Quarterfinal playoff picks

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Rather than making one game my game of the week, I want to pose to you, my readers, a few questions that will help spark some debate as we enter the second season.

Playoff games present the opportunities for which players and coaches dream. The ultimate hope is to play in The War, but only 10 of the remaining 40 teams will have that chance.

Which 10, is the question I ask now? But more than that, how about these brain teasers:

1. Which road team do you think is most likely to win on Friday? (My answer: Riverton. Remember, the Wolverines played Powell to a 13-10 score early in the season and won’t be fazed by going on the road.)

2. Which road team in the first round has the best chance of hosting a game in the second round — or, in simpler terms, which bracket half is most likely to see BOTH road teams win? (My answer: Lyman. Coming off a tough loss, I think the Eagles will be extremely focused and have a true shot to take down defending champ Thermopolis. On that same side of the bracket, Burns looks tough and will give Lovell a tussle in the first round; remember, Burns beat Wright last week just to make it to the postseason, and Lovell barely beat Wright 21-20 in Week 1.)

3. Which top seed is likely to have the toughest time winning on Friday? (My answer: Cody. Wheatland is one of those annoying teams that hangs around and makes things interesting. If the game is close in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs might just pull off the upset of the week.)

4. Which regular-season rematch is the most intriguing game of the postseason? (My answer: Central-Gillette. Remember what happened when they met in the regular season? The Camels needed a humongous fourth-quarter comeback to hold off the Indians. Neither team wants a repeat of that game; Gillette doesn’t want to be scared like that and Central doesn’t want to lose like that.)

5. If you could attend any of these 20 games, which one would you go to? (My answer: Midwest at Kaycee. Come on now, you didn’t think I’d bypass the chance to watch the Oilers and the Buckaroos in postseason ANYTHING, would you? Not only that, but it should be a great game, too. However, I’ll be in Sheridan on Friday and will have to miss this one. Darn it.)

So, take a stab at answering those questions, then check out my picks. Remember, projected winners are in bold, but projected losers have the added motivation of proving me wrong:

(all games Friday)
Class 4A
(8) Green River at (1) Natrona: Even coming off a loss, and even a bit banged up, I still like the Mustangs. 7 p.m.
(5) Cheyenne Central at (4) Gillette: I really want to pick the Indians. But I really want to pick the Camels, too. In the end, I think home field and psychology swing this one Gillette’s way. 7 p.m.
(7) Kelly Walsh at (2) Sheridan: Does anyone remember two weeks ago when Sheridan supposedly blew their chances at hosting past the first round? Nope, me neither. 7 p.m.
(6) Cheyenne East at (3) Evanston: East finally broke that losing streak and will play Evanston closer than they did a couple weeks ago, but the Red Devils are still too much. 7 p.m.

Class 3A
(4W) Star Valley at (1E) Douglas: Douglas took care of Star Valley back a few weeks ago pretty handily. I’m banking on a little more of the same from the streaking Bearcats. 7 p.m.
(3E) Riverton at (2W) Powell: Riverton is scrappy and I like what they’re doing. But Powell beat Riverton in the regular season and has the home field, so don’t take this one for granted — maybe a blocked extra point to decide it. 7 p.m.
(3W) Lander at (2E) Buffalo: The Bison just look better and better with every passing week. 6 p.m.
(4E) Wheatland at (1W) Cody: Cody will get pushed a bit, but I think the Broncs will show why they’ve won eight in a row. 6 p.m.

Class 2A
(4W) Big Piney at (1E) Big Horn: Is there a hotter team in the state right now than the Rams? Maybe not. The Punchers will find out. Noon.
(3E) Newcastle at (2W) Greybull: The Dogies could give the Buffs a run in this one, especially if their passing game gets going, but the Buffs’ run game is probably too much to stop. 6 p.m.
(3W) Lyman at (2E) Thermopolis: Of all the ways the final weekend could have gone for the Eagles, it went this way. A date on the road with the defending champs is not the way any team wants to start a playoff run. Nevertheless, I think it’ll be close. 7 p.m.
(4E) Burns at (1W) Lovell: Comparing scores is dangerous (see above). When I do that, I think Burns could win this one. But the Bulldogs are the top seed from the West for a reason and will be motivated to prove that on Friday. 7 p.m.

Class 1A 11-man
(4W) Burlington at (1E) Lusk: The Tigers’ momentum has yet to be stopped. 6 p.m.
(3E) Lingle at (2W) Dubois: The only thing I think that separates the Doggers from the Rams is postseason experience. The Doggers have it, and I think that’s what gives them the advantage in this long-distance showdown. 1 p.m.
(3W) Rocky Mountain at (2E) Southeast: I love, love, LOVE this matchup. Two schools with fantastic traditions and solid but unspectacular 2010 seasons, both eager to prove themselves on the postseason stage… awesome. Cyclones, with home field, have the slight advantage. 6 p.m.
(4E) Pine Bluffs at (1W) Cokeville: It’s weird to think, but I just realized both of these teams had last week off. Let’s see how that affects the play on both sides in a game that’s a rematch from last year’s 1A quarterfinals. 1 p.m.

Class 1A six-man
(8) Farson at (1) Snake River: Rattlers. Unbeaten and, according to the scores from this fall, maybe unstoppable. 2 p.m.
(5) Midwest at (4) Kaycee: My alma mater will try its best to reverse the Kaycee hex from last year’s playoffs, but for now I think it’s still in play. 2 p.m.
(6) Meeteetse at (3) Ten Sleep: The Longhorns’ trade-off for a short drive is having to face the Pioneers, who all of a sudden are an offensive juggernaut. 2 p.m.
(7) Guernsey at (2) Hanna: Remember last year’s playoffs? Confident home team vs. upstart road team… only this time the roles are reversed. Careful, there, Miners. 2 p.m.

Looking over these picks, I realize I was fairly conservative: only two road teams. Nevertheless, I am anticipating some fantastic football on Friday.

So what are you waiting for? I know you have some thoughts. Post ’em below!

–patrick

Newsbreak: Powell, Lander, Star Valley, Jackson, Evanston, Rock Springs

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Powell-Lander recap (Powell Tribune). … Star Valley-Jackson recap (Star Valley Independent, scroll down). … Evanston-Rock Springs recap (Uinta County Herald).

–patrick

Five Minute Introduction: Sundance

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School: Sundance
Nickname: Bulldogs
Colors: red and white
Stadium: Bulldog Stadium
State championship: 2005
Times worth remembering: Back-to-back one-loss seasons in 1968 and 1969 were Sundance’s best sustained multi-year effort; however, the great seasons didn’t earn the Bulldogs much respect outside the northeast corner. The 1968 team finished 8-1, with only a 21-20 loss to Newell, S.D. in the season finale — a game decided in the final minute — marring its record, but finished seventh in the final statewide poll. The 1969 team also went 8-1 and lost only to Upton, but finished sixth overall (Upton was fourth). The back-to-back one-loss seasons were part of a bigger seven-year streak from 1965-71 in which Sundance did not have a losing season.
Times worth forgetting: It took four years in the early 1950s for Sundance to figure out its place. From 1951-54, the Bulldogs didn’t win a single game, racking up a 0-27-2 record, at one point matching a state record by going 33 consecutive games without a victory. In 1955, the Bulldogs dropped to six-man play — and posted a winning record.
Best team: The 2005 Bulldogs finally gave the red and white faithful the state championship they had long been awaiting. Sundance went 10-1 that year with the lone loss a 22-20 thriller to Big Horn. In the playoffs, the Bulldogs outscored their opponents 88-6, including a 40-0 whitewash of Wright in the 2A title game. The Bulldogs had nine first-team all-state players, almost twice as many as any other squad.
Biggest win: The lone championship game victory Sundance has ever had — the 40-0 win over Wright in 2005 — was an exercise in domination. The Bulldogs put the game away early, building a 19-0 first-quarter lead and then riding the strength of its defense to the trophy. The Panthers had only 30 yards of total offense, and 20 of those came in the final moments against the Bulldogs’ backups.
Heartbreaker: The 1990 reclassification came at just the right time for Sundance, which fell into Class 1A-11 man play just as a talented, athletic group of players was finding its stride. The players didn’t prove that hunch wrong, rolling up an 8-0 record, including a 23-20 squeaker in a semifinal victory over Burns, to reach the state title game for the first time in school history. But once there, Cokeville – the perennial favorites in the 1A division – controlled the game from start to finish, picking off four Sundance passes throughout the game, and knocked off the top-ranked Bulldogs 20-6.

Sundance team page.

Official quarterfinal playoff pairings and game times

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Game times are all in! Here are the pairings with kickoff times. All games are scheduled for Friday:

Class 4A
(8) Green River at (1) Natrona, 7 p.m.
(5) Cheyenne Central at (4) Gillette, 7 p.m.
(7) Kelly Walsh at (2) Sheridan, 7 p.m.
(6) Cheyenne East at (3) Evanston, 7 p.m.

Class 3A
(4W) Star Valley at (1E) Douglas, 7 p.m.
(3E) Riverton at (2W) Powell, 7 p.m.
(3W) Lander at (2E) Buffalo, 6 p.m.
(4E) Wheatland at (1W) Cody, 6 p.m.

Class 2A
(4W) Big Piney at (1E) Big Horn, noon
(3E) Newcastle at (2W) Greybull, 6 p.m.
(3W) Lyman at (2E) Thermopolis, 7 p.m.
(4E) Burns at (1W) Lovell, 7 p.m.

Class 1A 11-man
(4W) Burlington at (1E) Lusk, 6 p.m.
(3E) Lingle at (2W) Dubois, 1 p.m.
(3W) Rocky Mountain at (2E) Southeast, 6 p.m.
(4E) Pine Bluffs at (1W) Cokeville, 1 p.m.

Class 1A six-man
(8) Farson at (1) Snake River, 2 p.m.
(5) Midwest at (4) Kaycee, 2 p.m.
(6) Meeteetse at (3) Ten Sleep, 2 p.m.
(7) Guernsey at (2) Hanna, 2 p.m.

–patrick

Newsbreak: Gillette, Green River, Cody, Worland, Thermopolis, Tongue River

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Gillette-Green River recap (Gillette News-Record). … Players of the week (Casper Star-Tribune). … Cody-Worland and Thermopolis-Tongue River recaps (Northern Wyo Daily News, click today).

–patrick

Official brackets released, and some postseason musings

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The official brackets for the playoffs were released today by the WHSAA. No surprises; every game was matched up as projected. Game times have started to filter in oh-so-slightly; look for all the game times to be posted by Monday or Tuesday.

(Click here for the 4A bracket, here for the 3A bracket, here for the 2A bracket, here for the 1A 11-man bracket and here for the 1A six-man bracket.)

Now that we know the matchups for sure, here’s a brief overview:

In 3A, 2A and 1A 11-man, we get to see something the playoffs can tout as an equalizer: the unfamiliarity factor. In fact, in the first round of this year’s playoffs, we get five matchups of schools who have never played against each other before (Wheatland-Cody; Big Piney-Big Horn; Burns-Lovell; Burlington-Lusk; Rocky Mountain-Southeast). Also, Lingle and Dubois have only met once before, that being the 1990 1A 9-man championship game. That unfamiliarity generally makes for more unpredictable play and tighter games.

Conversely, because of the round-robin schedules used in 4A and 1A six-man, those brackets are all rematches from the regular season. In both brackets, the team that won the regular-season meeting is hosting the other team in the first round.

The 1A six-man bracket looks unique this year in that it appears as though the WHSAA went back to geographical convenience scheduling for the first round of the playoffs (remember that?). Those first-round matchups are about as geographically convenient as you can get: Meeteetse-Ten Sleep, Midwest-Kaycee, Farson-Snake River and Guernsey-Hanna. The semis won’t be that convenient, though — that’s a guarantee.

Anyway, more thoughts on the playoffs as the week progresses. Feel free to start the chat now, if you choose…

–patrick

Week 8 Humble Pie: Victor Borge, oversized playing cards and concrete perfection

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Perfection, as an abstract, is unattainable.

We can come close. We, as humans, have the inherent ability to produce excellence and beauty. Paintings, sculptures, poems, or even blog posts can be beautiful and amazing and breathtaking. But perfection, due to and restrained by its definition, is unreachable. But that’s as an abstract.

Football rarely concerns itself with abstracts. Because of that, in football perfection is not only attainable, it is measurable. As long as the number of losses a team has is zero, it can be “perfect.” The abstract symbolism that artists strive and fret and go mad over, knowing they’ll never reach it, is concretely symbolized by one solitary number in football, the number that shows the number of losses a team possesses on the season.

The concrete finality of a football score is unforgiving and unsympathetic. One team wins and one team loses. We can’t even call ourselves equals if we finish the game with the same number of points. Not enough American finality in a tie. That’s why we have overtime.

The point?

We throw around terms like perfection all too often in the football world. I’m sure one of the thoughts that went through your head when you heard the final score of the Sheridan-Natrona game — 18-17, Sheridan — was like one of the first that went through mine: “Well, there goes Natrona’s perfect season.”

In a purely American sporting sense, that’s true. Natrona doesn’t have a perfect record anymore.

In an artistic sense, though, Natrona was never perfect to begin with.

And, really, Friday’s  final score doesn’t tell us anything we did not already know: Both Natrona and Sheridan have excellent football teams. The inherent inflexibility of the interpretation of a final score doesn’t change how we can look at the teams abstractly. We can’t measure adversity or guts or pressure or confidence the way we can measure a final score or a season record. The final score, in a way, is the concrete manifestation of all these abstract, emotional factors that go into a football game.

Weird.

So what comes out of 18-17? Well, I give the Broncs some abstract “mad props” for a concrete victory and for “ruining” Natrona’s “perfect” season. I talk about how it was Sheridan’s “special” teams and a “gutty” two-point conversion that “saved” the game late in the fourth quarter for Sheridan. I mention playoff seedings — Natrona still “No. 1,” Sheridan now “No. 2” — and the possibility of a rematch.

Maybe what goes unmentioned is how “perfect” the game was in an abstract sense. Two great teams play a game decided by one point. Forget David. That right there is the upper reaches of perfection in my little abstract world.

Ruminating over….

Second mad props to Greybull, which secured a tie for first in the 2A West by dominating Lyman from start to finish in a 24-0 shutout victory. It jumbled up the 2A West standings up top — Greybull, Lyman and Lovell all finished with 6-1 conference records — but the Buffs’ victory on Friday proved to be the deciding factor in deciding who got to stay home in the first round of the playoffs. Now, Greybull gets to stay at home and host Newcastle, while Lyman has to hit the road to play at defending 2A champ Thermopolis. In a 2A bracket full of parity, that is is a huge deal.

Speaking of home playoff games, third mad props to Southeast for beating Lingle 27-22. I’ll admit that after Southeast’s loss to Sundance back in Week 2 (a loss that was followed up by a 40-point loss to Lusk), I lowered my hopes for the Cyclones. But Southeast has come back like gangbusters, winning its final four games to secure a home playoff game in the first round for — get this — the 14th consecutive year. Now they’re a team with high hopes and a great chance to make it back to Laramie.

Fourth mad props to Riverton, which beat Wheatland to secure the No. 3 seed in the 3A East standings. Riverton, for its efforts, earns a rematch with Powell — a team that beat the Wolverines 13-10 all the way back in Week 1. Wheatland, meanwhile, has to go face 3A West champ Cody in the first round. Neither team has it easy in the first round, but Riverton does have the advantage of knowing its opponent a bit better than Wheatland knows its foe. In the playoffs, that might be enough to pull off a victory.

Fifth and sixth mad props to a pair of teams that won for pride on Friday, Moorcroft and Riverside. Moorcroft beat Glenrock 20-14, marking the Wolves’ first victory over the Herders since 1999. Meanwhile, Riverside overcame Wind River’s 25-point second quarter to win 26-25 — proving that you can give up one bad quarter and still win, given the right circumstances. In both cases, playoffs and postseason thoughts were not a concern for either team, so pride and heart and wanting to end on the right note were all the motivation these teams needed to win. And it worked.

And I’m spent. Whew. The regular season is done. How about that? Any playoff games you can’t wait to watch? Any games in Week 8 catch YOU by surprise? Any random thoughts about perfection? Post below and let’s chat.

This week: 21-6 (78 percent). This season: 209-51 (80 percent).

–patrick

Newsbreak: Cheyenne Central, Kelly Walsh, Sheridan, Natrona, Cheyenne East, Laramie, Rocky Mountain, Saratoga, Buffalo, Rawlins

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Cheyenne Central-Kelly Walsh recap and Sheridan-Natrona recap (Casper Star-Tribune). … Cheyenne East-Laramie recap (Laramie Boomerang). … Rocky Mountain-Saratoga recap and Buffalo-Rawlins recap (Rawlins Times).

–patrick