Sorry, Westville… you weren’t first

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It’s with much regret to the citizens of Westville, Illinois, that I write this post. After all, they’re going to have to change their sign. Because it’s wrong.

Westville claims the nation’s first lighted high school football game. It came in 1928, on Sept. 21 of that year, in a game against Milford, according to the IHSA (scroll down about 1/3 of the way down the page). Westville even won the game, 26-6.

There’s just one little problem with that claim: It’s inaccurate. Midwest, Wyoming, hosted the first night football game in November 1925.

A full four years before the first professional night game, and three years before Westville, the Oilers hosted Casper High School (now Natrona) on Nov. 19, 1925. Casper won the game 20-0; Midwest won style and novelty points. About 400 people turned out to watch the game, played under floodlights installed by the Midwest Refining Co. at the location of Midwest’s current community softball field. The game was played in cold temperatures (after all, it WAS nighttime in late November) and with a football that had been painted white.

Now, nearly every high school in the state has lights. Only about a dozen schools in Wyoming are without them.

And, of course, the tradition of Friday night lights did not remain solely a Wyoming tradition. It is now Americana — a tradition for tens of thousands of communities across the country. (Never mind that Nov. 19, 1925, was a Thursday…)

Even though Mansfield University has everyone beat, Wyoming CAN claim the first high school football game under the lights.

–patrick

Five Minute Introduction: Rocky Mountain

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School: Rocky Mountain
Nickname: Grizzlies
Colors: brown and yellow
Stadium: Grizzly Stadium
State championships: 1992, 1995, 1997 and 1998
Times worth remembering: After a series of struggles, the Grizzlies finally came into their own in 1992 and started one of the state’s great dynasties. In the eight seasons from 1992-99, the Grizzlies were a combined 71-6, including 38-1 from 1995-98, and won four state titles.
Times worth forgetting: The combination of three storied programs — Byron, Cowley and Deaver-Frannie — didn’t get off to the best of starts. The first three years of Rocky Mountain High School, from 1983-85, the Grizzlies went 3-5, 0-7 and 1-7.
Best team: There’s plenty to choose from when it comes to Rocky Mountain, but the 1998 team stands out from the rest. That season, Rocky won every game by at least 18 points (the 34-16 midseason victory over Burlington was the Grizzlies’ closest game) and scored at least 32 points in every game. The average score? 47-14. Rocky had eight first-team all-state selections and a pair of CST Super 25 first-team picks.
Biggest win: Although Byron, Cowley and Deaver-Frannie had distinguished records on their own, it took 10 years for Rocky Mountain to fuse the talent from the three communities into one cohesive unit. That’s partly why the 10-7 victory over Wind River in the 1992 championship — the first for Rocky and the 12th for the three communities — was so important. Kenny May scored the winning touchdown for the Grizzlies in the fourth quarter, letting loose a celebration years in the making.
Heartbreaker: As noted, the Grizzlies went 38-1 from 1995-98. And it’s the one loss that’s still somewhat haunting. The 34-20 loss to Moorcroft in the 1A-DI semifinals in 1996 was the end of an 18-game winning streak, and after the loss the Grizzlies went on to win 28 in a row. Moorcroft was no fluke — the Wolves were undefeated in ’96 and won the state title — but, for Rocky, losing was. And if the Grizzlies could have found a way to win that Saturday in Byron, who knows how long that winning streak could have gone?

Rocky Mountain team page.

Updates: Seasons 1933 through 1945 (coming soon) and some Nebraska stuff

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So the big news for today is that I’m starting to upload the seasons 1933 through 1945 onto the Web site. It will take several days, maybe several weeks, so bear with me as I make changes to basically every page on this site. Trust me, it’ll be worth it.

In other news, Nebraska microfilm, from the interlibrary loan department at Coe, arrived this week. It helped me with some updates:

Missing games

Added the score for Goshen Hole’s 34-12 loss to Lyman, Neb., on Sept. 23, 1966.

Found the date and location for Huntley’s 22-7 victory over the Gering, Neb., JV on Oct. 12, 1966 (it was in Huntley).

Found the score for Huntley’s 12-6 loss to the Gering, Neb., JV on Sept. 15, 1965.

Found the location of Huntley’s 13-7 victory over Lyman, Neb., on Oct. 6, 1965 (it was in Huntley).

Found the score for Albin’s 38-18 loss to Morrill, Neb., on Oct. 4, 1950.

Found the score for Guernsey’s 34-6 loss to Lyman, Neb., on Nov. 3, 1950.

Found the location of Albin’s 41-6 loss to Harrisburg, Neb., on Nov. 3, 1950 (it was in Harrisburg).

Coaches Project

Updates for Byron and Huntley.

–patrick

Updates: Hodgepodge of additions, missing games, all-state listings and coaching

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Here are my most recent updates. Since I’m almost broke, I’m working at a job that actually pays money now, so updates may be a bit more few and far between until school starts again in August. I’m not sure anyone will notice but me….

Additions

Added Byron’s 33-6 victory over Colstrip, Mont., on Sept. 19, 1952.

Added a canceled game on Sept. 26, 1958, between the Worland Institute and Buffalo.

Added a pair of games for Byron for 1956 — at Burlington on Oct. 13 and at Manderson on Oct. 26 (and added both to the missing games list because I couldn’t find scores/results for either game). This was a state championship season for Byron, so I’m really trying hard to pin down every game they played in this season.

Added a pair of games for Albin for 1951 — at Dix, Neb., on Oct. 19 and at home against Harrisburg, Neb., on Nov. 2 (and added both to the missing games list because I couldn’t find scores/results for either game).

Missing games

Found the date for Deaver-Frannie’s 48-12 victory over Belfry, Mont., on Sept. 14, 1951.

Found the score for Huntley’s 38-0 loss to Lyman, Neb., on Sept. 27, 1957.

Found the location for Glendo’s 32-28 loss to Lyman, Neb., on Oct. 26, 1956 (it was in Glendo).

All-state teams

The 1973 Class A all-state team has been added to the all-state listings.

Coaches Project

Updates for Huntley.

–patrick

Five Minute Introduction: Southeast

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School: Southeast
Nickname: Cyclones
Colors: blue and white
Stadium: Teeters Field
State championships: 1980, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Times worth remembering: Seven championships in 11 seasons – the end of the 20th century and the start of the 21st has been good to the Cyclones. Southeast won three titles in a row from 1999-2001 and four straight from 2006-09. Southeast went 9-1 each year from 1999-2001, winning 1A-Division II titles in 1999 and 2000 and a 2A title after reclassification reorganized the schools in 2001. Then, more recently, the Cyclones went 10-1 in 2006, 11-0 in 2007, 9-2 in 2008 and 10-1 in 2009, winning a 2A title in 2006 and 1A titles in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Times worth forgetting: Southeast’s record is pretty impeccable, but the three years from 1994-96 helped the Cyclones appreciate their success. In that span, the Cyclones were a combined 3-18, including an un-Southeast-like 11-game losing streak.
Best team: Of Southeast’s two undefeated teams, the nod goes to the 1980 team that went 9-0 and won the school’s first state championship. That year, the Cyclones averaged 33 points per game and only gave up about six on average, only twice allowing teams into double digits. Even more impressive is that the Cyclones won both their playoff games on the road, beating Midwest — the team that had knocked Southeast out of the playoffs the year before in Yoder — at Midwest before destroying Cokeville 38-8 in Cokeville in the title game.
Biggest win: Southeast met Lusk in some unusual circumstances in the 2001 title game — both teams were two-time defending state champions. The battle lines were drawn soon after reclassification placed both teams in Class 2A, and the two teams did not disappoint during the regular season or playoffs, setting up a dream matchup that had ramifications well beyond the end of the season. The Cyclones played up to the moment, as Byron Booth scored both touchdowns for Southeast, including the game-winner in the fourth quarter of a 14-7 victory in Yoder.
Heartbreaker: Southeast’s main heart-snapper has been Cokeville, which has busted the Cyclones’ dreams twice in the playoffs in gut-wrenching style. The first such occurrence came in the 1993 1A semifinals, when Ricky Himmerich’s two-point conversion in overtime gave the Panthers a 22-21 victory; the Panthers went on to win the 1A title. The other came in the 2003 1A championship, when Nathan Fiscus snuffed out Southeast QB Alan Moore’s two-point conversion attempt in the final moments of the fourth quarter, the deciding play in the Panthers’ 14-13 win.

Southeast team page.

Five Minute Introduction: Cody

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School: Cody
Nickname: Broncs
Colors: blue and yellow
Stadium: Spike Vannoy Field
State championships: 1958, 1976 and 1991
Times worth remembering: The back-to-back runs of the 1976 and 1977 teams represented Cody’s best. Both teams went 9-1; the 1976 squad won the state championship, while the 1977 squad finished as the state runners-up.
Times worth forgetting: Cody’s rich tradition hasn’t left much room for struggling, but for one seven-year stretch from 1969-75, the Broncs never had a winning season. However, all of those squads won at least three games, except the 2-7 team of 1971, and the core of the 1974 and 1975 teams helped set up the championship-game runs in ’76 and ’77.
Best team: With apologies to the dominant 1991 squad and the plucky 1976 champions, Cody’s best team was probably built in 1958. That year, Cody went 10-0-1 and knocked off Torrington to win the school’s first state football championship. The Broncs never really won big — their largest margin of victory all season was a 26-0 win over Lander — but they always found a way to win.
Biggest win: Cody fans still remember the 1976 Class AA championship game against Laramie, a 41-40 triple overtime thriller. The Broncs were decidedly the underdogs against the Plainsmen, a traditional powerhouse trying to give legendary coach John Deti a victory in his final game on the sidelines. But Cody, playing on its home field, had different plans. The Broncs rallied from a 20-8 halftime deficit and sealed the win in the third overtime on a successful extra point from Rob Russell.
Heartbreaker: After struggling through the first three quarters of the 1985 4A title game, Cody put itself in perfect position to beat Natrona in Casper for the championship. But the Broncs turned the ball over on downs inside the Mustangs’ 20-yard line and missed a field goal in the fourth quarter, key turning points in Cody’s eventual 14-13 loss to Natrona. The 1985 season was Cody’s last best chance at a big-school title; the Broncs went on to win the 3A title in 1991 but never again came close to winning it all in Wyoming’s big-school division.

Cody team page.

All-state updates: 1997 Class 2A; 1995 Class 1A-D2; 1971, 1972 and 1982 Class A

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My recent run of success with the microfilm hasn’t been limited to just games. I’ve also added significantly to my all-state listings.

The Newcastle News Letter Journal came through with the 1997 Class 2A all-state team.

The 1982 Class A all-state team was kind of weird, as it was released by region and not as a whole. The Star Valley Independent ran the west side representatives and the Torrington Telegram ran the east side. Whatever; they’re together here, maybe for the first time ever.

I also came across the 1971 and 1972 Class A all-state teams in the Torrington Telegram.

The 1995 Class 1A Division II all-state team was the toughest of all the updates I put up. I had to piece it together from several sources, and it’s still not complete. I’m confident I have all the players from all the schools, but I don’t have the players’ names from Cokeville. So check out the listing and see of you can help me!

I’m still missing a few all-state teams, including the 1994 Class 1A nine-man team, the 1973 Class A team and the 1971 and 1970 Class AA and Class B teams. Oh, and a bunch from the 1960s. Darn hippies.

–patrick

Updates: Mostly Hulett and Moorcroft (thanks South Dakota!), as well as Pine Bluffs, Basin, Worland Institute, Midwest, Rocky Mountain, Wheatland, Huntley, Meeteetse, Albin, Lyman and Mountain View

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One of the toughest aspects of this project has been securing scores played against out-of-state opponents. The number of missing games to the number of out-of-state games is ridiculously out of proportion. Fortunately, today, I made a couple big steps in rectifying this.

Using the interlibrary loan capabilities at Coe Library, I secured four microfilm rolls of the Rapid City Journal. Those four rolls helped me take six games off my missing games list — a significant dent in an ever-shrinking project.

I’m also in the process of obtaining some more microfilm from Rapid City (you can only get four at a time) and from Scottsbluff (that costs money). Anyway, I’m making a big dent in this part of the missing games project.

The six games KOed today:

Hulett had four games knocked off the missing games list, all from the early 1960s. I found the score for Hulett’s 25-6 victory over Hill City on Sept. 7, 1963, the score for Hulett’s 42-12 victory over New Underwood on Oct. 9, 1963, the score for Hulett’s 12-8 loss to Buffalo, S.D., on Sept. 14, 1962, and the score for Hulett’s 25-13 loss to Newell on Oct. 28, 1960.

I also found the scores for two Moorcroft games in 1989: a 49-6 loss to Lead on Sept. 8 and a 28-0 victory over Rapid City St. Martins on Sept. 16. The win over St. Martins was actually Moorcroft’s only victory that season.

That inspired me to look for some more stuff with a fresh attitude, and conversely I found some info that had been missing for a long time. This is what I found:

Byes Project

Added two games for Pine Bluffs in 1952 — a 19-12 victory over the Laramie JV on Sept. 20 and a 12-0 victory over the Scottsbluff, Neb., JV on Sept. 24.

Added Basin’s 13-13 tie with the Worland Institute on Sept. 10, 1954.

Missing games

Found the date and location of Midwest’s 34-6 victory over the Upton JV on Aug. 30, 2002. (This is part of Midwest’s sub-varsity 2002 season, which has been a tough season for me to pin down exact dates… but this game, at least, is done.)

Found the location for Rocky Mountain’s 26-0 victory over the Cody JV on Oct. 15, 1994 (it was in Cody).

Found the location for Hulett’s 42-12 loss to St. Thomas More, S.D., on Sept. 29, 1992 (it was in Hulett).

Found the score for Wheatland’s 6-0 loss to the Cheyenne East JV on Aug. 29, 1969.

Found the location of Huntley’s 41-12 victory over Harrison, Neb., on Oct. 12, 1962 (it was in Huntley).

Found the missing score for Meeteetse’s 40-20 loss to the Cody JV on Oct. 22, 1959.

Found the missing date for Huntley’s 46-6 victory over Albin in 1951 — Oct. 26.

Also, thanks to coach Ted Holmstrom down in Lyman, I have the score of the Eagles’ loss to Mountain View on Oct. 12, 1963 — 43-0. Coach Holmstrom has been a big help to me on locating some missing info for the Eagles and his help is really appreciated!

Coaches Project: New listings for Arvada-Clearmont.

All the updates have been made on all the relevant pages.

Also, research continues backward in time. Years through 1935 are complete, and 1934 has been started…. Hey, who knew Gebo High School had a team? Yep, the Gebo Miners. Oh, and Fort Laramie High School also played football for a couple years? Hooray for finding out cool new stuff!

–patrick

Five Minute Introduction: Lyman

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School: Lyman
Nickname: Eagles
Colors: blue and white
Stadium: Eagle Stadium
State championships: 1976, 1982 and 1999
Times worth remembering: The two best seasons in Lyman’s history were put together back-to-back in 1999 and 2000, when the Eagles went 9-1 and 7-1. The 1999 team won a state title, beating Mountain View in the 2A championship game to avenge a regular-season loss; the 2000 team went undefeated until the semifinals, when Mountain View reversed the previous year’s outcome and avenged its regular-season loss to Lyman.
Times worth forgetting: Back-to-back winless seasons in 1959 and 1960 were part of a larger stretch of eight consecutive losing seasons for the Eagles. The Eagles lost 17 in a row at one point over the course of four seasons (1958-61).
Best team: Of Lyman’s three championship-winning clubs, the 1999 team had the best sustained success. That season, the Eagles relied on defense, holding eight of 10 opponents to single digits. The offense was as good as it needed to be, with a powerful rushing attack setting the pace — especially in the championship game, a 16-6 win over Mountain View, in which the Eagles didn’t complete a pass but still won the 2A title.
Biggest win: Every fan in the Bridger Valley remembers Nov. 6, 1999. That’s when valley rivals Mountain View and Lyman met up with the state championship on the line. About 3,000 fans packed into Mountain View’s stadium to watch; about half, the Lyman half, went home happy, thanks to a solid Eagle defense that rose up at key times. The 16-6 win avenged Mountain View’s 15-13 win in the regular season — and, years later, became a key example in the argument against a neutral-site championship setup in Wyoming.
Heartbreaker: After winning it all in 1999, the Eagles appeared poised to do it again in 2000 — but rival Mountain View derailed those ideas in the 2A semifinals. Even though Lyman beat Mountain View 20-7 in the regular-season finale just two weeks prior on the same field, the Buffalos changed up their plans and shut out the Eagles 14-0 to advance to the championship. Big Piney — a team Lyman beat 35-19 in the regular season — went on to beat Mountain View in the championship game.

Lyman team page.