When it comes to youth soccer, Powell is quickly becoming a major force in the state of Wyoming, as evidenced over Memorial Day weekend.

While the Heart Mountain U10 team won its state championship at the State Cup tournament in Casper, so did the U12 squad, accomplishing the feat for the second year in a row.

“Josh Westerholt coached last year’s team and with half the kids moving up in age bracket, he coached the U14 team this year,” current U12 head coach Gary Brewer said. “I was with the U10s last season and moved up to coach the U12s this year.”

The U14s also did well, though couldn’t quite get the title.

“Of all the teams we sent to state — U10, U12 and U14 — none of them lost,” Brewer said. “The U14s had a couple ties, which prevented them from getting to the title round, but still, that’s a pretty cool thing.”

For Brewer’s team, things started with a relatively tough opening match against the Casper Blades, outlasting them in a 5-3 win.

But as the tournament went on, Heart Mountain really got going in dominant fashion.

An 11-1 buffaloing of Buffalo in the next match put the Powell bunch atop their bracket and sent them into the semifinals against the Sheridan Storm, resulting in a 5-2 win and a shot at the title, just not against the team they would have preferred.

“We had some tough losses earlier in the season, especially to Cody at their tournament,” Brewer said. “So we had really hoped to face them in this championship.”

That match-up wasn’t to be, however, and Heart Mountain took it out on Green River by a 7-1 score for the state title.

“We peaked at the right time,” Brewer said. “Everybody got better throughout the season and everyone contributed. It was a lot of fun.

“Another neat thing was that for the U12 bracket, Green River and us were the only two co-ed teams and we were the two that met for the championship,” Brewer added. “I think that was pretty cool.”

The success of his squad, along with the accomplishments of the other Heart Mountain teams says a lot about the program and its players, something Brewer is proud of.

“It says a lot about the kids coming through the program, with how hard they work,” he said. “They’re amazing to watch, seeing how good they are. We’ve even had some kids get invited to try out for the 307 team, the Wyoming travel team that competes in tournaments against other state teams.

“We have the U8 level now too, so a lot of these kids started playing competitively at 8 years old,” Brewer added. “It is fun to see and be a part of and in the coming years, will only help the high school program.”