School: Wheatland
Nickname: Bulldogs
Colors: blue and yellow
Stadium: Bulldog Stadium
State championship: 1984
Times worth remembering: The Bulldogs under Bill Pentland saw more success in the mid-1980s than ever before. In Pentland’s first season, 1982, the ‘Dogs hosted the state title game; they won the 3A title in ’84 and came up four points short in the ’87 title game. From 1982-89, Wheatland was a combined 48-24, and the three title game appearances the Bulldogs had in that era are the only three Wheatland has had in program history.
Times worth forgetting: The success of the 1980s was sweeter for the Wheatland faithful because of all of the problems the Bulldogs had in the 1970s. From 1974-79, the Bulldogs went a combined 4-45-2. All four of the Bulldogs’ victories in that span came over lowly Lusk, which was playing its final years in Class A before dropping to Class B. Wheatland also struggled with continuity at the top, as four different coaches led the team in those six seasons.
Best team: With a new coach leading a team coming off a losing season, the 1966 Bulldogs didn’t look like the type of team that’d be capable of chasing a state championship. But Wheatland put together close victory after close victory (its first four victories were by a combined 26 points, with no margin larger than eight) and emerged with an 8-1 record. The Bulldogs’ only loss was a 37-32 heartbreaker to Torrington; even so, Wheatland finished seventh in the final statewide poll and were second to unbeaten Star Valley among Class A teams in the final statewide tally.
Biggest win: The 1984 championship game, a 35-21 victory over Evanston, is the one folks still talk about over coffee in Platte County. The similarities between Wheatland and Evanston were odd — both teams were 8-1 and both teams came into the championship game thanks to one-point victories in their respective regular-season finales. But in front of the home fans, the Bulldogs gained a 15-point lead, lost it, then pulled away late in the fourth quarter on touchdowns by Larry Herman and Duncan Irvine.
Heartbreaker: Despite being heavily favored to beat Powell in the 1987 3A championship, the Bulldogs’ potent running game was frustratingly slowed down by the Panthers’ defense in a 7-3 loss. Powell’s Jason Sleep, though, ran crazy, notching 212 yards – 131 more than all the Bulldogs combined – and scored the game’s only touchdown set up by a successful fake punt in the third quarter.
Deciding mythical state champions has always been a difficult task to do.
Unfortunately, that’s how champions were decided in Wyoming from 1962-74 in the A, B and C classes, and from every year forward until a playoff was established in 1968 for Class AA schools.
Even now, more than 30 years later, who actually won those mythical championships is subject to debate.
With that in mind, I’m making a couple changes to my state champions listing to be more consistent.
Specifically, I’m talking about the state championship teams listed for 1973 and 1974. The teams listed as champions for the A, B and C classes for those years were the champions as decided by the Casper Star-Tribune. The champions listed for other “mythical” years were the winners of the UPI statewide polls or, in the case of 1962 before the UPI poll started, the Associated Press statewide polls.
Therefore, in order to remain consistent, I’ve decided to list the mythical champions of 1973 and 1974 as the winners of the UPI poll, not the winners of the Star-Tribune poll.
What does that mean?
Well, it means that some shared championships are going away. Green River won the UPI’s Class A poll in 1973 outright from Buffalo; therefore, Green River will be listed as the mythical champ, not as sharing it with Buffalo. And for 1974, Torrington won the UPI’s Class A poll, so they will take sole control of the mythical championship rather than sharing it with Kemmerer; and in Class B, Tongue River won the top spot in the UPI poll, so the Eagles will take sole command of the Class B mythical title rather than sharing it with Saratoga. No UPI Class C poll was ever commissioned; therefore, Deaver-Frannie’s mythical Class C title of 1974 will be going away, too.
Of course, many more teams than the one listed in my champions listing still “claim” mythical championships, and I’m not the one to tell them that those championships aren’t any less valid than they were back then. I simply want to stay consistent in which poll I chose to compile my listing, hence these changes. These changes aren’t meant to slight any teams. If only we could have had a playoff to decide it all…. but I guess it’s too late for that now. The debate remains.
For reference, here were the final polls for the years 1973 and 1974, including the Class AA poll taken after the Class AA championship game:
1974
UPI polls
Class AA
1. Cheyenne East, 9-1, 50 points
2. Rawlins, 9-1, 38 points
3. Natrona, 7-2, 32 points
4. Worland, 7-1, 20 points
5. Riverton, 5-3, 10 points
Class A
1. Torrington, 9-0, 48 points
2. Kemmerer, 8-0, 40 points
3. Lovell, 7-1, 26 points
4. Jackson, 5-4, 10 points
5. Glenrock, 5-3, 8 points
Class B
1. Tongue River, 9-0, 48 points
2. Saratoga, 8-0, 40 points
3. Cokeville, 7-0-1, 18 points
4. Basin, 6-1-1, 10 points
5. Deaver-Frannie, 8-0, 8 points
Casper Star-Tribune polls
Class A
1t. Torrington, 9-0-0, 54 points
1t. Kemmerer, 9-0-0, 54 points
3. Lovell, 7-1-0, 43 points
4. Glenrock, 5-3-0, 35 points
5t. Newcastle, 5-4-0, 33 points
5t. Star Valley, 4-4-0, 33 points
Class B
1t. Saratoga, 8-0-0, 61 points
1t. Tongue River, 9-0-0, 61 points
3. Cokeville, 9-0-1, 57 points
4. Basin, 7-1-1, 55 points
5. Guernsey-Sunrise, 7-2-0, 49 points
Class C/Eight-man
1. Deaver-Frannie, 9-0-0, 39 points
2. Cowley, 8-1-0, 34 points
1973
UPI polls
Class AA
1. Laramie, 9-1, 50 points
2. Riverton, 7-3, 35 points
3. Natrona, 6-3, 22 points
4. Cheyenne East, 6-2-1, 14 points
5. Worland, 6-2-1, 12 points
Class A
1. Green River, 8-1, 56 points
2. Buffalo, 8-1, 46 points
3. Kemmerer, 8-2, 42 points
4. Torrington, 7-2, 16 points
5. Lovell, 6-2, 14 points
Class B-C
1. Tongue River, 9-0, 50 points
2. Byron, 9-0, 46 points
3. Cowley, 9-0, 40 points
4. Pinedale, 7-2, 25 points
5. Upton, 7-1-1, 14 points
Casper Star-Tribune polls
Class A
1t. Buffalo (3), 8-1, 78 points
1t. Green River (3), 8-1, 78 points
3. Kemmerer (1), 8-2, 74 points
4. Torrington, 7-2, 59 points
5. Lovell, 5-2, 58 points
Class B-C
1. Tongue River (4), 9-0, 87 points
2. Cowley (2), 9-0, 85 points
3. Byron (1), 9-0, 84 points
4. Guernsey-Sunrise, 7-2, 70 points
5. Pinedale, 7-2, 68 points
I’ve been a big fan of Sporcle for a long time now and just got around to making my own quizzes there. One of them quizzes you over your knowledge of Wyoming high school football champions from 1990 to now:
It’s a pretty fun challenge. I enjoyed it, anyway…. If you like it, let me know, and I’ll make some other quizzes to go along with this one.
–patrick
School: Cowley
Nickname: Jaguars
Colors: maroon and white
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: 1950 and 1955
Times worth remembering: From 1972-75, the Jags went a combined 32-3, including a 9-0 season in 1973. But in a convoluted time in Wyoming football, Cowley’s four-year stretch is largely forgotten. The team played eight-man football, a division of high school football that largely ignored at the time. The 1975 team couldn’t qualify for the playoffs (no sanctioned eight-man division), while the teams in 1972-73 could never crack the top of the polls because the Class B eight-man teams were placed into the same poll as the Class B 11-man teams. Cowley finished second to Tongue River in the 1973 poll and was eighth in the final Class B 1972 poll despite an 8-1 record.
Times worth forgetting: There aren’t very many black marks on the Jags’ records — they won almost 60 percent of their games from 1951-76. If there has to be a rough patch, it came in 1957-60, when Cowley went 2-4, 1-5-1, 4-4 and 1-5-1 again.
Best team: With apologies to the ’55 championship team, the nod goes to the undefeated team from 1973, which finished 9-0 and made a habit of obliterating foes. The closest game all season was a 48-22 win over Deaver-Frannie in the season opener; the Jags never scored fewer than 54 points the rest of the season and never gave up more than 20, winning by an average score of 60-11.
Biggest win: After falling short in the playoffs for three consecutive years, including a pair of losses in state championship games, Cowley finally broke through in 1955. The Jags won their conference, beat Dayton in the semifinals, then topped Pinedale 58-38 in the state’s six-man title game. The championship was the second official title in school history — and the only one the Jags got to win in front of their “home” fans, winning the title in Lovell.
Heartbreaker: The Jaguars won the northern Bighorn Basin title in 1961, but needed to beat St. Stephens, winner of the southern division, to qualify for the state championship game. St. Stephens won the game 33-20 in Lovell and earned the right to play in the title game; Cowley never again qualified for the playoffs before ending its football program after the 1976 season.
The 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950 and 2009 seasons have been added. All the changes have been made on all the relevant pages. Check it all out when you get a chance.
The five years from 1946-50 were an interesting time for Wyoming football, and I’m glad I got to upload it as a group. The first statewide playoffs were in 1948 — a move that looks to be directly spurred by a couple postseason games staged in 1946 and 1947.
In 1946, the first “Turkey Bowl” was staged in Casper. The “Turkey Bowl” tried to pit the two best teams in the state against each other (and, oh by the way, raise money for the Casper March of Dimes), and Cody and Sheridan staged a game for the ages. In front of a crowd that pushed close to 5,000 people, Sheridan edged out a 20-19 victory behind a third-quarter touchdown run from Joe Zowada and the extra point kick from Ray Hobbs. Sheridan earned the state’s mythical title that day.
Both on the field and at the till, the game was a success.
The 1947 Turkey Bowl didn’t match the 1946 one with either quality of competition or gate receipts. The state’s best team in ’47, Rawlins, opted not to play in the Turkey Bowl against second-ranked and unbeaten Lovell. Instead, third-ranked Natrona stepped in to fill Rawlins’ spot, then promptly outclassed the Bulldogs 26-13 in Casper. Rawlins remained as the state’s mythical champion.
Finally, in 1948, the Wyoming High School Athletic Association (as it was known back then) instituted playoffs for the Class A and the six-man divisions — and also voted to ban any postseason exhibition games like the Turkey Bowl. The vote stopped a proposition to continue a modified Turkey Bowl in Casper, a game that would have pitted the Class A champion against the Class AA champion, which was then a division made up of only six teams (Casper, Cheyenne, Laramie, Sheridan, Rawlins and Rock Springs).
The 1948 state playoffs were a hit. Two state champions were crowned until 1956, when a Class B 11-man division champion was also crowned. That arrangement held true until after the 1961 season, when the WHSAA eliminated playoffs for all divisions, a ban that stayed in place until 1968 for Class AA teams and until 1975 for other divisions.
Some other random stuff about the most recent update….
Three schools — Kaycee, Arvada and University Prep — were added to the database. Kaycee, of course, began play this season, finishing 6-4 and making it all the way to the 1A six-man title game in its first year. Arvada, meanwhile, donned the pads for just one season (1950), finishing 0-4 that season, and University Prep, from what I can gather, played in the 1946, 1949 and 1950 seasons, winning just one game in 11 combined tries. …
A few streaks were added to the streaks page. Byron’s 22-game winning streak (unofficial and likely much longer) from 1946-50 was added, as was Glenrock’s recent 21-game winning streak (snapped in the 2A title game this year) and Douglas’ current 20-game winning streak. On the other end, Basin’s 20-game losing streak from 1949-52 and 29-game winless streak from 1948-52 was added, as was Meeteetse’s 22-game losing streak from 1946-51 and Sundance’s 33-game (0-31-2) winless streak from 1950-55. …
The scoring records page underwent a pretty dramatic shift thanks to the 2009 six-man season. Two of the top three combined scoring games — and three of the top 10 — came from the 2009 six-man season. Guernsey-Sunrise’s 89-point effort against Ten Sleep this season ranked tied for third for most points in a game, while Douglas’ 76 scored against Rawlins ranked tied 10th all-time for points scored by one team in an 11-man game (through 1946). Additionally, Pine Bluffs’ 85-point effort against University Prep in 1950 ranked ninth all-time. …
Take some time and check out all the updates.
–patrick
Thanks to Shawn Burkart down in Goshen County, I’ve now got almost every coach listed for Goshen Hole High School. This has been a big gray area for me (coaches of programs/schools that are no longer in existence), so this was a big help. Thanks Shawn!
–patrick
I’ll be updating the site with 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950 and 2009 throughout the next week or two. Bear with me as I do these updates; some pages will have them quicker than others. If you see any discrepancies between pages for the next week or two, this is likely why. Thanks.
–patrick
As you can tell by the title, I’ve added and/or corrected several games to the database, thanks to continued work on the Byes Project and the missing games list. In all, 20 games were either added or corrected….
New additions:
Added Lyman’s 27-6 loss to Park City, Utah in 1968 (but also added it to the missing games list because of the unknown date (Sept. 5 or 6) and the unknown location)
Added Newcastle’s 13-12 loss to the Rapid City, S.D., JV on Oct. 21, 1966
Added Guernsey-Sunrise’s 13-6 victory over the Torrington JV on Sept. 4, 1965 (but also added it to the missing games list because of the unknown location)
Added Huntley’s 26-20 victory over the Natrona JV on Oct. 16, 1965
Added Saratoga’s 33-14 loss to the Laramie JV on Sept. 28, 1963
Added Ten Sleep’s 38-0 victory over Manderson on Oct. 10, 1961
Correction:
I corrected Cokeville’s opponent on Oct. 24, 1969 — it was Montpelier, Idaho, NOT Nampa, Idaho.
Missing games:
I made significant progress for Pine Bluffs’ 1962 season. I found scores for two games — Pine Bluffs beat Sterling St. Anthony’s (CO) 39-25 on Oct. 6 and Sunrise 19-12 on Oct. 26 — and found the location for the Sept. 14 game against Lingle (in Pine Bluffs).
Found the date for the Oct. 3, 2000, game between Normative Services and the Buffalo JV
Found the location for the Sept. 12, 1980, game between Burns and St. Mary’s (in Burns)
Found both the date and location for the Sept. 1, 1978, game between Star Valley and Logan, Utah (in Logan)
Found the date and corrected the location for the Oct. 1, 1976, game between Moorcroft and Edgemont, S.D. (it was in Moorcroft — the Wolves’ homecoming, in fact)
Found the score and corrected the date for the Oct. 17, 1968 game between Upton and the Rapid City sophomores; Upton won 6-0
Found a score for the Oct. 21, 1966, game between Pine Bluffs and Lyman, Neb.; Lyman, Neb., won 36-13
Found out that Huntley won its Sept. 15, 1965, game with the Gering, Neb., JV (but it remains on the missing games list because I didn’t find a final score)
Found out four games — an Oct. 27, 1969, game between Cokeville and Big Piney, a Sept. 2, 1966, game between Lyman and South Rich, Utah, a Oct. 14, 1966, game between Saratoga and Lingle, and a Oct. 11, 1963, game between Ten Sleep and Arvada-Clearmont — were canceled
Misc/future:
Thanks to coach Tim Gonzales in Mountain View, I now have a complete list of the Buffalos’ head coaches from the start of the program to the present. Thanks a ton, coach!
As for forthcoming updates, well, they’re forthcoming. The 2009 season will be up on the site soon, and will be accompanied by the 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950 seasons… that’s why this update is taking a little bit longer than usual.
As always, if you see any incorrect, missing or misplaced information on this site, let me know at pschmiedt@yahoo.com.
–patrick
This was a post I orginally wrote back in March for my old TribTown blog, from back when I worked at the Casper Star-Tribune.
My grandfather died last night, and in his memory I want to repost it here:
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With five high school football programs starting from scratch this fall, I’m working on a story that will touch on all the schools, a “progress report” for the six-man schools waiting to join the fray come August.
So far, I’ve reached six of the 10 ADs in charge of the programs that will make up Wyoming’s new six-man division (watch for the story next week, part of a series of stories relating to Wyoming’s changing football landscape). All six, unanimously, are thrilled for the chance they have this fall.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently — how to start a football program from scratch. I already know someone who did so and someone else who tried.
My grandfather, Jacque, started the Huntley High School football program way back in 1951. Even though his high school in South Dakota was too small to field a team, he excelled on the gridiron in college, even making the all-conference team at Augustana in 1947 and playing for a while at Bowling Green.
When he came to Huntley, though, the Cardinals didn’t have a football team. So he drummed up support however he could, earned the school board’s approval and, in 1951, put the Cards on the field.
Grandpa must have seen something good in the boys in Huntley to go to all that effort…. and in his first two games, his players proved him right. The Cards thumped Albin 50-0 and Lingle 48-0 in their first two games. From there, Huntley beat Glenrock, Manville and Albin again to set up a date with Hanna for the right to play in the state’s Class B six-man state championship.
After staking a 20-0 lead, though, the Cards stumbled. Hanna came roaring back to win, 27-20, and earned the right to play in the state title game. (For what it’s worth, Hanna lost that title game 47-0 to Byron.)
The Huntley program survived until 1969; the school until 1980. Today, the Huntley boys play at Southeast — the three-time defending state champions. Even though he’s long since removed from Goshen County’s sports scene, I’d like to think Grandpa has a little something to do with the Cyclones’ run.
Flip forward to 1973, my dad’s first year in Rock River. Just like my grandpa, my dad never played high school football (he was a golfer), but in Rock River he wanted to try something different.
But the Longhorns weren’t quite ready to take on that task. With anywhere from 12-15 boys in the high school at any time — and with no growth spurts coming in the foreseeable future — any idealistic plans for Rock River football were crushed by reality.
Flip forward to 2009. Rock River will have football for the first time this fall. Kaycee and Fort Washakie, too, are building programs from nothing, while Farson and Snake River are resurrecting long-dormant programs as part of the state’s new six-man league.
This fall, only four Wyoming high schools — Arapaho Charter, Arvada-Clearmont, Chugwater and Glendo — will have no football whatsoever.
And for some reason, I keep having this dream. I’m moving… maybe to Clearmont or Platte County…. and I’m trying to start a football program…. like somebody before me has tried it…. like it’s my destiny….
Naahhh. 🙂
When the 2009 season is viewed in retrospect, the Guernsey Vikings’ season will stick out as the epitome of domination.
In Wyoming’s first year of organized six-man football in more than half a century, the Vikings were clearly the best team. They won all but one game by at least 40 points and finished with a 614-144 scoring advantage in a 9-0 season.
Guernsey’s dominating season had some folks wondering why the Vikings opted to play 11-man in the first place. The Vikings clearly had enough speed and strength in the backfield to compete with most teams in the 11-man division; in fact, several times during the state championship game, the radio broadcaster from Buffalo (who sat right behind me, and the reason I’m writing this) suggested the WHSAA get involved and move the Vikings up to 11-man where they belonged.
Here is the best I can do to mount Guernsey’s defense:
Point 1: The Vikings only had 12 players suited up for the championship game, a 76-16 whitewash of Kaycee. Guernsey didn’t have any more players come out than that; the numbers really were that low all season long.
Point 2: The championship game blowout was due in part to the Vikings’ experience. Kaycee was in its first year of football; the football legacy in both Guernsey and Sunrise stretches back nearly a century. It’s not surprising that, for the most part, the teams that did best in the six-man division in 2009 were the teams that had established programs in place.
Point 3: Despite its dominating success, Guernsey won’t be the six-man favorite in 2010. More than half of the Vikings’ players were seniors, and only one starter returns.
Point 4: Few people know this one, but it speaks to the parity you’ll see in coming years. Farson, which finished last in the six-man West Conference and didn’t come within 42 points of any varsity program it played this fall, will be competing with Guernsey by as soon as next year. How do I know this? The Pronghorns’ junior high team beat Guernsey this season.
Guernsey made the right choice, and no one should question it for the reasons pointed out above. And the way they won games shouldn’t call into question that decision.
Rather, the 2009 Guernsey Vikings should instead just be celebrated for what they were: an incredibly dominating six-man football team, the likes of which the state may not see again for a long time.
It just so happened the Vikings put together this domination in the first go-round. Just don’t let that freak you out — either about the Vikings or about six-man football.
–patrick