School: Worland
Nickname: Warriors
Colors: black and orange
Stadium: Warrior Stadium
State championships: 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1989, 2001, 2002 and 2003
Times worth remembering: Few teams can claim the type of success Worland had in the 1950s. The Warriors won five consecutive Class A championships from 1952-56, won another in 1959 and finished as runners-up in 1951. Worland reached double-digit victories for six straight seasons, 1951-56, and had a combined 61-6-2 record. At one point, Worland went 36 consecutive games without losing — a state record. (Not to be overshadowed is Worland’s more recent success. The Warriors won three consecutive 4A titles from 2001-03, going 29-4 those three years while winning 19 straight.)
Times worth forgetting: The Warriors’ toughest times came in the 1990s, when the team went the entire decade without winning a playoff game — a big dip for a historically successful team. The Warriors didn’t have a winning record for seven consecutive seasons from 1990-96, went 7-2 but lost in the first round of the playoffs in 1997, then bottomed out with an 0-8 season in 1998.
Best team: Picking one team out of a host of greats is difficult in Worland’s case, but the 1956 team stands out simply because of its defensive dominance. On its way to the Class A championship for the fifth consecutive year, the Warriors allowed only 18 points all season — and 12 of those came in the title game against Torrington, a game the Warriors won 46-12. Worland finished the season 10-0-1, the lone smudge a scoreless tie with Natrona. The Warriors got used to seeing the zero on the opponents’ side of the scoreboard: nine of the Warriors’ 11 opponents were held scoreless.
Biggest win: Worland’s championships in 2001 and 2002 were too similar to be coincidence. Both years, the Warriors beat Star Valley in the championship after losing to the Braves during the regular season. And both championship games were defensive struggles, with Worland winning 6-0 in 2001 and 17-14 in 2002. The 2002 game, though, really cemented Worland’s dynasty. After falling behind 14-7, Worland blocked a punt to set up the game-tying touchdown, then blocked a short field goal to help send the game to overtime. After forcing Star Valley into an interception in overtime, the Warriors’ Casey Lass thumped an 18-yard field goal through the uprights for the win — Worland’s second of three straight titles. (Worland is the only team to play in two state championship games that went to overtime; the Warriors also won the 1955 championship in extra time.)
Heartbreaker: The 1988 3A championship game against Torrington started so well for Worland. The Warriors’ opening drive went 80 yards, but, poised to put the game’s first points on the boards, Worland missed a field goal. Unfortunately, that was the Warriors’ best scoring chance in a 6-0 loss to the Trailblazers. Worland managed only 133 total yards.
Greybull’s Brett Keisel will play in the Pro Bowl, the Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Saturday. Keisel is believed to be only the second former Wyoming high school football player to reach the Pro Bowl, joining former Cheyenne Central/Green Bay Packers receiver Boyd Dowler.
Congratulations to the former Buffalo on the honor!
–patrick
Torrington coach Brian Harms resigns (Torrington Telegram). Coach Harms went 11-23 in four seasons as head coach, including playoff appearances in 2008 and 2009.
Harms is the third coach to resign in Wyoming since the end of the season, joining Rock Springs’ Tony Yerkovich and Kelly Walsh’s Jim Horne. Anyone else hear of any other coaching changes? Leave a comment below or e-mail me at pschmiedt@yahoo.com.
–patrick
School: Rock Springs
Nickname: Tigers
Colors: orange and black
Stadium: Tiger Stadium
State championships: 1978, 1987, 2001 and 2002
Times worth remembering: An undefeated season is special, but back-to-back undefeated seasons are rare. The Tigers hung two years of utter domination on the rest of Wyoming’s 5A field, piling up a 22-0 record in 2001 and 2002 — and usually winning big in the process. Rock Springs won 18 of those 22 games by more than eight points and outscored opponents 858-216 — an average margin of 39-10.
Times worth forgetting: The Tigers had eight consecutive non-winning seasons in the 1990s, although that number is somewhat deceiving — the Tigers twice made the 4A semifinals in that span. Consistently garnering at least respect, Rock Springs just couldn’t get over the hump from 1993-95, when it went a combined 3-20. The Tigers were in games, and seven of those losses were by 10 points or less, but the team never found the right formula for consistent winning in those years.
Best team: The 2002 Rock Springs team is regarded not only as the best team in school history, but one of the best in state history. The Tigers averaged nearly 43 points per game, gave up fewer than eight points per game and notched five shutouts, including an 87-0 destruction of Cody and a 70-0 pasting of Laramie. Rock Springs had 10 first-team all-state players, including 5A’s lineman of the year (Nate Gehle) and back of the year (Matt Romanowski), and had four CST Super 25 first-team players.
Biggest win: The Tigers were clear underdogs heading into the 1978 state championship game against Laramie. After all, the Plainsmen had beaten the Tigers 28-0 earlier in the season, so why should the title game be any different? Well, it was. Playing in front of the home fans on a snowy, windy field, Robby Spence scored Rock Springs’ only touchdown in the first four minutes of the game and Don Morris added what ended up being the winning extra point as the Tigers notched a 7-6 victory – the school’s first state championship since winning the “Big Six” title in 1959.
Heartbreaker: The 1975 championship was one of those games no one should lose. With 9-0 Rock Springs meeting 9-0 Natrona County for the state championship, the two teams staged a defensive struggle for the ages, called at the time by the Casper Star-Tribune “the best-ever Class AA playoff championship.” NC held Rock Springs to just 101 total yards and won 13-6, denying the Tigers the chance to win their first state championship game — a feat Rock Springs would have to wait four more years to accomplish.
I was alerted to a couple of missing last week when I was surfing the internet and stumbled across some archives at Saratoga High’s Web site. After some quick double-checking I added these games:
Added Saratoga’s 20-12 loss to the Wheatland JV on Oct. 14, 1993.
Added Saratoga’s 20-15 loss to the Cheyenne Central JV on Oct. 9-13, 1990 (added to the missing games list because I couldn’t find a specific date or a location).
All of the updates have been made on all the relevant pages.
–patrick
The Shrine Bowl South squad’s coaching staff has been set.
Head coach Pat Fackrell of Evanston will join with Scott Schultz of Wheatland, Ted Holmstrom of Lyman, Larry Wagstaff of Evanston, Matt VandeBossche of Lusk and Michael Bates of Snake River to form the South staff, Shrine Bowl Executive Director T.J. Claunch announced Thursday.
The annual all-star football game will be played June 11 in Casper.
–patrick
The coaches for the North squad of the 2011 Shrine Bowl all-star game have been set.
Head coach John Cundall of Greybull will be joined by Vic Wilkerson of Gillette, Pat Lynch of Buffalo, Jeff Sukut of Greybull, David Trembly of Dubois and Dustin Sipe of Kaycee, Shrine Bowl Executive Director T.J. Claunch announced Wednesday.
The South squad has yet to name its coaching staff. Player selections will be announced soon.
The game will be played June 11 in Casper.
–patrick
School: Tongue River
Nickname: Eagles
Colors: green and white
Stadium: Walt Gray Field
State championship: 1956
Times worth remembering: The Eagles can claim two dominant stretches of football — the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s. From 1962-67, Tongue River went a combined 43-5, with undefeated seasons in 1963 (7-0) and 1967 (9-0). Then, from 1972-74, the Eagles went 26-1, the lone loss coming to the Billings Senior junior varsity on the final day of the 1972 season. The 1970s teams earn the edge because of their dominance — in those three years, the Eagles won by an average score of 35-4 and posted 18 shutouts in 27 games.
Times worth forgetting: The hardest two years for legendary coach Walter Gray had to have been his last two. In 1990-91, the Eagles were a combined 2-13. Both seasons were eerily similar — the Eagles beat Wright in the season opener both years, then lost all of their remaining games, usually by a lot. The 1990 Eagles lost five times by shutout, gave up at least 37 points in its seven losses and managed only 31 points total in eight games; the ’91 squad managed more points and fewer blowout losses but still only managed the one victory.
Best team: With five undefeated teams — including four in the non-playoff era — picking TR’s best team is an exercise designed for frustration. But the one that stands out is the one in the middle of the Eagles’ 1970s dynasty: 1973. That year, the Eagles were 10-0 and were at their peak on both offense and defense. The Eagles were a juggernaut offensively, averaging 34.1 points per game, and defensively, they notched eight shutouts. Tongue River was rarely challenged in any game; its closest game was a 16-point victory over the Billings Senior junior varsity in the final game. Every other game was won by at least 20 points.
Biggest win: Tongue River’s first season was also among its best. After combining Dayton and Ranchester prior to the 1956 school year, the new Eagles quickly became one of the state’s top teams and rolled through northeast conference play unbeaten, then topped Cokeville 32-26 in Cokeville in a back-and-forth championship showdown. After staking a 12-0 lead, the Eagles gave up 26 consecutive points to the Panthers, but then staged a comeback rally of their own, scoring 20 straight to close the game while holding the Panthers scoreless in the second half. Ed Fiedor scored the eventual game-winner for TR on a 15-yard run late in the third quarter.
Heartbreaker: The Eagles were big favorites heading into the 2006 3A championship against Big Piney. After all, Tongue River was 10-0 and playing at home; Big Piney was 6-4 and making a long bus trip for the second time in three weeks. But the Punchers stymied the Eagles, making three big stops in the red zone — including an Eagles first-and-goal from the 9-yard line in the final minute — and came away with a 21-18 victory.
A couple quick updates:
Updates: Noted that the 2004 1A playoff game between Guernsey-Sunrise and Burlington was an overtime game.
Coaches Project: Added an update for Torrington.
All-state: Noted that Dennis Hankins, a member of the 1961 Class A all-state team, was from Torrington. Hankins’ school had not been listed previously.
(With Hankins’ addition, I now have just one unattached name on my all-state listings. It belongs to Smith, first name unavailable, 1972 Class AA defensive back. If you know who this is, e-mail me at pschmiedt@yahoo.com.)
Thanks to Mike Mitchell for the help on the Torrington info!
–patrick
With the new year approaching, I got to thinking about the past decade of Wyoming high school football games and all of the great ones we’ve been privileged to watch, hear about, or (in my case) write about. With 2,948 games played since 2001, there are plenty of great games from which to choose. I started a mental checklist and kept coming up with games I had forgotten; there were probably 60 games on my original list. From that, I pared my list down to about 40, then to the top 20 games of the past 10 years.
The list is probably a little heavy on later-decade games, as I didn’t start my work at the Star-Tribune until 2005, and is also heavy on playoff games, but that makes sense considering that playoff games have more riding on them, better teams playing, and can end seasons — all heightening the drama and the memorable aspects involved.
I tried to pick the best games, where both teams were at full strength, where the stakes were high, where the outcome was in doubt until late. You won’t see any games decided by more than seven points on this list.
Obviously, this list is the work of one person. If you came up with your own list, you would probably include some games that I did not. And that’s encouraged. Take a look at this list, then let me know which games you think I forgot.
These games are in chronological order. It was hard enough for me to pick 20; rank-ordering those 20 would take me until the start of next season. (But check out the bottom of this post for my “game of the decade.”)
Without further ado, the top 20 games of Wyoming high school football in the past 10 years:
Big Piney 34, Glenrock 33, OT, 2001 Class 3A semifinals — Herders rally from 27-0 deficit, but miss extra point in overtime
Southeast 14, Lusk 7, 2001 Class 2A championship — Two two-time defending champs stage a classic
Worland 17, Star Valley 14, OT, 2002 Class 4A championship — 18-yard field goal by Casey Lass in OT wins it for Warriors
Cokeville 14, Southeast 13, 2003 Class 1A championship — Cyclones go for two, come up short with 2:14 to go
Green River 24, Riverton 21, 2004 Class 5A semifinals — Wolves nearly upset by Wolverines on their way to a perfect season
Guernsey-Sunrise 20, Cokeville 18, 2004 Class 1A championship — Nigel Bristow scores winning TD with 2 minutes to go
Cheyenne Central 23, Natrona 20, OT, 2005 Class 5A semifinals — Central drives late in fourth quarter for TD to tie it, wins in OT
Guernsey-Sunrise 26, Burlington 23, 2005 Class 1A semifinals — Vikings win with TD on final play
Big Piney 12, Newcastle 6, 2006 Class 3A quarterfinals — Punchers make the long trip, win with Seth Linn’s TD catch in final three seconds
Cheyenne East 5, Natrona 3, 2006 Class 4A semifinals — East scores five points in final three minutes, then holds off NC’s last drive
Guernsey-Sunrise 14, Cokeville 12, 2006 Class 1A championship — Panthers miss short field goal on season’s final play
Cheyenne East 35, Gillette 34, 2 OT, 2007 Class 5A semifinals — Blocked extra point in second OT helps to give T-Birds the victory
Jackson 10, Buffalo 6, 2007 Class 4A championship — Jackson produces epic goal-line stand in final 2 minutes
Riverside 21, Big Horn 20, 2007 Class 2A championship — Rebels go 99 yards on game-winning drive, convert 2-point try for championship
Glenrock 16, Buffalo 14, 2008 regular season — Herders’ biggest test during unbeaten season comes down to conversion try in final moments
Douglas 28, Powell 27, 2 OT, 2008 Class 4A semifinals — Cody Bohlander’s three-TD day is capped with winning conversion run
Kelly Walsh 28, Natrona 27, 2 OT, 2009 regular season — Trojans rally from 21-0 deficit, stop Mustangs on 2-point conversion in second OT
Kaycee 58, Midwest 56, 2009 Class 1A-six man semifinals — Buckaroos’ Shawn Straub scores long TD in final 15 seconds
Buffalo 24, Cody 21, OT, 2010 Class 3A semifinals — Bison rally from 14-0 deficit, come up with big defensive stand in overtime
Thermopolis 13, Big Horn 9, 2010 Class 2A championship — Bobcats repeat as champion with late TD by Mitch Syverson
Also on my short list: Lovell 18, Rocky Mountain 15, 2002 Class 3A quarterfinals; Gillette 40, Kelly Walsh 37, OT, 2005 regular season; Powell 33, Lander 31, 2005 Class 4A quarterfinals; Wright 13, Big Horn 7, 2005 Class 2A semifinals; Upton 7, Cokeville 3, 2005 Class 1A semifinals; Buffalo 17, Star Valley 14, 2005 Class 4A championship; Douglas 30, Jackson 26, 2006 Class 4A quarterfinals; Evanston 36, Kelly Walsh 31, 2007 Class 5A quarterfinals; Jackson 16, Douglas 14, 2007 Class 4A semifinals; Lander 6, Jackson 0, 2008 regular season; Douglas 21, Buffalo 14, OT, 2008 regular season; Pine Bluffs 22, Hulett 20, 2009 regular season; Sheridan 9, Kelly Walsh 7, 2009 Class 4A semifinals; Gillette 27, Sheridan 24, OT, 2010 regular season; Southeast 15, Rocky Mountain 14, 2010 Class 1A 11-man quarterfinals.
Of these games, though, one stands out as my choice for “game of the decade”…. and I’m going with the 2007 2A title game, Riverside over Big Horn. This game was etched into memory by Riverside’s game-winning 99-yard drive — and by the Rebels’ successful 2-point conversion late in the game. But this game was more than that. Riverside was avenging a home loss to Big Horn earlier in the season that had ended in similar fashion, with the Rebels having missed a two-point conversion in overtime; Riverside was coming off a two-point loss to Southeast in the 2006 title game; the Rebels had won their other two playoff games by a combined three points, while Big Horn had won its playoff games by eight and five points in one of the most even playoff brackets in recent memory; Big Horn was playing in its fourth state championship game in six years, having won in 2003 and 2004, while Riverside was playing for the town of Basin’s first state football championship…. all that drama, all that intrigue, all that background, and all you need to know is “Rebels convert.”
So what do you think? What games did I forget about? Which game would be your choice for top game of the decade? Post a comment below. Then let’s get set for another decade of high school football!
Happy New Year!
–patrick