No. 3 Warriors post another shutout and down Lyman 27-0

On a night with a packed Warriors Stadium, fireworks and homecoming pageantry, the Worland Warriors picked up another crucial 2A West victory last week.

The Warriors (3-1, 3-0 2A West) kept pace with undefeated No. 1 Mountain View (5-0, 3-0 2A West) atop the 2A West standings with a convincing 27-0 win over the Lyman Eagles (1-4, 0-3 2A West) on Sept. 27 at Warrior Stadium.

With Lyman crowding the box, the No. 3 Warriors went to the air to move the ball on offense.

"We knew we'd have to go that [way]. When it starts out, we run some formations they maybe haven't seen, and we're able to throw shorter and more medium routes. Earlier, we were having to throw so long that the percentages weren't very good," said Coach Marty Wrage.

Wrage continued, "We kind of used run as a decoy and then got right back to throwing. They were having trouble getting in and out of coverages, and we put our two better receivers on the same side and our tight end on the other, where we could run to that side. It was working, and we stayed with it."

Warrior QB Colt Weber was 25 for 34 for 305 yards passing and four touchdowns.

On the receiving end for the Warriors, Masen Decker had eight catches for 72 yards and two TDs, Will Slagle had seven receptions for 85 yards, Brody Thiel had four receptions for 77 yards and a touchdown, Caden Clark had three receptions for 27 yards and a touchdown, Gunner Mascaro had two catches for 26 yards and Damian Mendoza had a catch for 18 yards.

Mascaro led the Warriors in rushing yards with 33 yards, Thiel had 31 yards and Weber had 29 yards.

Decker got the scoring started for the Warriors, taking a 43-yard quick screen pass to the house.

While the Lyman defense sold out to stop the run, the Warriors' offensive line kept a clean pocket for Weber to throw and didn't allow a sack. When starting center Fisher Martinez left due to injury, Kaden Sanchez filled in and held his own even with Lyman testing him throughout the second half.

"I thought the intensity was good. We've moved kids around and have had some injuries, and they adapted to it. Fisher went down, and Kaden came in and never missed a snap. We were going from under center to shotgun, and he's never played center in a varsity game. He had two quarters and never had an error or a high snap. Lyman was going at him, trying to go across his face and that's not always easy," said Wrage. "He's been playing a lot at tight end lately. He's been catching the ball and a third-down catch, which was good."

Worland's had to battle the injury bug the past few weeks, and while they've done that, it's given other players, like Sanchez and Clark, the opportunity to step up and add to the team's depth.

The injuries have also had players moving around, playing different positions. Because of that, it has given players a better understanding of the roles for each position and the aim of every play.

"The way we play offense and defense, you kind of need a lot of people. There are times when we're empty, or we're running two wings with two running backs. It's moving people around. Roman [Parra] is now playing as a receiving tight end but also a fullback.

"It helps with depth and practice. They learn that's why you needed to block that. When you're carrying the ball, it seems more important when that defensive end isn't blocked. They're seeing the whole picture instead of just their spot," said Wrage.

For their second shutout of the season, the Warrior defense started by taking away the Lyman deep ball and running game. However, Lyman made some connections in the intermediate passing game that had them moving the ball in the second and were threatening to score with the ball on Worland's five-yard line.

The Warriors put together a goal-line stop on that Lyman drive and forced a turnover on downs. After that drive, Worland defensive coordinator Josh Heinemeyer made some adjustments and Lyman struggled to move the ball afterward, eventually leading to an interception by Warrior defensive back Roman Parra.

"To take away the deep ball, we had to give up the middle. We can't take away everything, especially from good teams. That quarterback was pretty good, and they had some big kids who could catch it. We knew not to give up the long pass, but for us to really put a lot of pressure on the run, we had to five, seven guys up.

"Once they found that, we had to start creeping up and jumping the ball, like the pick Roman had. Josh adjusted what we were doing, and we became more of a four front than a five or six. They needed to score and knew it wasn't going to work just running it," said Wrage.

Playing at home for another week, the Warriors host the No. 4 Lovell Bulldogs (2-2, 2-1 2A West) at 7 p.m. in a matchup of ranked 2A teams.

After losses to No. 1 Mountain View, 42-35, and No. 2 Big Horn, 28-24, to start the season, the Bulldogs have bounced back, winning two straight. In Week 3, they beat Lyman 36-22 and Week 4 won 42-14 vs. Thermopolis.

Negating Lovell's size advantage at two skill positions will be among the Warriors top focal points Friday.

"The biggest thing is trying to limit what those big athletes do. They have a big tight end and really big wide out. Handling that and taking care of the run and not giving up those long shots. That's what Lovell did to Lyman and just threw it down the field. We've got two good corners and two good safeties. That'll help with those wideouts. We'll give up a little size, but they're pretty good at ball defense.

"They play a 4-4 Cover 3, and they stay in that. They play their front four and nobody else. There are holes in that, it's not going to be easy, but we can get to it. Lyman found those holes at times, and so did Thermopolis," said Wrage.

All rankings are from the WyoPreps coaches and media polls.