School: Lovell
Nickname: Bulldogs
Colors: blue and red
Stadium: Kevin P. Robertson Memorial Stadium
State championship: 1987
Times worth remembering: For seven seasons, the Bulldogs were among the best 2A teams in the state, going 50-13 from 1985-91. In that span, Lovell appeared in three state championship games and won it all with a perfect 9-0 season in 1987; the two losses were by 21-20 and 6-0 scores, both to Thermopolis.
Times worth forgetting: Consistently going up against much larger schools, the Bulldogs struggled for most of the 1950s and 1960s. The bottom, though, came in back-to-back winless seasons in 1960 (0-10) and 1961 (0-8). Those seasons were part of an overall 23-game losing streak and 24-game winless streak. Lovell only had one winning season in an 18-season span from 1955-72 — and that was a 5-4 mark in 1964.
Best team: Lovell’s lone undefeated season, and lone state championship, came in 1987, when the Bulldogs went 9-0 and beat Upton 14-6 for the state championship in Lovell. The Bulldogs were big on offense, rolling up 299 points (33 per game), and were as effective as they needed to be on defense, holding seven of their nine opponents to single digits. Six players made first-team all-state, including four linemen.
Biggest win: Once again, the Bulldogs’ only state championship stands alone – and within that game, it was Lovell’s defense that shone brightest. Playing on its home field, Lovell beat Upton 14-6 for the 1987 2A championship. Neither touchdown came from Lovell’s offense; Mike Jones scored on a blocked punt recovery and Corey Vandenboom added an interception return for a score to seal the game in the fourth quarter.
Heartbreaker: Losing a state championship is always tough. Losing a state championship game in overtime to a conference rival is doubly tough. That’s what the Bulldogs experienced in 1990, when they lost 21-20 to Thermopolis for the 2A championship. Lovell didn’t trail until the final play of the game – a successful extra point by the Bobcats – but left the door open by missing its overtime extra point. It set a trend of coming up just short: Lovell also lost title games in 1991, 1998 and 2003.
Cody-Lander recap (Cody Enterprise). … Riverton-Rawlins recap (Rawlins Times). … Reclassification and live video talks move forward (Casper Star-Tribune).
–patrick
While the 2010 football season is not even half done, the focus of the early part of this week will be on the 2011 season.
The Wyoming High School Activities Association has its first quarterly meeting this week in Casper, and reclassification — like it is every two years — will be on the board agenda.
For football, most of the changes are precipitated by Cheyenne South’s entry into the field, WHSAA Commissioner Ron Laird said Monday. Laird said the WHSAA, for now, is planning on sticking with the format it currently uses for football, with the 10 largest schools in Class 4A, the next 12 in 3A, the next 16 in 2A and the remainder in the two divisions of Class 1A.
Right now, Cheyenne South occupies the No. 9 spot. However, the WHSAA approved on first reading back in April to classify South in Class 3A for football in 2011, then to move the Bison to Class 4A in 2012 (this proposal still has to pass one more vote of the WHSAA board this week).
The schools most affected by this decision are Riverton at No. 11, which may or may not be in 4A for the 2011 season only, depending on how the WHSAA handles South’s entry and the imbalance it will create in 2011, and Green River at No. 12, which for now is slated to move to Class 3A football for both 2011 and 2012 but has voiced a desire to opt up to 4A.
Other schools expected to move classifications for football are Wheatland (from 3A to 2A) and Wyoming Indian (from 2A to 1A). Oddly enough, both schools would have changed classifications even without South’s entry due to dropping enrollments.
Also, both Hulett and Dubois have announced their intentions to move to the six-man division of 1A for 2011 and 2012, Laird said. No other schools are joining the division and none of the current six-man schools are moving to 11-man, Laird said, giving the classification 10 schools for 2011 and 2012. Class 1A 11-man is anticipated to have 15 teams those two years.
For non-football classifications, anticipated moves based on current enrollment standings include South into 4A, Star Valley from 4A to 3A, Thermopolis from 3A to 2A and Lingle from 2A to 1A.
The WHSAA board will meet Tuesday and Wednesday in Casper.
–patrick
Natrona offense rolls (Casper Star-Tribune).
Gillette-Sheridan recap (Gillette News-Record). … Thermopolis-Moorcroft and Star Valley-Worland recaps (Northern Wyo Daily News, click today). … Players of the week (Casper Star-Tribune).
–patrick
At first I was like…
But then I….
Now I’m all…
That’s pretty much how the night went for Cheyenne Central in the Capital Bowl on Friday. The Indians feel behind against Cheyenne East 14-0 in the first quarter — and then woke up. Before Cheyenne East knew what had happened, the Indians were sauntering off Riske Field with a 38-22 victory.
It was one of the most complete turnarounds I’ve ever seen in a high school football game. It was also one of the most complete collapses. You don’t get outscored 38-8 in the final 36 minutes without a little bit of both. A turnaround and an uprising, one like Central had, isn’t possible without some help.
The game had a weird vibe to it all night, a vibe that only strengthened as the game went on. There were at least a dozen huge plays in the game. Normally, you only see about five or six of those plays in the course of a game, but this Capital Bowl was chock full of them.
In the first quarter, those big plays — including a 73-yard run by Jeremy Woods on the first play from scrimmage and a pick-six by J.J. Westbrook — went to East. The second, third and fourth quarters, those big plays almost all went the way of the Indians, including three interceptions after halftime that helped keep the Thunderbirds shut out in the second half.
What it boils down to is that Central secured its place in the 4A hierarchy — as one of the five teams with a winning record. That will end up coming in handy as the season progresses, especially once the playoffs start.
Staying in 4A, second mad props to the Kelly Walsh Trojans, who had a comeback of their own in beating Rock Springs 24-21. KW scored the final 14 points of the game to rally from a 21-10 deficit and to take another huge step forward in making the playoffs. The KW kicking game was huge as Cameron Stanek kicked a pair of field goals as part of those 14 points, including the game-winner in the final two minutes. He also opened KW’s scoring with a field goal…. detecting a theme? Yeah, the green and gold have a handy option that will only come in handier as the season progresses.
Third mad props to Burns, which made a good trade — a long trip for its first victory of the year. The Broncs made the long trek to Tongue River, but drove home with a 7-6 victory in their back pockets. That win was exactly what Burns needed to keep any hope of a playoff berth alive; conversely, it puts a severe dent in the Eagles’ hopes for a playoff berth. Either way, it was a big game, and the Broncs got the best of the situation.
Staying in the SEWAC, fourth mad props to Southeast, which needed overtime but still beat Pine Bluffs 33-26. After losing to Sundance two weeks ago, the Cyclones desperately needed this game to keep any realistic hopes of a playoff berth alive. So they went out and won it. With the schedule Southeast has coming up, it’s actually realistic to think of Southeast as still in the chase for a home playoff game. And that’s big.
Fifth mad props to Burlington, which not only beat Riverside, but beat the Rebels down. The final was 40-12. The psychological edge this gives the Huskies is much, much bigger. Believe it or not, the Huskies are 3-0 in West Conference play and have an absolutely monstrous game with Dubois — another team that’s 3-0 in conference play — next week in Dubois. And after how well they played on Friday, the Huskies just might be the favorites in that one.
Sixth mad props from a heck of a Saturday game in which Ten Sleep held up at home to beat Kaycee 63-62. Sounds like a classic; I don’t know anything but the final score. Can anyone fill me in on the details? Because this sounds like a fantastic game. Again, this isn’t surprising, as Ten Sleep has been solid all season and is good enough to push the classification’s best teams…. and it just so happens that the Pioneers play at Snake River next week. Talk about perfect timing.
Some other thoughts…
Energy Bowl. Classic. Gillette ends Sheridan’s winning streak at 15 games, topping the Broncs 27-24 in overtime. According to my research, it’s the first Energy Bowl to go into overtime, and the victory came at the perfect time for the ever-improving Camels. …
Anyone else think that Lusk-Cokeville is looking less like “probable” and more like “inevitable”? Especially after the way in which both teams absolutely dominated their foes this week? …
Douglas won its conference showdown with Buffalo to take the inside edge for home-field advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs. Yeah, them Bearcats is good. The win streak is now at 24 and counting. …
Oh, so much for parity in the 3A West. Star Valley beats Worland by 20; Cody beats Lander by 31; Powell beats Jackson by 56. …
The last time Wheatland beat Torrington by 30 or more? 1983. The last time it happened before that? Never. The Bulldogs are good, folks. …
And, if you care, here’s how I’m doing:
This week: 25-6 (81 percent). This season: 109-32 (77 percent).
(Oh, and mad props to my wife Char for the photos of the Central-East game. She’s awesome like that. She’s also uploaded some shots to the wyoming-football.com Flickr collection, so check ’em out — and feel free to add your own.)
Big Horn’s new football field is progressing fast… but not fast enough to get today’s game against Glenrock at “home.” Today’s game has been moved over to the Normative Services field and the kickoff will be at 3 p.m. (I realize I’m making this post at 2:51 p.m., which may not do much good to the folks already on the road. Sorry!)
You can check out the progress of the field through our friends at Sheridan Media, who reported that the field’s new synthetic surface is still being transported.
Next week’s Rams game against Thermopolis, for now, is still scheduled for Big Horn, but that’s obviously dependent on the field getting there and getting installed.
–patrick
Gillette-Sheridan preview (Gillette News-Record). … Laramie’s Ontiveroz returns to field (Laramie Boomerang). … Kelly Walsh-Rock Springs preview, Natrona-Green River preview and games of the week (Casper Star-Tribune). … Worland-Star Valley preview (Northern Wyo Daily News, click today). … Burlington-Shoshoni recap and Rocky Mountain-Riverside recap (Basin Republican Rustler). … Greybull-Wyoming Indian recap (Greybull Standard). … Pinedale-Kemmerer recap (Kemmerer Gazette). … Lusk-Southeast recap (Lusk Herald). … Mountain View-Big Piney recap and Lyman-Lovell recap (Bridger Valley Pioneer).
–patrick