It was a strong weekend for the Heart Mountain United U14 soccer team as they battled through adversity and injury to claim third place in the Silver division of the Snickers Cup in Sheridan this past weekend.

Composed of Powell seventh- and eighth-graders, Heart Mountain went 2-1 during pool play at Sheridan to land them in the Silver division.

The team’s opening match was against the hosts and Powell eked out a 3-2, comeback win on the pitch.

Sheridan broke out on top early, building up a two-goal lead at the half, 2-0.

But Heart Mountain took over in the second half as Kobe Ostermiller, Jesse Trotter and Trevor Groves booted in scores, while the defense put the clamps on Sheridan.

“Ernie Acevedo played center defender and did a fabulous job to help hold them scoreless in the second half,” head catch Josh Westerhold said.

Next up was a match against a tough Montana Edge program, where the injury adversity came into play.

“We sustained several injuries and struggled to shuffle players around to cover the gaps,” Westerhold said. “Ethan Wardell made an impressive save on a penalty kick to keep us in the game early, but we were just unable to put any shots in the net.”

The Edge would put in two scores and hold on for a 2-0 win.

This ended Saturday’s round of play, and the United kids were back on the pitch in earnest for their final pool play game Sunday morning against Casper, a 4-2 win.

“We had a couple yellow card penalties against us and I’m fine with those,” Westerhold said. “They were clean fouls that just indicate we are playing aggressive, physical soccer.”

After a hard-fought first half, Ostermiller had the duty of marking Casper’s top player and was up to the task and kept him off the board.

Offensively, Garrett Stutzman scored Heart Mountain’s first two goals before Cameron Wentz put one in for a 3-2 lead.

Then, for the icing on the cake, as the final whistle was about to blow, Landon Sessions blasted one into the back of the net to provide for the final margin.

The 2-1 record in pool play placed Heart Mountain second in its bracket, setting the team up in the match for third place against the second-seeded team in the opposing bracket, Laurel.

And two goals would be all that was needed as the defense lassoed Laurel and kept them off the board, while it was a pair of collective offensive efforts that got the Powell team a 2-0 win.

Acevedo sent a corner kick toward the front of the goal, where a collection of Heart Mountain players corralled it and with a flurry of footwork, sent it in for a score.

“It was a frenzy with several players involved and they weren’t even sure who scored it,” Westerhold said.

Later, Sessions sent a shot in that was on the verge of going through, but just in case there was any doubt, Wentz raced in and powered it home the rest of the way for the 2-0 final.

U10s take title

Heart Mountain United also came away from the Snicker’s Cup with a championship, won by the U10 team coached by Brian Orr, with four straight wins.

In Saturday’s pool play, the United youngsters cruised to an 8-1 win over Worland before facing a slightly tougher test against Sheridan in a 3-1 win.

Sunday had one more pool play match against Billings, where the landscape very much came into play.

“The fields in Sheridan have a significant slant and in the first half, we had the downhill advantage,” Orr said. “We rode that to a 6-0 halftime lead.”

Of course, that meant Billings would have the same advantage in the second half, but Heart Mountain’s defense, while bending, didn’t break and the team held on for a 6-3 victory, sending them to face the top-seed in the opposing bracket in the championship game.

There, United faced off with Black Hills Rapids and in addition to the sloped field, the wind had picked up blowing in the same direction of the downhill slope, adding to the already apparent advantage.

Rapids had the wind/slope going its way in the first half, but the Heart Mountain defense was able to hold down the scoring to just two goals, while the offense maneuvered for a score for just a 2-1 halftime deficit.

“I told the kids that we were in good shape at halftime,” Orr said. “Sure enough, we scored three unanswered goals to win 4-2.”

Key players for United over the championship weekend were Will Jackson and Gunnar Erickson, who each had three goals, while Chance Franks and Conner Boswell added several goals.

Parker Williams and Landon Hernandez added their names to the scoring column from their mid-field positions with Emily Orr nearly doing so as well.

Defensively, Coach Orr noted the outstanding play of Ashtyn Wardell and Franks, along with the goaltending of Kaden Hammond.

“Kaden made several critical saves that preserved the wins,” he said. “We only allowed seven goals in four games, which is amazing considering the small size of the fields.”

Orr also mentioned other key contributors to the U10 team’s success.

“Travis Jackson and two Northwest College soccer players, Mitchell Pinney and Ryan Montgomery have made such a huge difference in the development of the kids,” he said. “And the commitment from the parents has been second to none.”