Worland Boys Win 3A State Soccer
Written by Chance Bond on May 26, 2021
The Worland Warrior Boy’s Soccer team are Wyoming 3A State Champions. With a 1-0 win over the Powell Panthers.
Worland went into the Wyoming 3A State Soccer Tournament 14-0 on the season. They were the West Conference number 1 seed and would start the tournament against the East Conference number 4 seed Rawlins Outlaws.
The opening match of the tournament would be Thursday May 20th at 11am from Cheyenne North Community Park on a bit of an overcast day.
Cole Venable would have 3 goals, Jackson Wassum, Jorey Anderson, JT Klinghagen, Rudy Sanford, Jonah Bailey, and Yahir Rodriquez would all score goals against the Outlaws.
The Worland Warriors would get a 9-0 win over Rawlins and advanced to the Semi-final round against a familiar opponent in the Lander Valley Tigers.
Friday afternoon at 2pm the match with Lander would take place at Cheyenne South High School. The weather would cooperate enough, but still a balmy, overcast day.
The weather didn’t have much of an impact. Cole Venable would score 3 goals for the second straight game and give the Warriors the 3-0 win over the Tigers and advance to the State Title Match against the Powell Panthers.
On a trip from inside the box Cole Venable would get a Penalty Kick at the 20:40 mark. Cole would not let the opportunity pass, sinking the ball in the back of the net.
Just after halftime with over 34 minutes still on the clock Mother Nature reared her head with a lightning delay lasting over an hour.
The delay didn’t seem to bother the Warriors. “We just stayed focused and loose.” said Senior Defender JT Klinghagen.
The Warrior defense would hold and Worland would get a 1-0 win over Powell to receive their third consecutive Wyoming 3A State Championship.
The Warriors are 49-0 over the last 4 seasons (minus the 2020 season) dating back to May 20th of 2017 with an playoff lose to Lander.
Six Warriors were both All-Conference and All-State. They all are also on the Wyoming Coaches Association All-Star team. Cole Venable, Rudy Sanford, Court Gonzalez, Jorey Anderson, JT Klinghagen, and Yahir Rodriquez.
Cole Venable was named 2021 Wyoming 3A Underclassman of the Year. JT Klinghagen was named 2021 Wyoming 3A Senior of the Year.
Scroll through this post. There are interviews with players as well as the replays of the Lander and Powell matches.
Photos curtesy of BARNEY SCHNEIDER
