In an up and down season the Powell Middle School eighth grade football team finished just under .500, ending with a 3-4 record.

The Cubs ended with losses to Riverton, Cody, Worland and Laurel, but earned wins against Lovell, Sheridan and, to end the year, a 44-0 rout of Lander.

“It was weird, because I felt like this was a good team,” coach Bryan Bonander said. “There were just a few teams better than us … It was a pretty solid team. The competition was different. I was really proud of the boys. We ended the year on a great win so that was a nice way to cap off the season.”

Bonander said the Cubs boasted a number of good athletes this season, but one of the group’s weaknesses was size, which proved to be the team’s downfall in some of their close losses.

“We had some good skill players, we just weren’t really big … When we went up against bigger teams, they kind of wore us out,” Bonander said. “I call it the Urbach practice, where we usually have pretty well-conditioned teams, and we did this year too, but it’s just hard when you go against bigger kids all the time that just kind of wears on you.”

He added that was a factor in a couple of games, as the team was unable to find a way to win in some close games.

“Riverton was relatively close. We kind of laid an egg against Worland. We should have won, we just didn’t come to play,” Bonander said. “We could have easily gotten second place in the conference if we just maybe a couple things go our way.”

Quarterbacking the Cubs was Luis Meza, who had been injured last year and missed much of the seventh grade season.

“He got a full season under his belt, and he was fantastic as a quarterback,” Bonander said. “He was a great learner, easy to coach, fun kid to be around.”

In the backfield the Cubs had a number of running backs, with the likes of Tucker McDonald and Auzzy Carter leading the charge while Garrett Davis led the Cubs at tight end.

While the Cubs may have been undersized, Bonander felt the line did a great job this season, spearheaded by center Wade Gernhart.

“He was a rock. He was a very good leader for the whole line,” Bonander said.

Defensively the Cubs had a number of strong players throughout, but it was a smaller athlete among the team who would always find a tackle that impressed Bonander.

“Rhett [Goolsbey], I think he weighed about 70 pounds for us, but he’s just kind of one of those kids. I liken it to one of those flies that bite at your ankle. He probably had the second most tackles on our team,” Bonander said. “He just always tackled right at your ankles, which he had to do.”

In the secondary chasing down passes was Jack Tietema, who Bonander noted led the team in interceptions this season.

“He had a ton of interceptions for us this year. I think he had four or five maybe, which is pretty cool,” Bonander said.

Overall Bonander felt tackling proved to be difficult for the squad, but that they were able to improve by season’s end.

“Not being big we kind of got pushed around a little bit during those games that were really competitive,” Bonander said. “But we got better. Our tackling was a little suspect, we’ll call it, but we worked hard in practice and got better at it.”

Bonander added there were a number of athletes who showed growth and made an impact, such as Kenny Parker, Carter Gambill, Marco Mendoza, Paxton Hernandez and James Heny, as well as Jersee Erickson who kicked for the Cubs before an injury late in the season.

“Shoutout to my manager Dylan Dicks. We had him chasing the punting tee down for a little while, but he didn’t fall for it for very long,” Bonander said. “That’s usually one of our jokes we do for our managers.”

Moving forward, Bonander said he feels this group will benefit from getting bigger, faster and stronger while competing with strong classes surrounding them in the Powell football program.

“They’re just gonna have to hit the weight room,” Bonander said. “There’s good players around them, above and below, but that means they’re just gonna have to work to find spots … A lot of these kids wrestle, so I think that’s going to help them get bigger, faster, stronger as well.”

Bonander said he is hopeful this group will stick together at the high school level, as they will move on to the Panthers next year.