“They haven’t played?” Part 1: Enrollment

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When two teams are close to each other in total enrollment, it makes sense that, eventually, those schools will play each other on a football field.

Wyoming, after all, went to great lengths to pool together schools with close enrollments into far-flung conferences (or, in the case of Class 4A, just one classification). Those schools will see each other often in both regular season and postseason play. Schools close to a classification cutoff will sometimes bounce back and forth between classifications, giving them chances to play numerous schools both above and below their enrollment.

Sometimes, though, schools with similar enrollments end up missing each other every season.

For example: Pinedale and Wheatland occupy spots 23 and 24, respectively, in the WHSAA’s enrollment tallies. They’re both in Class 2A for football, but the two schools have yet to play each other. Ever.

Distance — and a history of being in separate classifications — have prevented the Wranglers and Bulldogs from facing each other, even though they’re right next to each other in enrollment.

In other cases, time has been the biggest obstacle. For example, Rock River hasn’t played EITHER school right above (Meeteetse) and right below it (Ten Sleep) on the gridiron. But Rock River has only been a varsity football program for one season.

Something similar is happening for Cokeville and St. Stephens; the two programs are right next to each other in enrollment but play in different classifications (1A 11-man for Cokeville and 1A six-man for St. Stephens) and, obviously, haven’t faced off since St. Stephens resurrected its varsity program two years ago.

Other schools, meanwhile, have pretty much run out of close-enrollment schools to play. Gillette, Rock Springs and Guernsey-Sunrise have played every single available school both above and below their enrollments, with the closest school being 13 places away. (Gillette and Rock Springs don’t have a ton of schools above their enrollment, and Guernsey-Sunrise doesn’t have a ton below, contributing to the wide berths for each school.)

But that’s just the closest. The title for widest range range — the number of total schools, both above and below combined — goes to Thermopolis at 29 schools. The Bobcats have played every current 3A and 2A school, the bottom three schools in 4A and the largest 1A 11-man school.

Ten Sleep and Rock River, at a range of 0, have the smallest. Ten Sleep and Rock River limit each other pretty effectively, as Ten Sleep is the smallest football-playing school in the state and hasn’t played the second-smallest in Rock River.

Pinedale’s one-place range is the next smallest, as the No. 23 Wranglers haven’t played No. 24 Wheatland or No. 21 Torrington.

Here’s a quick glance to see which Wyoming high schools closest to each other in enrollment haven’t faced each other — yet — and how far apart they are in the WHSAA’s enrollment “standings.” (Note: Upton and Sundance are considered separately here.)

Class 4A
Gillette: Jackson (13 spots)
Natrona: Star Valley (11 spots)
Rock Springs: Douglas (13 spots)
Cheyenne East: Star Valley (9 spots)
Kelly Walsh: Star Valley (8 spots)
Cheyenne Central: Star Valley (7 spots)
Cheyenne South: Green River (4 spots)
Sheridan: Jackson (6 spots)
Laramie: Star Valley (4 spots)
Evanston: Douglas (6 spots)

Class 3A
Green River: Cheyenne South (4 spots)
Riverton: Cheyenne South (5 spots)
Star Valley: Laramie (4 spots)
Jackson: Laramie (5 spots)
Cody: Cheyenne South AND Pinedale (8 spots each)
Douglas: Evanston (6 spots)
Rawlins: Cheyenne South (7 spots)
Lander: Pinedale (5 spots)
Powell: Pinedale (4 spots)
Worland: Pinedale (3 spots)
Torrington: Pinedale (2 spots)
Buffalo: Laramie (11 spots)

Class 2A
Pinedale: Wheatland (1 spot)
Wheatland: Pinedale (1 spot)
Newcastle: Pinedale (2 spots)
Mountain View: Torrington (5 spots)
Glenrock: Worland (7 spots)
Lovell: Torrington (7 spots)
Thermopolis: Wyoming Indian (9 spots)
Lyman: Burns (4 spots)
Big Piney: Burns (3 spots)
Kemmerer: Burns (2 spots)
Greybull: Pine Bluffs (11 spots)
Burns: Kemmerer (2 spots)
Big Horn: Shoshoni (8 spots)
Wright: Wyoming Indian (2 spots)

Class 1A 11-man
Moorcroft: Shoshoni (6 spots)
Wyoming Indian: Wright (2 spots)
Wind River: Pine Bluffs (5 spots)
Rocky Mountain: Kemmerer (8 spots)
Tongue River: Shoshoni (2 spots)
Lusk: Wyoming Indian (4 spots)
Shoshoni: Tongue River AND Sundance (2 spots each)
Pine Bluffs: Wind River AND Burlington (5 spots each)
Sundance: Shoshoni (2 spots)
Southeast: St. Stephens (7 spots)
Saratoga: St. Stephens (6 spots)
Riverside: Lingle (3 spots)
Burlington: Moorcroft (12 spots)
Upton: Rocky Mountain (10 spots)
Lingle: St. Stephens (2 spots)
Cokeville: St. Stephens (1 spot)

Class 1A six-man
St. Stephens: Cokeville (1 spot)
Hanna: Sundance (9 spots)
Guernsey-Sunrise: Wyoming Indian (13 spots)
Normative Services: Snake River (6 spots)
Midwest: Riverside (9 spots)
Dubois: Rock River (6 spots)
Hulett: St. Stephens (6 spots)
Farson: Rock River (4 spots)
Kaycee: St. Stephens (8 spots)
Snake River: Rock River (2 spots)
Meeteetse: Rock River (1 spot)
Rock River: Meeteetse AND Ten Sleep (1 spot each)
Ten Sleep: Rock River (1 spot)

++++++

And here are the ranges for each program (not counting the school itself or the schools on the edge of the bounds):

Class 4A
Gillette: 12 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Jackson (14))
Natrona: 10 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Star Valley (13))
Rock Springs: 12 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Star Valley (13))
Cheyenne East: 11 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Star Valley (13))
Kelly Walsh: 11 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Star Valley (13))
Cheyenne Central: 11 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Star Valley (13))
Cheyenne South: 9 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Green River (11))
Sheridan: 12 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Jackson (14))
Laramie: 11 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Star Valley (13))
Evanston: 14 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Douglas (16))

Class 3A
Green River: 15 (upper bound: Cheyenne South (7); lower bound, Newcastle (25))
Riverton: 14 (upper bound: Cheyenne South (7); lower bound, Pinedale (23))
Star Valley: 10 (upper bound: Laramie (9); lower bound: Pinedale (23))
Jackson: 23 (upper bound: Laramie (9); lower bound: Burns (34))
Cody: 14 (upper bound: South (7); lower bound: Pinedale (23))
Douglas: 11 (upper bound: Evanston (10); lower bound: Pinedale (23))
Rawlins: 21 (upper bound: South (7); lower bound: Lyman (30))
Lander: 14 (upper bound: South (7); lower bound: Pinedale (23))
Powell: 14 (upper bound: South (7); lower bound: Pinedale (23))
Worland: 14 (upper bound: South (7); lower bound: Pinedale (23))
Torrington: 14 (upper bound: South (7); lower bound: Pinedale (23))
Buffalo: 21 (upper bound: Laramie (9); lower bound: Burns (34))

Class 2A
Pinedale: 1 (upper bound: Torrington (21); lower bound: Wheatland (24))
Wheatland: 13 (upper bound: Pinedale (23); lower bound: Wyoming Indian (38))
Newcastle: 13 (upper bound: Pinedale (23); lower bound: Wyoming Indian (38))
Mountain View: 14 (upper bound: Torrington (21); lower bound: Moorcroft (37))
Glenrock: 21 (upper bound: Worland (20); lower bound: Shoshoni (43))
Lovell: 19 (upper bound: Torrington (21); lower bound: Lusk (42))
Thermopolis: 29 (upper bound: South (7); lower bound: Wyoming Indian (38))
Lyman: 11 (upper bound: Torrington (21); lower bound: Burns (34))
Big Piney: 11 (upper bound: Torrington (21); lower bound: Burns (34))
Kemmerer: 11 (upper bound: Torrington (21); lower bound: Burns (34))
Greybull: 25 (upper bound: Rawlins (17); lower bound: Pine Bluffs (44))
Burns: 9 (upper bound: Kemmerer (32); lower bound: Shoshoni (43))
Big Horn: 18 (upper bound: Pinedale (23); lower bound: Shoshoni (43))
Wright: 15 (upper bound: Torrington (21); lower bound: Wyoming Indian (38))

Class 1A 11-man
Moorcroft: 11 (upper bound: Lyman (30); lower bound: Shoshoni (43))
Wyoming Indian: 3 (upper bound: Wright (36); lower bound: Tongue River (41))
Wind River: 13 (upper bound: Thermopolis (29); lower bound: Pine Bluffs (44))
Rocky Mountain: 16 (upper bound: Kemmerer (32); lower bound: Upton (50))
Tongue River: 3 (upper bound: Wyoming Indian (38); lower bound: Shoshoni (43))
Lusk: 13 (upper bound: Wyoming Indian (38); lower bound: St. Stephens (53))
Shoshoni: 2 (upper bound: Tongue River (41); lower bound: Sundance (45))
Pine Bluffs: 8 (upper bound: Wind River (39); lower bound: Burlington (49))
Sundance: 4 (upper bound: Shoshoni (43); lower bound: Burlington (49))
Southeast: 13 (upper bound: Wyoming Indian (38); lower bound: St. Stephens (53))
Saratoga: 22 (upper bound: Thermopolis (29); lower bound: St. Stephens (53))
Riverside: 13 (upper bound: Wright (36); lower bound: Lingle (51))
Burlington: 22 (upper bound: Moorcroft (37); lower bound: Kaycee (61))
Upton: 18 (upper bound: Rocky Mountain (40); lower bound: Farson (60))
Lingle: 3 (upper bound: Riverside (48); lower bound: St. Stephens (53))
Cokeville: 14 (upper bound: Moorcroft (37); lower bound: St. Stephens (53))

Class 1A six-man
St. Stephens: 5 (upper bound: Cokeville (52); lower bound: Hulett (59))
Hanna: 19 (upper bound: Sundance (45); lower bound: none)
Guernsey-Sunrise: 22 (upper bound: Wyoming Indian (38); lower bound: none)
Normative Services: 19 (upper bound: Tongue River (41); lower bound: Snake River (62))
Midwest: 16 (upper bound: Riverside (48); lower bound: none)
Dubois: 17 (upper bound: Sundance (45); lower bound: Rock River (64))
Hulett: 11 (upper bound: St. Stephens (53); lower bound: none)
Farson: 12 (upper bound: Upton (50); lower bound: Rock River (64))
Kaycee: 11 (upper bound: St. Stephens (53); lower bound: none)
Snake River: 5 (upper bound: Normative Services (57); lower bound: Rock River (64))
Meeteetse: 15 (upper bound: Saratoga (47); lower bound: Rock River (64))
Rock River: 0 (upper bound: Meeteetse (63); lower bound: Ten Sleep (65))
Ten Sleep: 0 (upper bound: Rock River (64); lower bound: none)

Later this week: Part 2, distance.

–patrick

UPDATE: Why scheduling for competitive equity has failed Wyoming high school football

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Last summer, I wrote a series of blog posts outlining the problems with Wyoming’s high school football scheduling, conference alignment and travel.

Part 1 addresses one of Wyoming’s longest road trips, the one from Evanston to Gillette; part 2 looks at the ever-increasing distances Wyoming football teams have to travel; part 3 looks at how the distance problems manifest themselves on the field; and part 4 looks at how smaller conferences might be a part of the solution.

The third post in that series addressed margins of victory, which have been steadily increasing in the regular season since the WHSAA took over scheduling and took a huge jump after 2009.

The numbers from the 2014 season continued to show that Wyoming’s regular-season football games are not nearly as competitive as they once were. Last year’s regular-season 11-man games had an average margin of victory of 27 points, tied with the 2012 season for the highest on record.

The median MOV was 24 points — tied for second highest in the past two and a half decades — with a standard deviation of 16.1.

As the WHSAA addresses reclassification and conference alignment this fall, I genuinely hope the board considers smaller conferences. As I mentioned last year, smaller conferences won’t solve every problem tied to distance and competitiveness, and they create some problems, as well. But the numbers show that smaller conferences sure could help address the regular season’s two biggest problems.

–patrick

 

Nebraska wins fourth Six-man Shootout

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Team Nebraska beat Team Wyoming 34-8 in the fourth annual Six-man Shootout on Saturday in Guernsey.

Wyoming’s lone points came on a 35-yard pass from Guernsey-Sunrise’s Brady Esquibel to teammate Treasure Hollister.

For more, click here.

–patrick

Kremers takes over head coach spot in Kaycee

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Longtime assistant Lee Kremers will be the new head coach at Kaycee this fall.

Dustin Sipe, who has been the only coach Kaycee has ever had, recently resigned. Sipe coached the Buckaroos since their inception in six-man in 2009 and stepped down after compiling a record of 32-24.

The Buckaroos’ best finish under Sipe came in that first year when Kaycee finished as state runners-up.

Kremers, too, has been with the program since it started. He will take over a program that finished 6-3 last season but lost in the six-man quarterfinals to Meeteetse.

Sipe verified the change in an email to wyoming-football.com on Wednesday. Sipe said he will stay in Kaycee to teach and coach other sports.

Kremers will be the sixth new head coach in Wyoming this fall, joining Todd Weber in Worland, Jason Ferrarini in Kemmerer, Ryan Nelson in Lusk, Mykah Trujillo in Wind River and Aaron Papich in Burlington.

–patrick

Coaching milestones: Cokeville’s Todd Dayton approaches 300 victories

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For the first time in 2015, Wyoming may have a high school football coach reach 300 career victories.

Cokeville’s Todd Dayton, who has been the Panthers’ head coach since 1980, enters this season with 294 career victories, six short of the 300-victory milestone.

Only 27 active coaches nationwide enter 2015 with at least 300 victories, the NFHS Record Book says. Only 115 coaches nationwide have ever reached 300 victories, and only 60 have ever reached 300 at one school like Dayton is poised to do at Cokeville.

Dayton is one of only two coaches in the state to crack 200 victories; John E. Deti, the older of the two Detis and a longtime coach in Laramie, had 205 in his Wyoming career, records here show.

After Dayton, Wyoming’s other active members of the 100-victory club are Natrona’s Steve Harshman (166), Sheridan’s Don Julian (131), Southeast’s Mark Bullington (123) and Glenrock’s Ray Kumpula (101).

Kumpula, who has led Glenrock’s football team for 20 seasons, entered the 100-victory club last season, becoming the 24th coach in state history to do so.

This year, only one coach — Gillette’s Vic Wilkerson — has the chance to crack the in-state 100-victory barrier. Wilkerson, Gillette’s coach since 2004, has 90 victories entering the 2015 season. The next-highest active victory total in the state belongs to Douglas’ Jay Rhoades with 78, although Dubois’ David Trembly (76), Tongue River’s John Scott (75) and Wright’s Larry Yeradi (73) are close behind.

Here’s a look at Wyoming’s 100-victory club entering 2015:

Wyoming's all-time football coaching leaders

CoachWLTWin %Games
Todd Dayton, Cokeville294520.850346
John E. Deti, Meeteetse/Shoshoni/Laramie205948.681307
John R. Deti, Cody/Sheridan/Laramie1881022.647292
Jerry Fullmer, Lusk174820.680256
Steve Harshman, Natrona166700.703236
John McDougall, Dubois/Cody1561152.575273
Okie Blanchard, Glenrock/Cokeville/Rock Springs/Natrona/Cheyenne Central148568.717212
Joel Eskelsen, Big Piney148810.646229
Dallas Hoff, Superior/Midwest1461016.589253
Walter Gray, Tongue River140870.617227
Mike Moon, Buffalo136791.632216
Rick Scherry, Big Horn133841.612218
Art Hill, Glenrock/Riverton/Natrona132923.588227
Don Julian, Riverton/Sheridan131420.757173
Harold Bailey, Shoshoni128920.582220
Carl Mirich, Goshen Hole/Moorcroft1241011.551226
Mark Bullington, Southeast123380.764161
Bruce Keith, Sheridan/Kelly Walsh117820.588199
Pete Petronovich, Douglas1141025.527221
Kay Fackrell, Goshen Hole/Lyman/Evanston111790.584190
Don Dinnel, Mountain View/Rawlins/Evanston109650.626174
Doug Bartlett, Torrington102730.583175
Ben Smith, Rocky Mountain101330.754134
Ray Kumpula, Glenrock101790.561180

+++

Top winning percentages

With a winning percentage of .850 (294-52), Dayton is the only coach in state history with more than 100 games coached to have a winning percentage above .800. But Douglas’ Rhoades has a winning percentage of .813 in his 96 games in Wyoming and could join Dayton in the exclusive club this season.

Bullington (.764) and Julian (.762) are the active coaches with 100-plus games coached closest to Dayton; former Star Valley coach Robert Linford (.776) is the closest retired coach with 100-plus games coached to Dayton’s .850 mark.

++++++

The 100-loss club

No active coaches have the chance to enter the even somewhat more “exclusive” 100-loss club in 2015. While 24 Wyoming coaches have reached 100 victories in the Equality State, only seven coaches have ever reached triple-digit losses (John R. Deti (John Jr.), John McDougall, Dallas Hoff, Carl Mirich, Pete Petronovich, Rich Steege and Yeradi). Yeradi enters the season with exactly 100 losses in his career at Wright. Of course, to coach long enough to get 100 losses, you have to be a pretty dang good coach; the bad coaches are discovered long before they have the chance to reach 100.

++++++

Longevity milestones in 2015

Several coaches have the chance to reach longevity milestones in 2015. Only two active head coaches in Wyoming — Dayton and Harshman — have more than 200 total in-state games to their credit; Dayton is the state’s all-time leader with 346 and is one of only two past 300 games. Eight others (Kumpula, Julian, Yeradi, Bullington, Trembly, Wilkerson, Scott and Upton-Sundance’s Andy Garland) have cracked 100 games coached in Wyoming. Cheyenne East’s Chad Goff (98) and Rhoades (96) are on pace to top 100 Wyoming games coached in 2015.

++++++

The unbreakable coaching record

One record that’s guaranteed never to be broken is career ties. That honor rests with Wheatland’s Glenn Rogers, who coincidentally finished his Wyoming coaching career almost perfectly even — 35 victories, 34 losses and 10 ties. No other coach has double-digit ties to his credit, although three coaches (Fran Gillette, who coached at Jackson, Green River and Powell from 1960-73; Glenn Burgess, who was at Riverton from 1959-69; and Bert Melchar, who coached at Green River and Rock Springs off and on from 1930-47) have nine ties on their Wyoming records.

Rogers coached Wheatland from 1927 to 1937; he had tie games in eight of his 10 seasons with the Bulldogs (no team in 1933) and twice had two ties in a season.

No active Wyoming coach has a tie on his in-state record. The last coach to have a tie on his record was Big Horn’s Rick Scherry, who retired in 2000. His tie came from the infamous Big Horn-Riverside triple-overtime tie in 1987, the state’s only tie game since 1975.

–patrick

Updates: Big Horn, Dayton, Ranchester, Clearmont, Upton, Newcastle, Gillette, Douglas

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Using updated yearbook availability on classmates.com, I was able to make the following updates:

Big Horn’s 1943 season: Added the Rams’ 66-6 victory against Dayton on Oct. 8; added the Rams’ 40-12 victory against Lodge Grass, Mont., on Oct. 22; added the score for Big Horn’s 27-20 victory against Lodge Grass, Mont., on Nov. 5; added the Rams’ 27-24 victory against Ranchester on Nov. 18.

Big Horn’s 1948 season: Found the date (but not the location) for Big Horn’s game on Oct. 1 against Clearmont.

Big Horn’s 1950 season: Noted that the Nov. 10 game against Ranchester was not played.

Big Horn coaches: Updated the 1955 coach to be Al Flanigin, NOT Glen Blackburn. … Updated the 1961 coach to be F.R. Smith, NOT John and Mike Flanagan.

Clearmont’s 1946 season: Added the score for the Panther’s 26-0 victory against Dayton on Oct. 2; added the Panthers’ 24-7 loss to Lodge Grass, Mont., on Oct. 25.

Clearmont’s 1945 season: Noted that Ranchester beat Clearmont on Sept. 28 (score not available).

Clearmont’s 1940 season: Added the date and location for Clearmont’s victory against the Buffalo JV on Oct. 11 (the game was in Buffal0).

Clearmont’s 1938 season: Added results for the Panthers’ 32-6 loss to Dayton on Sept. 24 and their 38-6 loss to Dayton on Oct. 8 (and corrected location for this game to Clearmont); added the Panthers’ 6-0 victory against Dayton on Oct. 1 in Dayton.

Clearmont’s 1935 season: Added two games, a 14-6 victory against Ranchester on Oct. 19 in Sheridan and a 6-0 victory in Clearmont (added to missing games because I couldn’t locate a date).

Clearmont coaches: Updated the 1962 coach to be Frank Sannes. … Updated the 1952 coach to be William Opitz, NOT Bob Opitz. … Updated the coach for 1936, 1945 and 1948 to be Alfred Anderson. … Updated the spelling of the name of the coach in 1946-47 to be Frank Mathew, NOT Frank Mathews.

Upton’s 1938 season: Added the score for Upton’s 42-0 loss to Custer, S.D., on Oct. 14.

Newcastle’s 1944 season: Fixed the score for Newcastle’s 7-0 loss to Gillette on Oct. 6; I had Newcastle winning 9-7.

Newcastle’s 1943 season: Noted that the Oct. 19 game with Douglas was not played.

In all, I added seven games to the database and removed seven from the missing games list.

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

–patrick

Papich named new head coach at Burlington

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Aaron Papich will be the new head football coach in Burlington this fall.

He replaces Mike Aagard, who steps down with more victories (41) than any other coach in school history.

Aagard finished with a 41-42 record in his nine seasons as Burlington’s coach. The Huskies’ best season with Aagard at the helm was a Class 1A runner-up trophy in 2008.

Papich was an assistant coach with Burlington last year. He previously coached in Casper and in Bozeman and Great Falls, Mont.

Aagard notified wyoming-football.com of change via email Friday.

Papich will be the fifth new head coach in Wyoming this fall, joining Todd Weber in Worland, Jason Ferrarini in Kemmerer, Ryan Nelson in Lusk and Mykah Trujillo in Wind River.

–patrick

Wyoming football programs that have never played an out-of-state foe

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Posted without comment: The 12 active Wyoming high school football programs that have never played another out-of-state varsity opponent.

Cheyenne South, Farson, Kaycee, Lander, Riverside, Rock River, St. Stephens, Shoshoni, Snake River, Wind River, Wright, Wyoming Indian.

–patrick

Shrine Bowl records limited in North’s big victory

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Only a couple records were set in the 42nd annual Shrine Bowl, a game won by the North squad 40-14 on Saturday in Casper.

Cheyenne East’s Tevis Bartlett set a Shrine Bowl record with 46 passing attempts, while the North tied team records with five offensive touchdowns and six total touchdowns.

Natrona’s Stevann Brown was the game’s offensive MVP and Dillon Matuska of Gillette was the defensive MVP. Both played for the North.

The North now leads the all-time series 21-18-3.

For a full listing of previous Shrine Bowl records and results, click here.

–patrick