An improvement in the second official year of soccer at Powell Middle School saw the Cub boys finish with a 1-1-6 record, but also secure a program first. Despite recording more losses than last year, the Cubs recorded the first win in official program history to cap off the season.

“Even though we lost more this year, we had a better finish than last year due to the points system in soccer,” coach Justin Waterworth said.

That better standing came in part because the Cubs recorded four points with the win and draw, while the Cubs recorded three draws to give the team three points as a win is worth three points and a draw is worth only one.

Leading the way for the Cubs up top was Gianreye D’Alessandro, who scored 11 goals, including five in a single game against Rawlins.

Knox Johnson led the Cubs in assists with seven.

Defensively the Cubs were made up of Aaden Collins, Sam Williams, Channing Wenzel and goalkeeper Jose Villanueva, who set a program record with 100 saves in the season.

“It’s great to know that I’m sending an athletic goalkeeper to the high school program next year,” Waterworth said.

He said one athlete who showed major improvement was Brady Kuenn, who stepped up in the second half of the season on defense.

Waterworth added that Parker Clark brought a unique aspect to the Cubs to help make the midfield stronger.

“He brought his hockey knowledge to the soccer field and acted as a bit of a bulldog for us, chasing skilled opponents and making life miserable for them in the midfield,” Waterworth said.

He said the team learned a lot of valuable lessons throughout the year and continually discussed the importance of having the desire to win.

“We talk a lot about the desire to win and not just going out there being afraid to lose,” Waterworth said. “Our mantra was about taking opportunities and fighting to the end to protect a victory. This program is still young and we haven’t had a lot of success record-wise, but it all came together in the last game against Riverton.”

In that final game, Waterworth said the Cubs took an early lead and were winning in most aspects on the field, but then a pretty significant injury struck the Cubs in the first half.

“I wasn’t sure how the boys would respond, but we hung on until halftime and made some pretty major adjustments,” Waterworth said. “This is stuff that I used to work with varsity boys in tournament play, just game management things that are pretty advanced for a group of middle school players.”

Waterworth said that the Cubs went out and executed the plan perfectly, earning the first victory for the program.

“I think that the biggest thing we learned was the commitment to the plan and how important it is to execute properly with maximum effort 100% of the time. That will pay dividends for the high school program these next few years,” Waterworth said.

He said that in particular he hopes the eighth graders take the feeling of winning with them to the next level.