The Powell Middle School boys’ soccer team finished a strong season with a winning record, going 4-1-3 and finishing second in the conference standings.

The Cubs opened the season with a 3-2 loss against Worland, before winning two straight games with a 4-3 win over Riverton and a 3-0 win over Rawlins.

“[This season] we learned what it meant to finish a game and leave no chances. Our first game vs. Worland was in a strong wind and it was very cold,” coach Justin Waterworth said. “We had a 2-0 lead and gave it away in the second half. That first game really changed the tone of the season and the early lesson helped us later in the season. We had several other close games and were able to maintain possession and earn a victory.”

Powell fell against Lander 6-0, before tying against Buffalo 2-2.

The Cubs avenged their loss to Worland with a 2-1 win and then defeated Riverton again 1-0 before ending the season with a 4-0 loss to Lander.

Leading the attack for the Cubs was Reese Ouellette, who finished with nine goals for the season.

Other goal scorers included Wyatt Burns with two along with Hudson Miller, Legend Keefer, Jack Tietema and Luis Meza who each had one goal.

“Legend’s goal was a thing of beauty,” Waterworth said. “All season he crashed the far post looking for rebounds. It can be kind of discouraging to constantly make a run with no reward, but his one tough finish on probably the 50th time he made that run ended in a sweet score. And it sealed the deal against Worland for a bit of revenge from that first game.”

Assisters for the Cubs included Miller and Burns with three each, Oullette and Meza with two each and Tietema had one.

In goal Damion Craw made 41 saves on the season for the Cubs, who boasted a much improved defense.

“That is half the saves from last year, which means our defense improved drastically,” Waterworth said. “The back line of Paxton Hernandez, Brady Kuenn, Wyatt Bost and Trey Schultz need to be commended for that stat.”

The Cubs saw a number of improvements throughout the entire lineup as players grew whether they were new to the team or an experienced player.

“Parker Clark bulldogged as a defender all season and learned a lot of the strategy of the defensive game and how to properly distribute once he gained possession,” Waterworth said. “Trey was basically brand new this year and I know that he grew a ton. Luis is one of the fastest student athletes that I’ve ever seen and he jumped right in at the wing position and crushed it … I also need to mention John ‘Chef’ Swaney, as he basically was the 12th man who did whatever I asked him to do and found great success competing this season.”

After a better record this season, Waterworth feels as if next season can be just as successful with incoming seventh graders while sending eighth graders to the next level with the skills required to compete at the high school level.

“I’m excited for next year already because I have excellent seventh grade replacements for all of the eighth graders moving on,” Waterworth said. “Coach (David) Gilliatt asks that the kids I send up can ‘pass, dribble and shoot.’ This is the first year in the program where I can confidently say that everyone in the group he is getting is capable of at least two of those three things. Powell has given me the time necessary, which I am very thankful for, to establish the foundation for success that I learned from my time in Worland working under Ron Overcast with their boys, and it is going to start paying dividends very shortly.”