Author Archives: Patrick

School: Rawlins
Nickname: Outlaws
Colors: red and white
Stadium: Outlaw Stadium
State championship: 2000
Times worth remembering: The Outlaws were one of the more consistent teams in the 1950s. After dropping out of the “Big Six” in 1953, Rawlins had five consecutive winning seasons, including playoff berths in 1953, 1956 and 1957. The peak of the run came in 1953 and 1954, when the Outlaws were 8-2 and 7-2-1, respectively.
Times worth forgetting: The 21st century started so well for the Outlaws. Then, after a state championship and an undefeated season in 2000, Rawlins hit a seven-year streak of difficulties. From 2001-07, the Outlaws didn’t have any more than one victory in any season and went a combined 6-53, losing 26 times by shutout.
Best team: It’s a tossup between old school and new school. Old school, the 1947 Outlaws finished 8-0-2 and atop the statewide balloting for a mythical title at the end of the season. In 10 games, the Outlaws posted six shutouts and gave up only 33 points the entire season. New school, Rawlins’ only undefeated, untied team and only state championship in the playoff era came in 2000, the culmination of a three-year buildup to the state’s top prize. Led by running back Scott Muir, the Outlaws had one of the most efficient offenses in the state — Rawlins averaged nearly 38 points per game — and rolled past Powell in the 3A title game.
Biggest win: The 2000 title game was Rawlins’ revenge. After years of struggling, including a 1998 season in which the Outlaws went 0-8 against the exact same schedule they faced two years later, Rawlins finally had the chance to be on top. The 39-14 victory over Powell in the title game was anticlimactic, but for the team and the community, the win was cathartic — putting past seasons and three previous championship-game losses in the past.
Heartbreaker: Of Rawlins’ three championship-game losses, the first one in 1974 was the toughest to accept — because of the three, that was the one Rawlins really had the best chance of winning. The ’74 Outlaws were 9-0 heading into the championship and had won their regular-season games by an average of 29-3. But in the title game against East, the Outlaws lost two fumbles inside their own 15-yard line, leading to both of the Thunderbirds’ touchdowns in a 14-0 loss on the Outlaws’ home field. Of small consolation was the 1974 all-state team: Rawlins had eight first-team selections; no other team had more than four and East only had three.

School: Sheridan
Nickname: Broncs
Colors: blue and yellow
Stadium: Homer Scott Field
State championships: 1982, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995 and 2009
Times worth remembering: The early 1990s were Sheridan’s boom times. The Broncs won four consecutive 4A championships and five in six years, at one point winning 30 consecutive games. From 1990-93, the Broncs were 38-2. The 1991 team was ranked 23rd in the nation by USA Today — the only Wyoming team ever to obtain such a ranking.
Times worth forgetting: For nine years, from 1973-81, the Broncs never had a winning record. The team was consistently respectable, but consistently came up short in the close ones, losing 17 times by a touchdown or less. The 1981 team showed signs of a turnaround by winning its first three games, but had to forfeit two of them and finished 4-5; the 1982 team went 10-0 and won the Class AA title.
Best team: The 1991 team finished in the national top 25 for a reason — they were really, really good. The Broncs went 10-0 and were never really threatened on their way to winning the title — their closest game was the 27-8 win over Gillette in the 4A championship. The talented squad had seven all-staters, including 4A’s back of the year (Blaine Phillips) and lineman of the year (Derek Rupp). For the season, the Broncs outscored their foes 427-92. (Honorable mention goes to Sheridan’s 1953 team, which went 9-0 and gave up only 14 points the entire season on their way to the mythical state title.)
Biggest win: The Broncs’ 1990s dynasty was established only by destroying the existing dynasty — that of Cheyenne Central. The Indians had won the state titles in 1988 and 1989 and were favorites for the 1990 title, too. After all, the game against Sheridan was in Cheyenne, and Central had beaten Sheridan earlier in the season, 28-20 in Sheridan. But Paul Westika scored three second-half touchdowns for Sheridan, which held on as Central scored 27 fourth-quarter points but still came up short. Sheridan’s 35-30 victory was the first of the program’s five championships in the 1990s.
Heartbreaker: The Broncs were just seconds away from establishing a dynasty in the mid-1980s, too, but two gut-wrenching September losses kept Sheridan out of the playoffs despite 8-1 records. In 1984, it was a 20-19 loss to Laramie; in 1985, it was a 17-13 loss to Natrona. Laramie went on to win the state championship in ’84, as did Natrona in ’85, and although Sheridan won the 4A title in 1986, the two losses the previous two seasons left the Bronc faithful wondering what could have been.