WHSFB HQ — The Wyoming high school football blog

A couple weeks ago, the Wyoming High School Activities Association set new cutoffs for the number of teams in each football classification.

The biggest changes come in the small-school ranks, where Class 2A will go from 16 to 14 teams and where a 14-school cutoff line was established in Class 1A to separate 11-man and six-man squads.

The WHSAA’s decision has some ramifications worth deeper consideration:

Scheduling: With an anticipated 14 schools in 2A and Class 1A 11-man (although 1A might be different, and we’ll get to that in a second), the schools in those classifications will have the chance to have one more nonconference game before diving into a six-game conference schedule. This change highlights two important points: the chance for more flexibility in nonconference scheduling (which may reduce total travel for schools) and the ability to have a balanced conference schedule with three home games and three road games.

The WHSAA, which makes all the varsity football schedules statewide, has not had a lot of flexibility in scheduling because of the large, eight-team conferences in 2A and 1A 11-man the past few years. The flexibility afforded by smaller conferences — even if that flexibility is only one additional nonconference game — should help the WHSAA keep some schools closer to home during the first two weeks of the season.

But one of the problems with this option is that it doesn’t account for schools opting up, and two 11-man programs that, if the cutlines existed now, would be classified as six-man would likely do just that, thereby eliminating a week of nonconference flexibility for the 1A 11-man classification.

Opting up/down: With the 1A cutline established where it is — the 14 largest 1A schools as 11-man, the remainder as six-man — at least four schools will probably have tough decisions to make.

Although the final classifications won’t be set until enrollment numbers are collected after this school year, if the enrollments remain consistent from the last reclassification cycle in 2011, two current 11-man schools — Burlington and Cokeville — would be classified as six-man. Cokeville has a long history of opting up in situations like this and would likely be the first in line to move to 11-man; Burlington could follow. And even if Burlington’s enrollment number classifies it as an 11-man school, the program that was right above the Huskies in enrollment in 2011 — Upton — has been adamant about salvaging its 11-man program and avoiding six-man at all costs.

Conversely, two schools that opted down to six-man for the 2013 season — Wyoming Indian and Saratoga — will likely fall into the 11-man classification for 2014. Those schools will have a tough choice to make: stay in six-man and be ineligible for the playoffs, or go back to 11-man after one year in six-man. Either way, the coaches, administrators and players face a difficult conundrum if the enrollment numbers stand up, as they most certainly will for the Chiefs and probably will for Saratoga, especially with the Panthers’ co-op with Encampment in effect.

Normative Services, which will move from 11-man to six-man in 2013, has a stable and low enrollment that should place the Wolves safely in the six-man ranks for years to come.

The Upton-Sundance co-op: Upton and Sundance are entering the second season of their temporary co-op in 2013. If the Patriots want to continue in 2014, though, they face an interesting situation, one that may make it easier for them to stay connected.

One of the big questions the U-S team faced in 2012 was playoff eligibility. To remain eligible, the combined enrollments of the two programs (the total Upton enrollment plus the Sundance male enrollment) had to be smaller than the smallest Class 2A school. It was, just barely, and the Patriots finished 2012 in third place in the 1A 11-man East, qualifying for the playoffs.

With the two largest 2A schools coming down to Class 1A in 2014, though, the enrollment cutoff for the two schools to reach will likely be quite a bit higher, making it easier for the two schools to stay together and remain playoff eligible if they so choose. If participation numbers for the two programs remain in the low teens apiece, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Patriots survive to 2014 and 2015.

Rock River: The Longhorns finished their first season of junior-varsity six-man football last year and are set to play another JV season in 2013. With the school still tentatively scheduled to make the jump to varsity play in 2014, the state will have an uneven number of football programs (65), making scheduling for either the 11-man or the six-man division that much more difficult depending on opt-ups or opt-downs as listed above.

Of course, if the Upton-Sundance co-op remains in tact, the state will have 64 football programs. But even with an even number, opt-ups and opt-downs could create an odd number of schools in BOTH 11-man and six-man at the 1A level, which could be a scheduling nightmare for the WHSAA.

Class 4A and Class 3A: Barring some large shifts in enrollment, Class 4A and Class 3A will remain untouched by these changes in 2014. The only potential shifts in 3A could be in nonconference scheduling, as we may see more 2A-3A interclass games now that 2A schools have an extra week of nonconference scheduling available. We will only see two such games in 2013, and they both, obviously, come in Week 1: Glenrock at Torrington and Rawlins at Kemmerer.

Who moves: This is always the biggest question in any reclassification proposal. For now, only two schools will actually switch classifications, as the smallest two schools in 2A will move to 1A. Using 2011′s ADMs, those schools would be Tongue River and Big Horn. Don’t be surprised if that’s the case: When ADMs were calculated for the last reclassification cycle in 2010, Big Horn was the smallest 2A school at about 140; Tongue River was second-smallest at 145; Moorcroft was third-smallest at 163. Either Big Horn or Tongue River would have had to have done some significant growing, or Moorcroft (or Greybull or Wright) would have had to have done some significant shrinking, to have anyone but the Rams or Eagles move. (But don’t pen the moves in just yet. ADMs are always a little quirky. No one knows where, exactly, they’ll fall until the numbers are finalized.)

The remaining moves will be based on two things: (1) enrollment, although the existing gaps between the smallest 4A/3A schools and the largest 3A/2A schools make such changes seem unlikely, and (2) any six-man to 11-man or 11-man to six-man changes, as outlined above.

Big picture: The WHSAA made some good changes with this proposal. Six-man is now stable enough to support itself — it doesn’t need the “help” of bigger programs dropping down to supplement numbers. The eight-team conferences in 2A and 1A 11-man proved unmanageable, and although seven-team conferences aren’t much better, they are an improvement and should provide some travel relief. New programs at St. Stephens and Rock River should help bolster and stabilize six-man. The proposal has enough flexibility to accommodate an Upton-Sundance co-op (or, for that matter, other co-ops that may develop).

Of course, as with any changes, questions will linger until we have a chance to see the proposal in action. Nevertheless, these changes are good, necessary steps to stability in the small-school classes.

–patrick

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The Wyoming High School Activities Association on Tuesday voted to give Class 1A schools the option of joining either six-man or 11-man in 2013.

In doing so, the WHSAA acknowledged problems might arise from the offer, as four schools have approached the WHSAA about moving from 11-man to six-man next year.

An article in the Casper Star-Tribune said 11-man schools Wyoming Indian, Saratoga and NSI let the WHSAA know they were interested in moving from 11-man to six-man for the 2013 season, while St. Stephens — which has a sub-varsity six-man program — said it wanted to move to the varsity level next year.

Such moves would leave 11 programs in Class 1A 11-man and would give Class 1A six-man 14 programs, but WHSAA Commissioner Ron Laird and Associate Commissioner Trevor Wilson told the Star-Tribune they will ask NSI to stay in 11-man and ask St. Stephens to play another year of JV in order to balance the number of schools in each division at 12 apiece, in order to facilitate scheduling.

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My take

Good on Saratoga, Wyoming Indian, NSI and St. Stephens for trying to get into the six-man game. And, from what I can gather from the article, even though two of these schools — NSI and St. Stephens — might be stonewalled in 2013, it sounds like they’ll both be welcomed in 2014 after the WHSAA can take care of the scheduling problems an 11-team Class 1A 11-man creates.

But boo on the WHSAA for attempting to thwart those two schools from joining six-man in 2013.

I understand the scheduling problems inherent in a switch like this. Heck, the 2013 football schedule will be out in just more than a month. But we’ve seen patchwork schedules before (the Natrona JV team is in the running for the 1A title this year, right?) and a schedule could be turned around in time for 2013.

(I’m no genius, and I’m not privy to all the demands of the individual schools, but I drew up a nonconference schedule that would work for most schools in about 15 minutes — lots of 2A vs. 1A games Week 1, a East vs. West rotation in Weeks 2-3, conference games in Weeks 4-8.)

Of course, the one problem with that schedule is that it would be extremely patchwork, as most out-of-state schools already have their dates filled.

The WHSAA could also just be buying time until the two-year cooperative agreement between Sundance and Upton ends after the 2013 season. Then, with the programs splitting back into two independent teams, the WHSAA could look at having an even number of schools in each classification, which will help scheduling immensely.

All that said, I think the athletes who would be playing for NSI and St. Stephens in 2013 are being asked to unfairly shoulder a burden being asked of them. For St. Stephens to play another year of junior varsity — that would make three in a row — is a difficult task. And for NSI to play 11-man (where they’ve been getting worked for several years) instead of moving to six-man is a bit unfair when two other schools who asked the same request will likely have theirs granted, more out of convenience and geography than anything else.

As a small aside, it’s worth noting that Rock River, who is playing a sub-varsity six-man schedule this season, was not in the discussion for varsity play in 2013.

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Here is how the Class 1A football conferences would look in 2013 with all requests honored:

Class 1A 11-man West Conference: Burlington, Cokeville, Riverside, Rocky Mountain, Shoshoni, Wind River.
Class 1A 11-man East Conference: Lingle, Lusk, Pine Bluffs, Southeast, Upton-Sundance.
Class 1A six-man North Conference (anticipated): Dubois, Hulett, Kaycee, Meeteetse, NSI, St. Stephens, Ten Sleep.
Class 1A six-man South Conference (anticipated): Farson, Guernsey, Hanna, Midwest, Saratoga, Snake River, Wyoming Indian.
(Six-man might also work east-west with Dubois, Farson, Meeteetse, St. Stephens, Snake River, Ten Sleep and Wyoming Indian in the West and Guernsey, Hanna, Hulett, Kaycee, Midwest, NSI and Saratoga in the East.)

Here is how the Class 1A football conferences would look in 2013 with the WHSAA suggestions:

Class 1A 11-man West Conference: Burlington, Cokeville, Riverside, Rocky Mountain, Shoshoni, Wind River.
Class 1A 11-man East Conference: Lingle, Lusk, NSI, Pine Bluffs, Southeast, Upton-Sundance.
Class 1A six-man North Conference (anticipated): Dubois, Hulett, Kaycee, Meeteetse, Ten Sleep, Wyoming Indian.
Class 1A six-man South Conference (anticipated): Farson, Guernsey, Hanna, Midwest, Saratoga, Snake River.

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Your thoughts? What does Tuesday’s vote mean for your school? What do you think of the WHSAA telling a couple schools to wait a year before entering six-man? Post some thoughts below and we can discuss this as long as you want.

–patrick

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I wanted to point out a column written by CST editor Chad Baldwin today about new high schools. Baldwin, my former boss and the guy who, in the end, allows me to continue working for the Star-Tribune on a freelance basis, scratches the surface of the issue well… but I disagree with him on one point:

There is no reason for Gillette to open a new school until Cheyenne and Casper do so first. Cheyenne did what I think was the right thing and got us halfway there; Casper, in short, messed up, not only for Casper but in part for Gillette, too.

As Baldwin’s editorial pointed out, the problems that popped up when Casper started talking about a new high school (or what ended up happening, a new building that holds all the programs the other schools can’t or won’t take…) basically crushed any hope of a third comprehensive high school in the city for decades to come. Chief among those problems was the school of choice option that exists in Casper; several others, including groupthink, inter-community speculation and paranoia, administrator bonus pay, conflicting goals within the district hierarchy and a desire to maintain ultra-competitive sports programs, gave Casper a new high school building without giving it a new high school.

One of the problems with the new school setup in Casper is the way the Natrona County School District reached this point. The new campus is classic design by committee; it satisfies everyone, therefore, it satisfies no one. When (not if) this new setup creates more new problems than it answers old, no one can take the blame. I guess that’s good if you’re playing CYA, but that shouldn’t be what education is about.

Obviously, more than athletics considerations went into this decision, and I don’t pretend to be an expert on school construction, funding and budgeting. But Cheyenne made it work. Casper didn’t make anything — it ended up with something.

There are many repercussions from what has happened in Casper, and athletics — not only in Casper, but statewide — will feel those repercussions for at least the next three decades. Because of this decision, I think it will be at least that long before a third comprehensive high school opens in Casper. And even though Gillette and Casper are two distinct communities with different funding, different priorities and different goals, I now think it will be at least that long before a second full-on high school in Gillette opens.

The benefits both communities would have by opening new high schools would mostly be felt in the activities arena: more teams, more spots. Maybe, probably, this means fewer championships. That has been the sticking point in many discussions, whether it’s better to have championship-caliber teams from a deeper talent pool or competitive teams from a shallower talent pool. However, new high schools in Gillette and Casper would give most of the large high schools in the state a “pool” that’s about the same depth — something that benefits every school, not just the schools in Gillette and Casper.

I think it is tougher for a community to go from one high school to two than it is to go from two to three. In that regard, Gillette arguably has a tougher decision to add a new high school than Casper does. It makes sense for Gillette to wait for other Wyoming communities to take the lead.

Cheyenne took that lead. Casper didn’t follow. Now Gillette won’t — and probably shouldn’t — sacrifice its one-school setup.

Now, barring a sudden population surge, we’ll have to wait until 2040 to revisit this again.

And, because of how the Natrona County School District made this decision, there’s no one to thank. Or blame.

–patrick (mad props to my wife Char for the graphic)

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While the 2010 football season is not even half done, the focus of the early part of this week will be on the 2011 season.

The Wyoming High School Activities Association has its first quarterly meeting this week in Casper, and reclassification — like it is every two years — will be on the board agenda.

For football, most of the changes are precipitated by Cheyenne South’s entry into the field, WHSAA Commissioner Ron Laird said Monday. Laird said the WHSAA, for now, is planning on sticking with the format it currently uses for football, with the 10 largest schools in Class 4A, the next 12 in 3A, the next 16 in 2A and the remainder in the two divisions of Class 1A.

Right now, Cheyenne South occupies the No. 9 spot. However, the WHSAA approved on first reading back in April to classify South in Class 3A for football in 2011, then to move the Bison to Class 4A in 2012 (this proposal still has to pass one more vote of the WHSAA board this week).

The schools most affected by this decision are Riverton at No. 11, which may or may not be in 4A for the 2011 season only, depending on how the WHSAA handles South’s entry and the imbalance it will create in 2011, and Green River at No. 12, which for now is slated to move to Class 3A football for both 2011 and 2012 but has voiced a desire to opt up to 4A.

Other schools expected to move classifications for football are Wheatland (from 3A to 2A) and Wyoming Indian (from 2A to 1A). Oddly enough, both schools would have changed classifications even without South’s entry due to dropping enrollments.

Also, both Hulett and Dubois have announced their intentions to move to the six-man division of 1A for 2011 and 2012, Laird said. No other schools are joining the division and none of the current six-man schools are moving to 11-man, Laird said, giving the classification 10 schools for 2011 and 2012. Class 1A 11-man is anticipated to have 15 teams those two years.

For non-football classifications, anticipated moves based on current enrollment standings include South into 4A, Star Valley from 4A to 3A, Thermopolis from 3A to 2A and Lingle from 2A to 1A.

The WHSAA board will meet Tuesday and Wednesday in Casper.

–patrick

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The Wyoming High School Activities Association this week posted the ADM figures for the next round of reclassification — decisions the group will make this fall to start in the fall of 2011. Click here to see them (Adobe Acrobat required).

Obviously, the ramifications of reclassification, and the new ADMs, go beyond football. The big change for fall 2011 will be the addition of Cheyenne South, which adds one more school into the jumble and presents some interesting new questions. I wrote at this time last year that the WHSAA has some tough decisions to make when it comes to South’s addition to football. The new numbers make it even more so….

Reclassification always causes some hang-ups along the line. This cycle, with South, makes it especially interesting.

For now, 4A football and conferences for the other 4A sports appear to be the most contentious subjects of reclassification this year.

In a nutshell, the WHSAA needs to decide on a number for 4A football, and every other classification decision can cascade down from there. Will 4A have 10 teams in it, like now, with South in 4A and Green River (now 12th in ADMs) bumped to 3A? Or will it have 11 — with Riverton (ADM 11th) forced in, or with Green River possibly opting up? Or will it have 12 with BOTH Riverton and Green River?

From there, deciding on the number of teams for 3A, 2A and 1A divisions will become much easier. Until then, we can’t really speculate on which teams will be in which classifications…

Oh, and one extra wrench for the WHSAA to deal with: South is not anticipating a varsity schedule in 2011, the first year of the new reclassification cycle.

This year is also the opportunity for 1A teams to decide if they want to play six-man or 11-man. Has anyone heard anything about current 11-man teams prepping for a move to six-man? Or vice-versa? Those decisions, too, will help guide the WHSAA’s decision-making for both classifications and conferences.

As for 4A conference  divisions — something that has dogged the WHSAA for the past four years, even though they try to stay out of it as much as possible and technically don’t even set conferences, only regions for regional tournaments — that gets fun with South coming in and Star Valley (ADM 13th) likely leaving to go back to 3A. It’s either really easy (Evanston, Riverton, Green River, Rock Springs and the two Casper schools in the West, Gillette, Sheridan, Laramie and the three Cheyenne schools in the East) or it’s really hard. Knowing how those discussions have gone over the past four years, it’ll be really hard.

Otherwise, everything else looks pretty straightforward for all sports except football. Star Valley with ADM 13 appears headed back to 3A for everything but football; Thermopolis, ranked 31st, will head back to 2A; and Lingle, hanging out in the 49th spot, will go to 1A for all except football.

For football, as explained earlier, the speculations about which teams might end up in which classifications is a little premature. But IF the WHSAA sticks with its 10-12-16 split for 4A, 3A and 2A, and IF no teams opt up or down, then it looks like Green River will move to 3A, Wheatland will go to 2A and Wyoming Indian will head to 1A.

(If you don’t know what ADM is, it stands for Average Daily Membership and it’s based on projected enrollment numbers. Check out the WHSAA front page to read up on that.)

The ADMs, with two-year averages (of course, you can click here and see the full numbers all pretty-like):

1. Gillette, 2,216
2. Natrona, 2,023
3. East, 1,556
4. Kelly Walsh, 1,447
5. Rock Springs, 1,397
6. Central, 1,352
7. Laramie, 1,040
8. Sheridan, 922
9. South, 910
10. Evanston, 900
11. Riverton, 777
12. Green River, 767
13. Star Valley, 734
14. Cody, 690
15. Jackson, 654
16. Lander, 502
17. Douglas, 500
18. Powell, 480
19. Rawlins, 478
20. Torrington, 389
21. Worland, 378
22. Buffalo, 345
23. Pinedale, 310
24. Wheatland, 286
25. Newcastle, 248
26. Mountain View, 226
27. Lyman, 225
28. Glenrock, 219
29. Lovell, 214
30. Big Piney, 203
31. Thermopolis, 201
32. Kemmerer, 183
33. Burns, 183
34. Wright, 178
35. Greybull, 167
36. Moorcroft, 163
37. Tongue River, 145
38. Big Horn, 140
39. Wind River, 132
40. Wyoming Indian, 124
41. Rocky Mountain, 117
42. Southeast, 117
43. Sundance, 113
44. Lusk, 113
45. Pine Bluffs, 109
46. Shoshoni, 103
47. Riverside, 97
48. Saratoga, 97
49. Lingle, 92
50. Upton, 85
51. Burlington, 80
52. Snake River, 71
53. Hanna, 71
54. St. Stephens, 70
55. Fort Washakie Charter, 65
56. Hulett, 64
57. Guernsey-Sunrise, 64
58. Cokeville, 63
59. Farson, 61
60. Normative Services, 60
61. Dubois, 58
62. Midwest, 55
63. Kaycee, 51
64. Arapaho Charter, 51
65. Ten Sleep, 39
66. Encampment, 36
67. Rock River, 33
68. Meeteetse, 33
69. Arvada-Clearmont, 33
70. Glendo, 20
71. Chugwater, 18

I love seeing the enrollment figures come out every two years — partly because where these numbers fall have a huge influence on what schools do for two years, partly because I’m a reclass nerd. Granted, enrollment numbers aren’t everything, as success is also determined by hard work, attitude, community support, etc., etc., blah blah blah. But they’re a big piece of the puzzle.

Thoughts? Ideas? Concerns? Questions? Post ‘em below. I’m always down for a reclass chat.

–patrick

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The Wyoming High School Activities Association’s eight-year experiment with power ratings came to a merciful close last fall. The 2009 season was a return to the past — using conference records to determine playoff qualifiers — but did it make any change?

Actually, if last year’s system was in place this year, only one of the playoff qualifiers would have changed: Powell would have made it in Class 3A and Riverton would have been bumped.

That’s the only change, but it’s interesting and important to note that the more common opponents teams have, the less relevant power ratings become. Such was the case this year — with nothing but common opponents in 4A and all but one week of common opponents in 2A and 1A 11-man.

For argument, though, here are this year’s WHSAA power ratings, class by class, with a little breakdown of how playoff qualifying would have broken down:

In Class 4A, it wouldn’t have mattered, since the power ratings can’t really influence anything if the teams only play each other round-robin style. The playoff pairings are exactly the same. For argument’s sake, though, here they are:
1. Sheridan 32.39
2. Cheyenne Central 31.28
3. Gillette 31.28
4. Green River 30.27
5. Kelly Walsh 29.06
6. Rock Springs 27.94
7. Laramie 26.83
8. Natrona 25.72
9. Cheyenne East 25.72
10. Evanston 24.03

In Class 3A…. There is the most room for change, because there are fewer common opponents in this division than in any other. With the East (Douglas) hosting the title game last year, the West top seed would have been No. 1 overall. (Note: All that’s missing is the result from Hardin, Mont., from Friday, which would bump Cody’s PR up or down a few decimals, but wouldn’t have affected playoff seeding anyway.)
1. Douglas 32.82
2. Buffalo 30.88
3. Star Valley 30.50
4. Cody 30.30
5. Worland 29.88
6. Torrington 29.07
7. Powell 28.50
8. Lander 28.38
9. Riverton 27.13
10. Jackson 25.75
11. Wheatland 24.44
12. Rawlins 23.25
Playoff Pairings: (8) Lander at (1W) Cody; (5) Star Valley at (2E) Buffalo; (6) Torrington at (2W) Worland; (7) Powell at (1E) Douglas

In both 2A and 1A 11-man, little would have changed because the systems, like the one in 4A, relies a ton on conference games….

In Class 2A… With both of last year’s hosts, Burns and Glenrock, in the East, the top seed would have gone to the West Conference champ… but little matter. Playoff pairings would have been exactly the same.
1. Glenrock 33.75
2. Kemmerer 32.63
3. Greybull 32.25
4. Thermopolis 31.88
5. Big Piney 30.88
6. Big Horn 30.00
7. Lovell 29.63
8. Wright 28.38
9. Burns 27.00
10. Moorcroft 26.88
11. Lyman 26.25
12. Pinedale 26.00
13. Mountain View 25.13
14. Wyoming Indian 25.00
15. Tongue River 24.63
16. Newcastle 23.75
Playoff  pairings: (8) Wright at (1W) Kemmerer; (5) Big Piney at (2E) Thermopolis; (6) Big Horn at (2W) Greybull; (7) Lovell at (1E) Glenrock.

In 1A 11-man… A couple first-round matchups would have been flipped around, with Riverside and Pine Bluffs cutting their travel down to play teams closer to home in the first round. With Burlington hosting last year, the top seed would have gone to the East Conference winner… The Dubois-Shoshoni game scheduled for Tuesday is omitted here; neither one was in the playoff hunt, and the result of that game would have had a negligible effect on the power ratings and wouldn’t have changed the playoff pairings.
1. Cokeville 33.11
2. Lingle 32.25
3. Southeast 32.00
4. Wind River 31.86
5. Lusk 31.13
6. Pine Bluffs 29.56
7. Riverside 29.49
8. Rocky Mountain 29.36
9. Burlington 28.76
10. Hulett 28.38
11. Saratoga 26.39
12. Sundance 26.13
13. Upton 25.81
14. Normative Services 25.13
Dubois, Shoshoni NA
Playoff pairings: (8) Rocky Mountain at (1E) Southeast; (5) Lusk at (2W) Wind River; (6) Pine Bluffs at (2E) Lingle; (7) Riverside at (1W) Cokeville.

In 1A six-man… without a defending state champion, the conference that earned hosting duties would have been assigned by the WHSAA. I’ve presented both options below. Oddly enough, the four East Conference teams went 1-4 in the power ratings… In either case, the first-round pairings would have been different in both options.
1. Guernsey 33.97
2. Midwest 31.95
3. Hanna 30.17
4. Kaycee 29.34
5. Ten Sleep 28.25
6. Snake River 27.03
7. Meeteetse 24.56
8. Farson 23.50
Playoff pairings with East winner as top seed: (8) Farson at (1E) Guernsey; (5) Hanna at (2W) Snake River; (6) Kaycee at (2E) Midwest; (7) Meeteetse at (1W) Ten Sleep.
Playoff pairings with West winner as top seed: (8) Farson at (1W) Ten Sleep; (5) Hanna at (2E) Midwest; (6) Kaycee at (2W) Snake River; (7) Meeteetse at (1E) Guernsey.

Like I said earlier today, I haven’t heard anyone whining about the loss of power ratings. After seeing this, though, what do you think? Still glad to see it gone, or do you think there were instances this year that give it cause for coming back? Let me know your opinion; post a comment below.

–patrick

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Welcome, Cheyenne South.

And good luck, Wyoming High School Activities Association.

Although Wyoming’s newest high school on Cheyenne’s south side won’t be opening until next fall, freshman will begin participating for South at the sub-varsity level in team sports and at the varsity level in individual sports this fall.

The South football team, meanwhile, will not be heading for varsity play until 2011. It’s perfect timing, since that’s when the WHSAA will reclassify its schools again and align them into new divisions.

The question with realigning football to fit Cheyenne South into the scheme boils down to one simple question: Will the WHSAA choose to keep Class 4A at 10 teams, or expand it to 11 or 12?

10 Teams

If the WHSAA elects to stay at 10 for 4A — and, by default, stick with the 10-12-16 split it has now in football for 4A, 3A and 2A — South will bump out the smallest 4A football school (right now Green River) into 3A. And Green River will bump the smallest 3A football school, right now Wheatland, into 2A. And Wheatland will bump the smallest 2A football school, right now Wyoming Indian, into 1A.

The other option is to go to a 10-14-14 split, where Green River will still be bumped down to 3A but the largest 2A school, right now Pinedale, will be bumped up from 2A into 3A. With that set-up, the smallest 2A (now Wyoming Indian) heads to 1A.

Another question that comes out of this: Would Green River ACCEPT a “demotion” to 3A? It’s possible the Wolves could just opt up to 4A, rendering the whole 10-team league idea moot.

11 Teams

The possibility is there that the WHSAA could just expand 4A to 11 teams, much like it had before the most recent reclassification cycle. Of course, that means the division would need to be split into two conferences and the round-robin schedule in place now would be gone. It sounds like a disaster situation for scheduling, especially if the other divisions remain with limited out-of-conference play, and I think the WHSAA would do everything it could to avoid this situation. I think the only way this happens is if Green River and Star Valley both push hard — Green River to stay 4A and Star Valley to stay 3A.

12 Teams

If the WHSAA expands to 12 for 4A, South and the No. 12 school, right now Star Valley, would join the 4A football ranks. From there, the question becomes: How many in 3A? A 12-12 split makes the most sense, as the largest 2A football school, right now Pinedale, jumps in to take Star Valley’s spot in 3A. And then the largest 1A football school, right now Pine Bluffs, jumps to take Pinedale’s spot in 2A.

Given its past history, I don’t see the WHSAA putting more than 24 schools into 4A and 3A combined for football.

Of course, enrollment changes and school shifts could help dictate the alignment of the classifications and conferences much more than the addition of one school.

Even so, there will be change in 2011. And there will plenty of possibilities.

And I’m sure the WHSAA leadership has already jumped on some ideas — and the phone — to see what might be coming down the pipe during reclassification debates when it comes up for vote next fall.

Also….

I made a couple quick updates to the site today. I posted an updated list of missing games to reflect what games still need updates. Check it out and see if you can add some information into the scores database that I don’t have.

I also corrected Upton’s record for 2004. The Bobcats were 8-3; I had them listed at 7-4. The correction has been made on all the relevant pages.

–patrick

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