't lose the positive momentum we've built," said Garcia.