Warriors out to build off 2018 playoff appearance

WORLAND — Although the 2018 season ended in another 3A State football quarterfinals loss, the Worland Warriors are hoping their second consecutive postseason appearance is a sign of bigger and better things to come.

“Making the playoffs for the second season in a row after a big drought is definitely a positive. That can turn into an expectation and not only that we can start making a run in the playoffs with the ultimate goal of winning the state championship,” said WHS football coach Ryan Utterback.

The 2018 season featured many highlights for the Warriors which included two comeback wins, first a 33-30 victory over the Riverton Wolverines on September 21 and the other a 16-7 win over Rawlins on September 28. Those two victories secured Worland their second consecutive trip to the postseason.

While the year did end in with Worland dropping four consecutive games and were outscored 155-38 during that stretch, they do return a number of key players for the 2019 campaign. The four-game losing streak was certainly the toughest moment of the season for the Warriors but the biggest takeaway from that rough stretch was how hard they played.

Even when victory was out of reach the Warriors gave maximum effort on every play until the clock read zeros.

“The other thing we liked was even though some games got a bit lopsided, we battled most the game,” said Utterback. “We fought hard until the end and there were a lot of good things that came up this year, definitely looking forward to next year.”

Added Utterback, “We have a lot of young players coming back for next season, seeing how well they performed this year and knowing that we’re getting a lot of those guys back is exciting. There was a number of times we were close to executing or that close to getting a big play. Hopefully, getting so many players back for next season and with another year of experience, we’ll have a lot less of those moments. We had a lot of great moments with the comebacks against Riverton and Rawlins, there were a lot of ups and downs but plenty of huge bright spots to look forward to next year.”

The Warriors do lose seniors Cameron Cabarett, Andy Deniz, Tommy Eckert, Andrew Edholm, Jared Hansen, David Herrera, Brandyn Noland, Bryan Viktorin and Peyton Woffinden. Each senior found one way or another to contribute to this year’s team and will be missed by Utterback and his staff.

“On the other end of it too, it’s fun to look back on the careers of the seniors. Everything they’ve done for the program and having to get to play in the playoffs two years in a row, as for a group they’re a nice bunch of guys. We’ll miss them, and it was great having them this year and they were big contributors. We wish them the best of luck in the future,” said Utterback.

Joining the 3A East in football for the first time, the Warriors had to navigate a new field of competitors this season. Considering they were able to still make the playoffs in a new conference adds to the success of the season.

Now the challenge is to better their position by grabbing one of the conference’s top seeds.

“It’s always fun to see new opponents and we stepped up and competed against new faces. Ultimately, it worked out for us, especially for our travel schedule, there weren’t as many long trips,” joked Utterback. “But looking at the conference we fit in there and competed with those teams. And next season we want to be better than we were this year,” said Utterback.

The Warriors statistical leaders this season were, for rushing, Devon Mercado 492 yards, Edholm 380 yards and Rudy Sanford 194 yards; receiving – Viktorin 199 yards, Luke Mortimer 172 yards and Devon Mercado; and defensive points – Payton Woffinden 121, Pudge Hofmann 100 and Devon Mercado 92.

As Utterback said earlier, the Warriors bring back plenty of key pieces for next season. Mercado, who led the team in touchdowns (seven total TDs) all-purpose (898 yards) and rushing yards (492 yards) and was third in receiving yards (150 yards), is back. Quarterback Rudy Sanford is back after throwing for 529 yards, with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Luke Goncalves will be back, and even though he was injured during Week 6 against Douglas, the sophomore was fourth in total defensive points with 84 for the Warriors. The team’s second-leading defensive point getter was Pudge Hofmann with 100 returns in ’19. Then receiver Luke Mortimer, who was second in receiving yards this season with 172, is back for his senior year.

All the promise and potential for the Warriors to be great next season is there, but in order to reach the high goals they’re bound to set for themselves, it makes this offseason all the more important.

Utterback said, “We talked about what we can do to go to the next level and take that next step. We made it to the playoffs a couple years in a row and that’s awesome but there’s work to be done until next season.

“Whether that’s getting into the weight room, going out for other sports and other things to make you a better competitor, just showing up for the season isn’t going to get us anywhere. If we put some work in during the offseason there’s no reason we can’t make the leap and take the next step.”