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WORLAND - After losing an experienced 2016 class to graduation, the 2017 Worland High School boys soccer team, with only six seniors and five of them starters, would have to rely on its underclassmen to play valuable minutes.

Naturally it was expected this season would be a rebuilding year, as the younger players learned the ropes of 3A soccer. But it would not take long for the notion of a rebuilding year to be thrown out the window.

Early on in the season the Warriors sent a message out that they were state championship contenders.

"It started out with people thinking we were going to be rebuilding because we lost a lot of firepower from last year. These guys showed up and worked hard every day. We have a lot of great volunteers in the youth program, we have the middle school program and [assistant] coach [Kim] Wyman was an asset this year. It's a large group of people that help out and it's fun that we didn't have to rebuild, we just reloaded. That's a good feeling to have. We have the infrastructure in place that will allow us to reload each year instead of having that year or two of rebuilding things," said WHS boys soccer coach Ron Overcast.

The Warriors picked up their first signature win of the season with a 1-0 victory over the Torrington Trailblazers during the Pinnacle Cup tournament on April 7. Two weeks later the Warriors avenged a 1-0 extra time loss to the Cody Broncs, the eventual 3A state champions, on March 30 by beating the Broncs 1-0.

At the time it was thought with a win over the Broncs, along with two wins over the Powell Panthers, the Warriors clinched the 3A Northwest quadrant. But due to a little know quadrant rule that superseded the Wyoming High School Athletic Association quadrant rules, the Warriors actually fell into a tie with the Broncs for the quadrant.

With the quadrant winner and No. 1-seed for the 3A state tournament left up in the air, a tiebreaker would determine the winner. The Warriors lost the tiebreak and were then forced to play against the Newcastle Dogies in the 3A state qualifying match in order to advance to the state tournament.

The Warriors match against the Dogies was probably one of the best matches of the year. Both teams traded haymakers and needed extra time then a shootout to decide the winner. The Warriors won the shootout 4-3 to advance to the state tournament.

Opening the state tournament against the Riverton Wolverines, a state championship favorite, would be a challenge but the Warriors, who at this point made winning close matches a skillset, were up for it.

Worland beat the Wolverines 1-0 to advance to the semifinals against the Torrington Trailblazers. The semifinal match turned out the be one of the better matches of the state tournament, but the Warriors fell to the Trailblazers in extra time 2-1.

After falling short of the championship match the Warriors quickly rallied for their third-place match against Lander Tigers. The Warriors hung with the Tigers even controlling portions of the match but two late goals put the match out of reach as they fell 3-1.

What made the 2017 Warriors team so dangerous was their willingness to play together on both sides of the ball. As one of the top teams in the state, Worland had only freshman Wyatt Wyman (7 goals) and sophomore Rylan Mocko (6) in the top 20 of individual scorers.

The Warriors had six different players score four or more goals in 2017. Those being Wyman, Mocko, senior Kyle Lamb (5), junior Mason Werbelow (5), Brayan Castro (4) and Gavin Weyrich (4).

Defensively, the Warriors were a force allowing only 16 goals on the season, fourth best in the state, and only allowing multiple goals scored against them three times this season; first against Newcastle (4-3 won on shootout), then Torrington (2-1) in the state semifinals and Lander (3-1) in the third-place match. Also helping on the defensive end was keeper Coy Larkins, who made big saves all season long and was third in the state with 104 saves.

The Warriors graduate six seniors, Cody Baumstarck, Lamb, Larkins, Keller Rogers, Nick Schriber and Gavin Weyrich. Baumstarck, Lamb, Larkins, Rogers and Weyrich were starters while Schriber was a reserve.

"The seniors have worked hard for four years. They've been great leaders and representatives of Worland High School. They're going to be missed and that's how high school sports work. You'll lose a group every year and next year it will be another group's turn to step up and assume that leadership role," said Overcast.

ALL-STATE HONORS

For their successful season the Warriors earned accolades with Lamb, Larkins and Weyrich being selected to the All-Conference and All-State teams, while Overcast was named the 3A Northwest coach of the year.

The Warriors do return plenty of talent, which includes Castro, Mocko, Wyman, and freshmen Devin Mercado and Jaime Luna, and with a deep run at the state tournament under their belts this group could get even better.

"You could tell on the first day of practice that this was going to be a very special freshman group. Their technical skills and competitive nature, like I said the people before me have done a really great job with them," said Overcast said of his freshman players.

With the experience picked up during the 2017 season a 3A state championship may not be far off for the Warriors program.