Wyoming vs. Wyoming in the NFL

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Last season, the NFL had three players from Wyoming high schools on their active rosters — Jacob Bobenmoyer (Cheyenne East) with Denver, Taven Bryan (Natrona) with Jacksonville and Logan Wilson (Natrona) with Cincinnati.

In Week 4 last season, Bryan’s Jaguars played Wilson’s Bengals. Unfortunately, Wilson missed the game due to injury. If he had played, it would have given Wyoming football fans a rare opportunity to see two Wyoming high school graduates play against each other in an NFL game.

This season, the Bengals, Jaguars and Broncos all play each other once. Jacksonville hosts Denver this Sunday, in Week 2 (Sept. 19), Cincinnati hosts Jacksonville in Week 4 (Sept. 30, Thursday night game) and Denver hosts Cincinnati in Week 15 (Dec. 19).

If Bobenmoyer, Bryan and Wilson can all remain on rosters, active and injury-free, three games where two Wyoming high school players lined up on opposite sidelines would give us more games of that kind than any time since the 2005 season and Wyoming’s first since 2012.

Using my Wyoming-to-NFL listings, which includes every player who took at least one NFL regular-season snap, as a starting point, I combed pro-football-reference.com to see when we’ve had such games. I found 27 such games. Here is what I could find:

Sept. 29, 1963: Boyd Dowler’s (Cheyenne Central) Packers beat Jerry Hill’s (Lingle) Colts 31-20. Coincidentally, Hill and Dowler scored the first two touchdowns of the game. Dowler had five catches for 74 yards and two touchdowns; Hill finished with four carries for 8 yards.

Oct. 27, 1963: Dowler’s Packers beat Hill’s Colts 34-20. Dowler had two catches for 23 yards; Hill had three carries for 6 yards.

Sept. 20, 1964: Hill’s Colts beat Dowler’s Packers 21-20. Hill carried 15 times for 49 yards and caught two passes for 28 yards; Dowler had seven catches for 66 yards.

Oct. 18, 1964: Hill’s Colts beat Dowler’s Packers 24-21. Dowler had two catches for 55 yards; Hill didn’t make the box score. (Hill may have missed this game due to injury, but reports from the time are unclear.)

Sept. 26, 1965: Dowler’s Packers beat Hill’s Colts 20-17. Dowler had four catches for 53 yards; Hill had 12 carries for 42 yards and a touchdown.

Dec. 12, 1965: Dowler’s Packers beat Hill’s Colts 42-27. Dowler and Hill each scored a touchdown. Dowler had four catches for 40 yards; Hill had nine carries for 24 yards.

Dec. 26, 1965: Dowler’s Packers beat Hill’s Colts 13-10 in the divisional playoffs. Dowler had five catches for 50 yards; Hill had 16 carries for 57 yards.

Sept. 10, 1966: Dowler’s Packers beat Hill’s Colts 24-3. Dowler had six catches for 73 yards; Hill ran 13 times for 51 yards and had two catches for 10 yards.

Dec. 10, 1966: Dowler’s Packers beat Hill’s Colts 14-10. Hill carried 25 times for 88 yards; Dowler didn’t make the box score.

Nov. 5, 1967: Hill’s Colts beat Dowler’s Packers 13-10. Dowler had four catches for 60 yards; Hill carried 11 times for 48 yards and had two catches for a net zero yards.

Nov. 9, 1969: Hill’s Colts beat Dowler’s Packers 14-6. Dowler had three catches for 37 yards; Hill carried 10 times for 45 yards and had one catch for minus-3 yards.

Oct. 9, 1977: Don Westbrook’s (Cheyenne Central) Patriots beat Nick Bebout’s (Shoshoni) Seahawks 31-0. Neither one was in the box score; Bebout started for the Seahawks on the offensive line.

Oct. 5, 1980: Westbrook’s Patriots beat Jesse Johnson’s (Cheyenne East) Jets 21-11. Neither one was in the box score.

Nov. 2, 1980: Westbrook’s Patriots beat Johnson’s Jets 34-21. Neither one was in the box score.

Oct. 11, 1981: Johnson’s Jets beat Westbrook’s Patriots 28-24. Neither one was in the box score.

Nov. 15, 1981: Johnson’s Jets beat Westbrook’s Patriots 17-6. Neither one was in the box score.

Sept. 22, 1985: Jim Eliopulos’ (Cheyenne Central) Jets beat Mike McLeod’s (Cheyenne East) Packers 24-3. Neither one was in the box score.

Oct. 31, 2005: Brett Keisel’s (Greybull) Steelers beat Aaron Elling’s (Lander) Ravens 20-19. Keisel had one tackle; Elling handled kickoffs and had one tackle.

Nov. 6, 2005: Keisel’s Steelers beat Brady Poppinga’s (Evanston) Packers 20-10. Each player had two tackles.

Nov. 20, 2005: Elling’s Ravens beat Keisel’s Steelers 16-13. Keisel had one tackle; Elling handled the Ravens’ kickoffs.

Dec. 20, 2009: Keisel’s Steelers beat Poppinga’s Packers 37-36. Poppinga had one tackle, a sack; Keisel had one tackle.

Oct. 3, 2010: Poppinga’s Packers beat John Wendling’s (Rock Springs) Lions 28-26. Wendling had two tackles; Poppinga had one tackle.

Oct. 16, 2011: Keisel’s Steelers beat John Chick (Campbell County) and Chris Prosinski’s (Buffalo) Jaguars 17-13. Keisel had six tackles, including a sack, and a pass deflection; Chick had a sack and a forced fumble; Prosinski had two tackles.

Dec. 24, 2011: Keisel’s Steelers beat Poppinga’s Rams 27-0. Poppinga had four tackles; Keisel had three tackles and a pass deflection.

Nov. 4, 2012: Wendling’s Lions beat Chick and Prosinski’s Jaguars 31-14. Prosinski had four tackles; Wendling and Chick played but did not make the box score.

Dec. 16, 2012: Poppinga’s Cowboys beat Keisel’s Steelers 27-24. Keisel had a fumble recovery; Poppinga had one tackle.

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I also found these times when two Wyoming high school products played on the same NFL team:

1935: Win Croft (Lovell) and Walt McDonald (Worland) played together on the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1973, 1974 and 1975: Nick Bebout (Shoshoni) and Dennis Havig (Powell) played together on the Atlanta Falcons.

1983: Jim Eliopulos (Cheyenne Central) and Jesse Johnson (Cheyenne East) played together for part of the season with the Jets.

2011 and 2012: Chris Prosinski (Buffalo) and John Chick (Campbell County) played together with the Jaguars.

Note: Some years, like 2020, gave us opportunities for these kind of games but didn’t happen. For example, in 1961, Dowler’s Packers twice played Hill’s Colts, and even though Hill was on the roster, he wasn’t activated for those particular games. Or, in Super Bowl XLV on Feb. 6, 2011, Keisel’s Steelers played Poppinga’s Packers, but Poppinga was on injured reserve and did not play. Or, in 2014, Keisel’s Steelers played Prosinski’s Jaguars, but the game came the week after Proskinski had been cut. Games that matched up teams where Wyoming players were on injured reserve or inactive have been removed.

Those games have been removed from these listings.

Similarly, Don Bracken (Thermopolis) and Mike McLeod (Cheyenne East) both played for the Packers in 1985. However, their times with the team did not overlap.

Additionally, in 2021, if either Bryan or Wilson, both defensive players, lines up on the other side of Bobenmoyer, a long snapper, it would represent one of just a handful of times that Wyoming high school players lined up across from each other in a regular-season NFL game. The only times such matchups could have happened in the games listed above were in the games between Westbrook (WR) and Johnson (DB) in 1980 and 1981 and the games between Keisel (DE) and Elling (K) in 2005.

–patrick

2021 Wyoming high school football preview magazine: Out now!

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Cover of the Wyoming high school football preview magazine.

The 2021 version of the Wyoming high school football preview magazine, after a bit of a delay, is finally out!

The magazine has full previews on every team in Wyoming. No other publication does this to the depth you’ll find in this magazine.

The magazine is available here online. Hard copies should be available for free at the locations of the advertisers in the next week or so.

Please support the advertisers — they’re the ones that allow for this magazine to happen.

Thanks for your patience, and enjoy!

–patrick

Week 2 picks: A rare Tiger-Trojan showdown helps dictate 4A’s direction

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After looking at the Class 4A standings two weeks into the season, and then the upcoming Week 2 schedule, a simple question crept into my brain:

When was the last time Kelly Walsh and Rock Springs played each other when both teams were undefeated?

So, because I can, I looked.

The answer? If you don’t count season openers… Never. The answer is never.

This isn’t too surprising. Despite being consistent Class 4A rivals, the Trojans and the Tigers have found their peaks at separate times. Of their 31 meetings, only three have been in the playoffs — the quarterfinals in 2001 and championship games in 1980 and 1981.

The 1980 title-game meeting is the closest we’ve ever come to having an undefeated Tiger-Trojan game; both teams came into the championship at 8-1, with KW winning its first of back-to-back titles at Rock Springs’ expense.

The lack of undefeated encounters ends on Friday, though, when the 2-0 Tigers host the 2-0 Trojans in Sweetwater County.

Rock Springs was my preseason No. 1 in Class 4A, so it’s not much of a surprise to see them at 2-0 after two weeks. The Tigers wasted Campbell County to start the season and topped last week’s No. 1 team in the Wyopreps Coaches and Media Poll, Thunder Basin, by double digits in Gillette.

Kelly Walsh? Well, the Trojans notched a huge victory last week by beating Cheyenne Central 21-13 in Casper, their second of two victories against Cheyenne schools after overwhelming outmanned Cheyenne South in Week 0.

Together, they represent two of the three remaining undefeated teams in Class 4A, with Sheridan and its 113-0 scoring advantage through two games the other.

Between the Tigers and Trojans, that number of undefeated teams will shrink by at least one after this week.

And that’s the first time anyone has been able to say that.

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Some other games that look like they could be something really special this week:

Lander made my socks leave my feet — almost as if those sweaty foot coverings were blown that way — in its Week 1 game against Green River. I’m insanely curious to see how they stack up at home against Powell. If the Tigers can somehow win this one, watch out. …

Evanston has won two one-point games in a row to start the season and already have more victories than the past two seasons combined. It will be interesting to see if the Red Devils can keep the momentum going against Riverton in an intriguing matchup. …

If “slugfest” could be bottled and sold, you’d probably be able to buy it in Lyman on Friday, where the Eagles will face Cokeville in a game that has either 6-0 or 42-41 written all over it. I just can’t figure out which. …

It doesn’t seem fair that Lusk and Pine Bluffs play each other in the 1A nine-man East lid-lifter. This should be a Week 8 game. A conference championship might just be on the line in Week 2. …

Encampment and Snake River both got off to quick starts last week, and in a conference as competitive as the 1A six-man West, every game will be crucial. The whole direction of the conference could be dictated by what happens in Baggs on Friday.

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Here are this week’s picks. Projected winners are in bold, but so are classifications and days of the week, which is a subconscious reminder that we’re all winners when football is happening.

Thursday
Class 2A
Newcastle at Upton-Sundance
Interclass
Natrona JV at Hulett
Friday
Class 4A
Campbell County at Cheyenne East
Kelly Walsh at Rock Springs
Natrona at Laramie
Sheridan at Cheyenne Central
Thunder Basin at Cheyenne South
Class 3A
Cody at Worland
Green River at Buffalo
Powell at Lander
Riverton at Evanston
Class 2A
Big Horn at Wheatland
Burns at Tongue River
Cokeville at Lyman
Kemmerer at Pinedale
Lovell at Mountain View
Torrington at Glenrock
Class 1A nine-man
Greybull at Wind River
Lusk at Pine Bluffs
Saratoga at Moorcroft
Shoshoni at Rocky Mountain
Southeast at Lingle
Wright at Wyoming Indian
Class 1A six-man
Encampment at Snake River
Midwest at Dubois
Interstate
Belle Fourche, S.D., at Douglas
Jackson at Pocatello, Idaho
Rawlins at Moffat County, Colo.
Sugar-Salem, Idaho, at Star Valley
Saturday
Class 1A nine-man
Riverside at St. Stephens
Class 1A six-man
Burlington at Farson
Meeteetse at Kaycee
Interclass
Hanna at Cheyenne East sophs

Thermopolis at Big Piney has been postponed to Oct. 19. Guernsey also forfeited its game to the Cheyenne Central JV this week due to the Vikings being in quarantine due to COVID-19. Mask up, stay safe, get vaccinated and do your part to help keep football, and everything else, going.

For a full schedule including kickoff times, as well as results from past weeks, go here. Click on “Week 2” on the top of the page for this week’s schedule.

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Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 22-8 (73 percent). This season: 35-12 (74 percent).

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Undefeated, winless or 1-1 — who are you watching in Week 2? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship. 

–patrick

Guernsey forfeits Week 2 game due to COVID-19 quarantine

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Guernsey has been forced to forfeit its Week 2 game with the Cheyenne Central JV due to a COVID-19 quarantine.

Guernsey activities director Glenn Freeburg said via email to wyoming-football.com on Wednesday that the Vikings’ team is in quarantine after a COVID-19 exposure.

It was unclear Wednesday if other sports were affected at Guernsey or if the quarantine was limited to the football team.

Guernsey lost to Farson in its season opener last week. The Vikings are scheduled to play Sioux County, Nebraska, next week.

This story was originally reported on Twitter by Wyopreps.

–patrick

Two Goshen County schools (Torrington, Lingle) forfeit Week 1 football games

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Both Lingle and Torrington have forfeited their Week 1 football games, to Wind River and Douglas respectively.

Lingle forfeited its game to Wind River on Thursday; Torrington forfeited its game to Douglas on Friday morning.

Lingle activities director Mike Lashley, when reached by email by wyoming-football.com Thursday, declined to elaborate on the reasons for Lingle’s forfeit, saying only that the Doggers could not field a team this week.

A Torrington High School Facebook post on Friday said the forfeiture was due to “injuries and illness.” Torrington activities director Gabe Bartlett reiterated that in an email to wyoming-football.com on Friday, citing both factors as the reason for the forfeit.

“Just not enough students to safely play the game,” Bartlett wrote.

Also on Thursday, the Goshen County school board voted 5-4 to mandate masks in the schools. The school district website said 189 students were in COVID-19 quarantine across the district, and that 19 active cases of COVID-19 were present among students or staff.

The Goshen County school district spans Torrington, Lingle, Southeast and LaGrange schools. The district had 1,606 students in K-12 last fall, according to the Wyoming Department of Education’s annual enrollment count.

The third of three Goshen County football teams, Southeast, will play its scheduled game today at Shoshoni, the Torrington Telegram’s Andrew Towne reported on Twitter. Lingle and Southeast are both Class 1A nine-man programs, while Torrington competes in Class 2A.

In all, five Wyoming high school football games have now ended in either forfeiture or cancellation. Burns and Thermopolis lost their Week 1 games due to COVID-19, while St. Stephens cited injury and eligibility issues in a Wednesday school Facebook post as its reason for forgoing its Friday game against Lusk.

Note: This story was updated at 11:04 a.m. MDT Friday with comments from Bartlett. This story will be updated as necessary when, or if, new information becomes available.

–patrick

Week 1 picks: Wyoming’s most competitive football conference this year is…

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The 1A six-man West Conference is going to be perhaps the most competitive conference, top to bottom, in the whole state this year.

If you believe the Wyopreps.com coaches and media poll to start the season, the five best teams in six-man all reside out west. And it just might be true.

Let’s break down the West:

  • Farson is the defending champs and has two undefeated seasons the past three years.
  • Meeteetse was runners-up last year and has maybe six-man’s biggest playmaker in Dace Bennett.
  • Encampment lost by ONE to Farson in the semis and returns a core of talented players.
  • Dubois is the odds-on favorite to win six-man in 2023 with a talented group of sophomores.
  • Snake River is not far removed from an unbeaten season and didn’t graduate anyone — like, zero seniors last year.
  • Burlington somehow managed to go under the radar but is never, ever the weak link.

There’s a chance the West could sweep the East this week in the five six-man inter-conference games this week.

The stakes go up quickly in the West Conference after this week, though. Conference play starts in Week 2 with two of the 15 games that will decide the standings for a conference that won’t disappoint, as Encampment goes to Snake River and Farson hosts Burlington.

But that’s next week.

This week, the focus is a fast start.

And this week, five West teams (Meeteetse is off) face the five East teams to try to do just that.

The sweep has a better than average chance of happening this week, but beware the spoiler. If an East team can win this week, that squad basically becomes the de facto favorite for a top seed from six-man’s forgotten side in 2021.

If you can beat one team from the even West conference, you automatically know you can play with them all.

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Other games that have piqued (not peaked) my interest:

Central was shut out last week against Natrona; Kelly Walsh put up 70. Which one was a fluke, and which one was a harbinger? We’ll find out when the Indians and Trojans meet this week. …

Thunder Basin picked up a pretty amazing victory last week, rallying from a 28-0 deficit to beat Cheyenne East 39-34. The ‘Bolts can ill afford another slow start against Rock Springs, which lived up to some big offseason hype by thumping on Campbell County. …

Would defending 4A champ Cheyenne East really start 0-2? Natrona would love it if they did. …

Sheridan County’s two 2A programs, Big Horn and Tongue River, are both intriguing this year. I’m curious to see how they stack up against Bighorn Basin programs Lovell and Thermopolis, respectively, in a pair of inter-conference games. …

Prior to 2011, Southeast and Shoshoni had never played each other. Now they’ve played eight times, including playoff games in 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2020. And this will be the second straight year that Shoshoni will begin its season by playing the team that ended its previous season. It’s the kind of unexpected rivalry that helps define an era, and I’m glad to see it going in 2021.

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Here are the Week 1 picks. Teams I think will give it everything they have are and quite possibly spring an upset are in the regular type; the teams I think they might spring the upset against are in bold.

Thursday
Class 1A nine-man
Pine Bluffs at Riverside
Interclass
Big Piney at Evanston JV
Lyman at Rawlins
Friday
Class 4A
Cheyenne Central at Kelly Walsh
Cheyenne East at Natrona
Cheyenne South at Sheridan
Laramie at Campbell County
Rock Springs at Thunder Basin
Class 3A
Cody at Riverton
Green River at Lander
Worland at Powell
Class 2A
Big Horn at Lovell
Glenrock at Pinedale
Wheatland at Kemmerer
Class 1A nine-man
Lingle at Wind River
Moorcroft at Greybull
Rocky Mountain at Wright
St. Stephens at Lusk
Southeast at Shoshoni
Wyoming Indian at Saratoga
Class 1A six-man
Dubois at Kaycee
Encampment at Midwest
Farson at Guernsey-Sunrise
Hulett at Burlington
Interclass
Buffalo at Newcastle
Evanston at Mountain View
Torrington at Douglas
Interstate
Bear Lake, Idaho, at Jackson
Cokeville at Rich County, Utah
Star Valley at Preston, Idaho
Upton-Sundance at Lead-Deadwood, S.D.
Saturday
Class 1A six-man
Hanna at Snake River
Interclass
Sheridan JV at Tongue River
Open: Meeteetse.

Thermopolis’ game with Tongue River this week was canceled, and Burns forfeited its game against Mitchell, Neb. The loss of both games was COVID-19-related. Please mask up and vaccinate, if not for you, then for the football players you obviously care about if you’re this deep into reading this blog post.

Update: St. Stephens also forfeited its game this week against Lusk. A St. Stephens school Facebook post said the forfeit was “due to numbers, lack of practices, eligibility, and injuries.”

For a full schedule including kickoff times, as well as results from past weeks, go here. Click on “Week 1” on the top of the page for this week’s schedule.

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Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 13-4 (76 percent). This season: 13-4 (76 percent).

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Is the 1A six-man West really the most competitive conference top to bottom? In what other leagues do you see the lowest-ranked team having a realistic chance of beating the highest-ranked team? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship. 

–patrick

Burns forfeits Week 1 game due to quarantines

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Burns has forfeited its Week 1 game against Mitchell, Neb., after COVID-19 quarantines left Burns unable to play.

Burns High activities director Barry Ward announced the forfeiture on Twitter.

In an email Wednesday with wyoming-football.com, Ward said the exact number of Burns students in quarantine would not be finalized until contact tracing was complete. However, in-person school and sports practice will continue at Burns.

Ward said a decision on Burns’ Week 2 game against Tongue River, the Class 2A East Conference opener for both teams, “will be made when the contact tracing picture becomes clearer.”

Burns was the second team in two days to lose a game due to COVID-19, as Thermopolis canceled its Week 1 game and rescheduled its Week 2 game on Tuesday after moving to online classes for two weeks.

The Broncs also canceled a game and rescheduled another last year due to COVID-19. Burns lost its season opener to Yuma, Colo., last week.

–patrick

Thermopolis closes schools for two weeks, moves online; football and other sports impacted

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Thermopolis will close its schools for at least two weeks and move to online learning immediately, the district’s superintendent announced Tuesday.

Thermopolis will also have two football games “impacted” by the temporary closure — one canceled, one rescheduled.

A Facebook post on the Thermopolis Sports page said the next two weeks of sporting events would be impacted for all sports at the school, including football, volleyball, cross country and golf.

Thermopolis’ football team was scheduled to play Tongue River this week and Big Piney next week. Both games were scheduled as road games for the Bobcats.

In an email with wyoming-football.com on Tuesday, Thermopolis activities director Brandon Deromedi said the Tongue River game would be canceled, while the Big Piney game would be made up at 2 p.m. Oct. 19 in Big Piney. The Big Piney game is a Class 2A West Conference game.

The Wind River Radio Network/WyoToday.com posted a letter from Dustin Hunt, the superintendent of Hot Springs County School District No. 1. In the letter, Hunt said the rise in COVID-19 infections in both Thermopolis and across Wyoming led to the decision.

“It is disappointing to be in a digital instruction period this early in the school year, but unfortunately numbers of students and staff infected with COVID 19, or under quarantine orders has reached the threshold of needed separation,” Hunt wrote.

The Facebook post said at least 30% of Thermopolis’ students were out of school due to illness or “other reasons,” including quarantine. Deromedi said the 30% threshold for moving to online learning and teaching was a district policy.

“We have had some COVID cases,” Deromedi said, “but most students that are out are due to quarantining and proactive measures to stay healthy.”

Deromedi said sports teams will not practice during the next two weeks.

Hunt’s letter said Hot Springs County schools will not require vaccinations or the wearing of masks without a state order to do so.

Thermopolis is the first school in Wyoming this year to cancel games and adjust its schedule due to COVID-19 illnesses and quarantining. Burns, Douglas, Newcastle, St. Stephens and Wyoming Indian undertook similar measures last year, with St. Stephens and Wyoming Indian canceling all fall sports.

–patrick

Officials shortage affects Wyoming football programs

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Want to know how hard an officiating crew can work during the season? Look no further than where that crew sleeps.

Saratoga football coach Logan Wright watched with both surprise and admiration last fall when the Saratoga gym turned into a makeshift hotel for an officiating crew.

The group had officiated a game Friday afternoon in Farson and then a Friday night game in Saratoga. That crew slept in the Saratoga gym that night before officiating a Saturday game in Baggs.

Wright said he appreciates Wyoming’s football officials, especially those willing to sacrifice and do that. But the scenario puts in clear view one of the biggest problems with Wyoming officials — their small number. With a small number of new, young officials joining the ranks, officials are often put in tough situations like the one in Saratoga last year.

In interviews with Wyoming high school football coaches this summer, they all echoed respect and appreciation for what officials do. But the coaches also said the shortage of football officials in Wyoming has affected game times, budgets, the make-up of the crews themselves, and more.

Game times

By far, the biggest challenge schools faced was the variety of start times based on officials’ availability.

“Ideally we’d have every game Friday at 6,” Wright said. ” … It’s not our AD’s fault. You can only play once the refs can get there.”

Six-man programs usually take the brunt of the trickle-down problems, as officiating crews cover Class 4A and Class 3A games first.

“The official shortage has had a bigger impact on the smaller schools,” Burlington coach Travis Aagard said. “It requires tough start times, which makes it hard for the fans to make it to games. Officials are double booked for the day, and the second game is usually a bigger school so they do not want to be late to that game. If the game is lopsided it works out, but if it is a close game with hard calls down the stretch when they are already pressed for time it can be uncomfortable.”

Even with the shortage, Guernsey coach Curtis Cook said some officiating crews will turn down working the Vikings’ six-man games because of the amount of running. Cook said officials have said they can do half as much running in an 11-man game and get paid the same amount. Cook said when officiating crews have a choice between six-man and 11-man, crews choose 11-man — a choice afforded by those low numbers.

“It’s a real thing, and it’s affecting our schedule,” Cook said. “Those Friday night games have almost become a treat. Other (bigger) schools, they get it every week.”

Added Meeteetse coach Zeb Hagen, “We’re one of the few smaller schools that has lights, and we can never turn them on because everyone’s doing the big games on Friday night. … I hate it. I’d rather play on Friday night every week.”

It’s not just six-man; Big Piney coach Ryan Visser said the Big Piney-Lovell game, a Class 2A game, will be played at 2 p.m. in Lovell this season. Because of that, though, Big Piney will have to be on a bus heading north by 5:30 a.m.

With crews often doing back-to-back games, quality can suffer, coaches said.

“You can’t do those back-to-back games and be on the top of your game, so I do think there are some lasting effects in it,” Shoshoni coach Tony Truempler said.

When crews aren’t running from a six-man or nine-man game to a 3A or 4A game, they’re often working two games on the same field in the same day — and that, too, can take a toll.

“We often play a freshman game on Friday before the varsity and the same crew usually has to work each game,” Cody coach Matt McFadden said. “That is a long day for the crew, especially when you throw in travel.”

ADs and coaches all know about the scheduling chase.

Moorcroft coach Travis Santistevan said when schools received schedules, they couldn’t begin scheduling officials until 4 p.m. At exactly 4, the Moorcroft AD, Dusty Petz, starting making calls.

“We literally went through almost everybody and we still had a tough time filling our (officiating) schedules… and that was at like 4:15,” Santistevan said.

Budgets

Many coaches said they look out-of-state to fill gaps in their officiating schedule, pulling in crews from every neighboring state.

However, those crews typically cost more than a Wyoming crew.

For at least one recent game, Wind River had to bring in officials all the way from Fort Collins, Colorado, at a cost of “an arm and a leg,” Cougars’ coach Mykah Trujillo said. Trujillo said he was frustrated that the extra cost had to go to officials from another state more than 300 miles from Pavillion and couldn’t stay with the program somehow.

“It definitely affects our program, especially monetarily,” he said. “Instead of using that money for something else, we’re using it to pay officials to come in from Fort Collins.”

Several coaches in southwestern Wyoming noted pulling crews from Idaho or Utah to make up for the lack of Wyoming crews.

“We only have two sets of officials on this side of the state,” Cokeville coach Todd Dayton said. ” … Then we have to go into Idaho and get officials, so it’s a big problem. I really don’t see anything changing. I wish it would.”

Crew make-up

Coaches identified a couple issues with how crews are put together due to the shortage.

The biggest of those problems is using an understaffed crew to officiate, for example, using four officials instead of five.

Greybull coach Jeremy Pouska said that as an assistant at Riverside last year, “There were a few games where we were understaff for officials. … As much as we want the kids to play fair and honest, a lot can go unseen if we’re understaffed.”

Lander coach John Scott said the problem is severe enough that there’s a possibility that five-man crews in the future could include three officials and then an assistant coach from each team.

Lyman coach Dale Anderson said one problem he sees is that the same crews officiate the same teams over and over. He said having some variety would be nice not just for teams and coaches but for officials, too.

Added Douglas coach Jay Rhoades, “When we go and play around the state, you see a lot of the same guys.”

Several coaches noted this arrangement becomes even more problematic if a coaching staff doesn’t have a good rapport with one of those oft-seen crews.

At the same time, though, the familiarity between coaches and officials does have benefits.

“I’ve been in Kansas and officials don’t even talk to you there,” Dubois coach David Trembly said. “Here, you know them by name and you can talk to them and ask them questions, and I love that about our officials.”

Cheyenne Central coach Mike Apodaca pointed out that one of the problems is that younger officials are being forced to officiate at the varsity level sooner than they would have previously. That lack of depth means newer officials are facing more high-pressure situations, and sometimes officials with less experience struggle with those situations more — and are more likely to leave officiating because of it.

Burns coach Brad Morrison echoed several coaches when he said brought up another problem — older officials stay longer than they used to out of obligation to help with the shortage. However, several coaches said some of the older officials have trouble keeping up physically, which lessens the quality of the game.

Other concerns

WHSAA Associate Commissioner Trevor Wilson said via email last week that the biggest problem is recruiting young officials. He echoed the coaches in their concerns, with poor sportsmanship from coaches and spectators, pay, work obligations, inability to get good games quickly and a lack of training all concerns.

While other sports are struggling to recruit officials, the problem is more acute in football.

Wilson provided data from the Wyoming Sports Officials Association with the total number of officials in each sport. The number of certified football officials in Wyoming peaked in 2012 at 124. Last year, there were 85. However, the total number was more stable — 295 in 2012 to 261 last year.

Lander’s Scott officiates during the basketball season, and he said part of the problem is that basketball officials can work multiple games throughout the week and come close to making it a part-time job. That’s not the case in football, where there are fewer games and therefore fewer opportunities to make money.

Officials’ pay was a consistent theme among coaches. Several coaches noted that increased pay would bring out more officials.

“I’ve been a basketball ref before and it is not an easy gig,” Burlington’s Aagard said. “You start thinking, ‘They don’t pay me enough to put up with this,’ when everyone is critical of your calls.”

Rock Springs coach Mark Lenhardt, the football representative for the Wyoming Coaches Association, said finding former players to become officials is complicated by a variety of things unique to the fall — namely hunting season, fans of UW football wanting to attend games, and the opportunity to do other outdoor activities before winter encouraging would-be officials to do something else besides officiating with their weekends.

Appreciation for the officials

Despite any problems, coaches over and over said they appreciate officials and the work they do.

“Officiating is a sport within a sport,” Burns’ Morrison said. “There is skill involved. Anyone who has never put on stripes should shut up, and let the officials work. It’s a hard enough job without a bunch of 40-something, ex-JV football players screaming insults for an entire game.”

Rawlins coach Clayton McSpadden said coaches in particular need to show patience with new officials. They’re still learning to be officials, and coaches have to give them the opportunity to learn as well, he said. He said those involved can’t expect officials to get entire game right.

“If that’s the expectation, maybe we should stop coaching and go be officials,” he said.

People interested in becoming an official can fill out a short application with the National Federation of High Schools, of which the WHSAA is a part.

–patrick

Week 0 picks: August heat and November cool

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One takeaway that Week 0 gave us in 2020?

August football and November football are two different things.

Cheyenne East, the Class 4A champion in 2020, suffered its only loss of the season in its August season opener against Thunder Basin, 34-28.

The two teams met again 11 weeks later, in November, in the 4A championship, with East winning 29-15.

East and Thunder Basin will play in Week 0 again this year, starting the 2021 season the same way the 2020 season ended.

In Class 4A, we know from the experience East and Thunder Basin had last year that who wins this week in August doesn’t necessarily have an advantage come November.

Moreover, a regular-season loss doesn’t mean a title-game loss to the same team is inevitable.

East in 2020 made it back-to-back seasons in 4A where a regular-season loss was followed by a championship victory against the same team. East repeated Sheridan’s 2019 path. The Broncs lost their 2019 regular-season game to Thunder Basin but won the championship.

That phenomenon has happened two other times since 4A began its round-robin regular-season scheduling in 2009. Sheridan also did the same, to Campbell County, in 2015, and Natrona got revenge on a regular-season loss to Sheridan in 2010.

Those instances are a reminder not to read too deeply into the first week of results, especially in Class 4A. A team’s August heat doesn’t always last through November’s winds.

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A couple other things caught my eye for opening weekend:

Week 0 has numerous interesting contests on the schedule, but if I really wanted to see a lot of action, I’d set up camp near Hell’s Half Acre and go to both Casper and Shoshoni. A bunch of nine-man teams will scrimmage Friday in Casper and Saturday in Shoshoni, a great opportunity to see how teams stack up against another team without worrying about their record. …

The only new Class 4A coach in Wyoming, Paul Ronga, makes his debut with the Laramie Plainsmen at home against Sheridan, while the only new 2A coach, Glenrock’s Paul Downing, debuts against the Natrona sophs at home. The other four new head coaches in the state are in 1A nine-man; two of those four coaches will be in Shoshoni on Saturday. …

Interstate matchups in Zero Week are always fun to watch. Every single one of the nine on the schedule this week look like they’ll be close, solid matchups. I’m particularly curious to see how Torrington, Lyman, Jackson and Meeteetse — teams that played in their respective title games last year — do agains their interstate foes.

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On to this week’s picks. Projected winners are in bold, but I love a good upset.

Friday
Class 4A
Campbell County at Rock Springs
Kelly Walsh at Cheyenne South
Natrona at Cheyenne Central
Sheridan at Laramie
Thunder Basin at Cheyenne East
Class 3A
Powell at Riverton
Interclass
Natrona sophs at Glenrock
Wheatland at Rawlins
Interstate
Big Piney at Bear Lake, Idaho
Burns at Yuma, Colo.
Evanston at Ben Lomond, Utah
Gering, Neb., at Torrington
Hot Springs, S.D., at Newcastle
Malad, Idaho, at Lyman
Meeteetse at Bridger, Mont.
Star Valley at Summit Academy, Utah
Teton, Idaho, at Jackson

The rest of the schedule…

Jamborees and Scrimmages
Friday
Buffalo at Big Horn
Cokeville, Green River JV at Kemmerer
Douglas at Cody
Dubois, Guernsey-Sunrise, Midwest at Encampment Jamboree
Lingle at Pine Bluffs
Lusk, Shoshoni, Wind River, Wright at Casper Jamboree (Natrona)
Mountain View at Green River
Pinedale at Lander
Saturday
Greybull, Riverside, Rocky Mountain, Saratoga at Shoshoni Jamboree
Lovell at Tongue River
Moorcroft vs. Southeast, at Lusk
Worland at Thermopolis
Open: Burlington, Farson, Hanna, Hulett, Kaycee, St. Stephens, Snake River, Upton-Sundance, Wyoming Indian.

For a full schedule including kickoff times, as well as results from past weeks, go here. Click on “Week 0” on the top of the page for this week’s schedule.

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As usual during Zero Week, here is a reminder of the rules I use to determine whether a Zero Week contest is a game or is something else:

  • 1. Was the game played with four 12-minute quarters with normal timing rules?
  • 2. Were officials used? And were normal rules of play instituted for the game?
  • 3. Was score kept?

If these three criteria are met, I call it a game and record it as such on this site.

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Where are you keeping your eyes for Zero Week? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

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–patrick