No. 5 Warriors one match away from clinching 3A Northwest quadrant

WORLAND - After being held scoreless in their last two matches the Worland Warriors worked out of their offensive rut Friday to take down the Cody Broncs 1-0 on a rainy and cold night at Worland High School.

"We talked to them all week about taking the game to the opponent, instead of us reacting. We wanted to make them react to what we were doing. We did that in [Friday's] game, we had Cody on their heels the entire game and were having to react to what we were doing. I'm so happy and proud of the guys," WHS boys soccer coach Ron Overcast said.

Freshman Jaime Luna took advantage of senior Kyle Lamb's blocked shot, and with two defenders draped over him, struck in the match's deciding goal in the 75th minute. The Warriors passing was precise and on point and had the Broncs on skates for much of the match.

"We worked on that all week as well and we also talked about believing in yourself and believing in this team. They're better than they think they are and hopefully now they can see that if they play as a team like [Friday] we can play with anybody," said Overcast. "I'm just so proud of them. They responded, they had great practices this week and everything we worked on they did on the field. That just makes you feel good when that happens."

The Warriors rose to their coaches' challenge of being the aggressor and dictated how the match was going to be played from start to finish. Offensively they kept on the attack and defensively rarely let Cody's high-powered offense up for air.

"We switched formations this week and it seemed to pay off. We weren't running certain players to death and we were jamming up the middle of the field on Cody. We had a couple of close calls and it was tricky playing in this weather. The entire team played incredible team defense. They were getting back and were in the correct position on the field," said Overcast. "One thing we talked about and something we kind of got away from is we were transitioning to the attack. But [Friday] once we won possession we were transitioning into the attack. We had the ball in Cody's defensive half of the field a lot."

Today the Warriors host the Powell Panthers at 2 p.m. at Worland High School. A win today allows for the Warriors to lock up the 3A Northwest quadrant and advances them to the 3A state tournament as the No. 1-seed out of the Northwest. A loss will hand the quadrant right back to Cody.

"This is good practice for state and I told them that there's always a 'but'. It's like great game but now you have to turn around and win [today]. They understand what's at stake and won't need any motivation from me. Getting the 1-seed wrapped up by April is motivation enough," said Overcast.