Warriors ready for showdown vs. No. 2 Star Valley

WORLAND - The 3A State football playoffs begin today with the quarterfinals, and the Worland Warriors head to Afton to take on the Star Valley Braves at 6 p.m. tonight at Star Valley High School.

A semifinal spot is on the line and the Warriors (3-5) will need to pull off an upset tonight if they want to be among the final four 3A teams left standing. The team has to put last week's 23-9 loss to Lander in the rearview mirror by making the most of each practice this week.

"We've gotten some good practices under our belt," said WHS football coach Ryan Utterback. "We've been focusing on learning from last week and correcting our mistakes but moving forward from that loss. They've been doing a good job of moving forward and getting ready for Star Valley. We're setting our sights on doing what we need to do to put some points up and finding ways to stop them."

After a slow start this season the Braves (7-1) got back on track quickly as they used a six-game winning streak to clinch the 3A West conference. Offensively, the Braves are a top-five 3A offense, ranking fourth in total offense averaging 311.8 yards per game. Over 70 percent of Star Valley's offensive damage is done on the ground, as they average 225.8 rushing yards per game.

Stopping the Braves' effectiveness on the ground is going to be key to the Warriors success on defense.

"They're going to pack a bunch of bodies in the box and basically try to steamroll you. They'll try to wear us out and we've spent a lot of time trying to stop that grind it out ground game of theirs," said Utterback. "We're going to try to find ways to derail what they want to do. If we can slow those drives and get stops, followed by putting points on the scoreboard that would be huge. We need to sustain drives and keep their drives down. If we can get some big plays here and there that would be a big bonus."

If the Warriors can come up with big stops on defense and keep the score in the low teens, the upset could be within reach.

Although Worland ranks in the bottom half of offensive production, the big play potential is there. Give him a cutback lane or slimmest of running lanes and Devon Mercado can turn a simple 4-yard gain into a 50-yard touchdown. Receivers Luke Mortimer and Bryan Viktorin are matchup nightmares for any opposing secondary and power back Andrew Edholm can make defenders hesitate each time they go in for a tackle.

The map for an upset is there for the Warriors, it'll take execution and all-out hustle to pull it off. But if they can twist the arm of Star Valley and get them out of their power running game, the semifinals aren't far off.

"Mentally if we can throw them off their game by keeping it close, they might make mistakes because I think they might be overlooking us," said Utterback. "We have to take care of the football and execute on both ends. It's also going to come down to leadership from our seniors. Some young guys might see this as a road trip to Star Valley but the older guys know it's a business trip and we're looking to do more things this season. We'll need contributions from all over the field too."

For those wanting to follow the Warriors during their playoff game against Star Valley you can either listen to the Big Horn Radio Network on 1340 AM or watch the Star Valley Independent's live broadcast of the game by typing in the following link. https://svinews.com/video-worland-warriors-vs-star-valley-braves-pre-game-is-friday-at-530-p-m/