The Thunderbirds battled their way through a tough state tournament 250 miles away from home only find themselves up against a school located less than five miles from their home campus. Not only was the opponent familiar to them, but it also turned out to be their long-time rival, Cheyenne Central.

The T-Birds did what they could against a red-hot Central team, but found themselves on the losing end of a 5-1 final score. Senior Finley Mcllwaine made the T-Birds first and only goal, with an assist from senior Joseph Frolicher, in the 66^th minute.

Even though both teams took 11 shots, Central was locked-in and in a better rhythm. Out of Central’s eight shots on goal, five resulted in scores. East actually took six corner kicks to Central’s two, but the Indians were able to take advantage of the emotion of the game and make the plays.

“It was one of those games where everything just seemed to go right for the other team,” said assistant coach Cody Fournier. “You could see the emotion on our kids’ faces as they dribbled down the field, just trying to do anything to make a play.”

The Thunderbirds had to play in the championship game without senior Caleb Pushcar who suffered a neck injury in a collision with Sheridan’s goalkeeper Jess Edens during the semi-final game on Friday. He had successful surgery to repair damage to his C6 and C7 vertebrae on Saturday in Salt Lake City. The East and Central players huddled together at midfield in a gesture to honor Pushcar before the championship game.