JACKSON - The postseason is a different animal and it did not take long for the Worland Warriors to figure that out during their hard-fought 3-2, 5-4 shootout win over the Torrington Trailblazers in the 3A State boys soccer tournament Thursday afternoon at Jackson High School.

"They were resilient. We came out kind of flat. I think the pressure of being the No. 1 team and having not lost to a 3A team was taking its toll in the first half. Torrington came out loose and were playing with nothing to lose. It took us about 20-25 minutes to put more and more pressure on them. Then in the second half and two overtimes it was a heavyweight fight, but we were resilient and gritted it out," said WHS boys soccer coach Ron Overcast.

It took 100 minutes plus a shootout for the Warriors to move on to the semifinals. Class 3A's leading goal scorer Nathan Stitt gave Torrington the early 1-0 lead but in the 22nd minute Jaime Luna struck in the equalizing goal.

"Nathan Stitt is the real deal and he is so good. He's amazing. We knew he was an excellent player but to see him in person, he was very impressive," said Overcast.

From there the match went back and forth with neither team gaining an advantage. But in the final 10 minutes of regulation the Warriors attack put tremendous pressure on the Trailblazer defense. Rylan Mocko, Devin Mercado and Rudy Sanford all took quality strikes on goal but Torrington's keeper denied them at every turn.

In extra time the Warriors fell behind again when Stitt put the Trailblazers up 2-1 in the 87th minute. Less than a minute later Mercado drew a foul in the penalty box setting up a penalty kick for Worland.

Taking the pressure-packed PK for the Warriors was Daniel Weyrich who calmly converted evening the match at 2-2.

After extra time ended and things still knotted up the match was going to be decided by shootout. During shootouts each team puts out their five best penalty kickers and whoever wins the best of five wins the match, if there's a tie the shootout goes down the roster until a winner is decided.

The Warriors struck in all five goals Weyrich, Wyatt Wyman, Sanford, Brayan Castro and Mocko, who tallied the winning kick, all executed for their team. But the biggest moment of the shootout was at the start.

The first Trailblazer that Warrior keeper Konnor Macy faced was Stitt. A goal by Stitt was assumed but Macy correctly guessed where Stitt was going to place the ball and denied 3A's best player a goal. That play by Macy kept the Warriors championship aspirations alive and was the play of the match.

"That was big time for Konnor Macy to stop Nathan Stitt. I was so proud of our guys for stepping up and going five-out-of-five on those kicks, they handled the pressure well," said Overcast.

For the semifinals, the Warriors face the Rawlins Outlaws at 11 a.m. today on field one. The Outlaws are coming off a 6-0 quarterfinal win over Powell but in their two meeting this season the Warriors beat the Rawlins 7-1 on May 4 and 2-0 on April 6.

Outside the X's and O's what Overcast wants to see most from his team today is a relaxed demeanor.

"We've got to find a way to relax. I think we're playing tight. There are a lot of expectations on this team from the outside that we can win our first state championship. We've got to put that aside and relax, have fun and go play the game. That's the most important thing we can do right now," said Overcast.