Missed opportunities cost Warriors against No. 1 Broncs

CODY - A week after their thrilling win over the Powell Panthers, the Worland Warrior football team experienced the pain of defeat Friday night in Cody against the Cody Broncs.

On the road and playing the defending state champions, execution was going to be critical if the Warriors (1-1) were going to knock off 3A's No. 1-ranked team. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Worland, turnovers and missed opportunities to get the defense off the field led to a 33-8 loss.

"We played them tough but just made too many mistakes," said WHS football coach Ryan Utterback. "You have to hand it to them [Cody] they're a good football team and when you go against good teams like that it's hard to get things going. They're hard to stop and I have to tip my hat to their coaching staff for putting together a good game plan. Overall, the kids played hard but there were just too many mistakes to expect a win against a team like that"

While the Warriors did make plays and test the Broncs (2-0) at times, consistency on both sides of the ball wasn't there.

Throughout the game, the Warrior defense had the Broncs in third-and-long scenarios but gave up big yardage that set up fourth and short. Often times the Broncs were in Warrior territory on these fourth and shorts, so they went for it and picked up the first. The Warrior defense could not get off the field.

"There were times where we had guys in position to make something happen and they [Cody] drug us or got away and we didn't have another body there. There were a few times we missed some assignments and when you play tough teams you just can't get away with stuff like that," said Utterback.

Offensively, the Warriors, twice, in the first half had great field position, set up by kick returners Jaime Luna and Devin Mercado. But miscues spoiled those returns and they were forced to punt. In the second half, fumbles on back-to-back possessions by Worland deep in their own territory gave Cody the ball in excellent field position.

"Staying with our blocks and knowing our assignments, we couldn't get a rhythm and put the ball on the ground four or five times. We were able to fall on a few but you can't put the ball on the ground five times and expect to come out with a win. It comes down to the basic things with smooth snaps, handoffs and stuff like that. We also need to learn to rally past those mistakes and keep our calm. This is definitely a good learning experience," said Utterback.

The silver lining about Friday's loss was the Warriors never threw in the towel. The young team kept grinding. In the fourth quarter, the Warriors faced fourth-and-five, sophomore quarterback Rudy Sanford dropped back to pass. His throw was tipped but not enough, as junior Devin Mercado hauled in the pass and took it to the house for a 48-yard touchdown. Junior Jaime Luna ran in the two-point conversion to bringing the score to 33-8.

And on defense, the Warriors had their backs against the wall after the first second-half fumble and were able to make a stand and force Cody into a field goal, which the Broncs missed.

The scoreboard shows a big win for Cody and as frustrating as that is for the Warriors when they watch film, a few fixes here and there and they're back in business. Defensively, better gang tackling and holding strong on third and fourth down and offensively, taking advantage of field position will get them back on the winning track.

"I told the guys losing never feels good and we could have played better but there's a lot to learn from this game. We can rally and improve from this by cleaning up things on both sides of the ball," said Utterback.

Next Friday the Warriors host the Jackson Broncs (2-0), in their final non-conference game, at 5 p.m. at Worland High School.