School: Riverside
Nickname: Rebels
Colors: red and black
Stadium: Rebel Stadium
State championship: 2007
Times worth remembering: The Rebels’ only two championship-game appearances came in back-to-back seasons in 2006 and 2007. Combined, the Rebels went 19-3 those two seasons, losing the title game in 2006 but winning it in 2007 — the first state football championship for both the school and the community. Of Riverside’s 22 opponents, 17 were held to single-digit scoring.
Times worth forgetting: In its short history, Riverside has been a fairly consistent winner, but it took a few years to build the program. Riverside’s first five seasons were all losing campaigns, including a 1-7 season in 1988, the program’s second full-fledged season as the Rebels.
Best team: The 2006 and 2007 Rebels were near mirror-images of each other, and although the 2006 team had the better record, the 2007 team won the state title. The nod goes to the ’07 team in this case — that season, the Rebels won their three playoff games by a combined four points.
Biggest win: If you’re going to win a state championship, you might as well win it in style. That’s how the Rebels won their first and only state title in 2007. Down 20-13 late in the fourth quarter to Big Horn and with the ball on its own 1-yard line, Riverside drove 99 yards in six plays — capped with a scoring run by QB Matt Craft — to trim the lead to 20-19. Then, with the title at stake, the Rebels went for two, and Chanse Darling scooted across the line for the winning points.
Heartbreaker: The 2007 title-game victory was made a bit sweeter because of what happened in 2006. Carrying an unblemished 10-0 record into the championship game on its home field, the Rebels played almost a perfect game defensively against Southeast, allowing only 56 yards while forcing 11 punts. But the Rebels’ offense never got moving, and Riverside lost 8-6 — providing all the motivation needed for the 2007 title run.
School: Cheyenne East
Nickname: Thunderbirds
Colors: powder blue and black
Stadium: Okie Blanchard Stadium
State championships: 1970, 1974 and 2007
Times worth remembering: In the three years from 2005-07, the Thunderbirds played in three consecutive Class 5A championship games, a run unmatched in school history. Each year was a bit different — the 2005 team was the favorite but lost to Central in the title game; the 2006 team won two straight games on the road in the playoffs before losing 16-14 to Gillette in the championship; the 2007 squad finally broke through and won the championship, capping the school’s most successful three-year stretch.
Times worth forgetting: For 14 seasons, from 1986-99, East never had a winning record. Twice in that span, in 1996 and again in 1999, the Thunderbirds went 0-8, losing the Class 4A consolation game, affectionately referred to as the “Toilet Bowl,” both times.
Best team: On records alone, the 1974 squad was East’s best, with a 9-1 final mark and the Class AA championship. The team’s only loss was a 9-7 defeat at the hands of Poudre, Colo. However, only three players from that team made the AA all-state team; Rawlins, which lost 14-0 to East in the AA title game, had eight players make all-state. Go figure.
Biggest win: Actually, three victories in October 1970 helped establish as East as a legit annual threat, something more than just an upstart program. In three weeks, the T-Birds won three conference games by three points apiece — 30-27 over Central, 10-7 over Natrona and 10-7 over Laramie — to earn the conference championship and a berth in the title game. The next week, East beat Thermopolis 35-15 in an anticlimactic title game, but the three narrow wins before that title game were the ones that really set up East’s first state championship.
Heartbreaker: The 2005 Class 5A title game is still a sore spot for some East fans. The T-Birds had one of the best teams in the state and had won eight in a row heading into the title game against Central — including a 31-7 victory over the Indians a few weeks prior to the championship game — but in the rain and muck in front of a huge Capital City crowd, East could never find its groove. Underdog Central won 27-14, leaving East wondering what happened.
School: Lander
Nickname: Tigers
Colors: green and black
Stadium: Bill Bush Stadium
State championships: 1948
Times worth remembering: Lander was a tough team to beat in the mid-1990s, finishing second three years in a row at Class 3A from 1993-95. Tack on 1996, and the Tigers were 31-9 over a four-year span. However, all three championship games were away from Lander, and the Tigers lost all three.
Times worth forgetting: Lander has had its prolonged periods of down time, but the short bursts of struggle are nothing compared to the 1950s, where Lander never had a winning season. The closest the Tigers came were 4-5 seasons in 1953 and 1959; the span included back-to-back one-win seasons in 1956 and 1957.
Best team: Lander’s only undefeated team, and its only state championship team, earns these honors by default. The 1948 Tigers finished 10-0 and punctuated the season by blasting Green River 42-6 in the championship game. Led by running back George Bozanic, the Tigers eked out some tough victories during the conference season, but knew they could always rely on their defense, which gave up more than 13 points only once. What made the season even sweeter was that it seemed to come out of nowhere; Lander had finished 3-5 in 1947.
Biggest win: A year after losing to county rival Riverton in the state championship, the two teams met up again in the 1995 3A semifinals in Riverton. Just four days after qualifying through a California playoff series, the Tigers beat the Wolverines 35-28 in Riverton to secure their third consecutive berth in a state championship game.
Heartbreaker: Of course, to set up the revenge factor in 1995, the Tigers had to lose in 1994. In one of the greatest games in Wyoming football history, Lander lost to Riverton 33-27 in front of a capacity crowd — and in the final two minutes. The Tigers had leads of 24-19 and 27-25 but couldn’t hold them.
School: Big Piney
Nickname: Punchers
Colors: red and white
Stadium: Puncher Stadium
State championships: 1959, 1977, 1988, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2006
Times worth remembering: Even with all the tradition and success the 1990s and 2000s brought Big Piney, the Punchers’ best stretch still came in the five-year span under Otto Low from 1959-63. In those five years, Big Piney lost only three games, compiling a record of 34-3-1. The 1959 team won the state’s Class B title and the 1963 team finished a perfect 8-0.
Times worth forgetting: There isn’t much to frown on for Big Piney, but given the success and tradition the Punchers are used to, 1969 had to have been tough. The Punchers went 0-7 that year (and also had Cokeville on the schedule for that year, a game for which I have not been able to find a result) and never climbed out of single digits. Their closest game was a 24-8 loss to Pinedale.
Best team: The 2001 team was the favorite from the outset and didn’t disappoint. A 14-13 loss to Cokeville aside, the team buzzed through the regular season and the first round of the playoffs, topped Glenrock 34-33 in overtime in the playoff semifinals, then kayoed Mountain View 24-14 in the title game. Seven Punchers, including repeats Kyle Gerik and Jake Greenwood, were chosen all-state, more Big Piney players from one season than any other in school history.
Biggest win: Previous state titles in 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2004 were all unsurprising, if not expected, out of Big Piney. But not much was really expected out of the Punchers in 2006. After a less-than-stellar 4-4 regular season, the Punchers drew up-and-coming Newcastle in the opening round. The Punchers overcame the trek to Weston County and pulled off the 12-6 stunner, then beat Glenrock at home in the semis to set up another long trip, this one to northern Sheridan County and Dayton, home of favored and powerful Tongue River…. No problem for the Punchers, though, who pulled off the 21-18 upset on the Eagles’ home turf to win their fifth state title in nine years, and what ended up being the last title win for coach Joel Eskelsen.
Heartbreaker: Usually, in crunch time, the Punchers come through. In fact, in school history, they’re 8-2 in state championship games. And it could be argued that one of the school’s most crushing defeats — a 38-0 loss to Lusk in the 2A title game in 1986 — was only the first piece of the Punchers’ later success.
School: Sundance
Nickname: Bulldogs
Colors: red and white
Stadium: Bulldog Stadium
State championship: 2005
Times worth remembering: Back-to-back one-loss seasons in 1968 and 1969 were Sundance’s best sustained multi-year effort; however, the great seasons didn’t earn the Bulldogs much respect outside the northeast corner. The 1968 team finished 8-1, with only a 21-20 loss to Newell, S.D. in the season finale — a game decided in the final minute — marring its record, but finished seventh in the final statewide poll. The 1969 team also went 8-1 and lost only to Upton, but finished sixth overall (Upton was fourth). The back-to-back one-loss seasons were part of a bigger seven-year streak from 1965-71 in which Sundance did not have a losing season.
Times worth forgetting: It took four years in the early 1950s for Sundance to figure out its place. From 1951-54, the Bulldogs didn’t win a single game, racking up a 0-27-2 record, at one point matching a state record by going 33 consecutive games without a victory. In 1955, the Bulldogs dropped to six-man play — and posted a winning record.
Best team: The 2005 Bulldogs finally gave the red and white faithful the state championship they had long been awaiting. Sundance went 10-1 that year with the lone loss a 22-20 thriller to Big Horn. In the playoffs, the Bulldogs outscored their opponents 88-6, including a 40-0 whitewash of Wright in the 2A title game. The Bulldogs had nine first-team all-state players, almost twice as many as any other squad.
Biggest win: The lone championship game victory Sundance has ever had — the 40-0 win over Wright in 2005 — was an exercise in domination. The Bulldogs put the game away early, building a 19-0 first-quarter lead and then riding the strength of its defense to the trophy. The Panthers had only 30 yards of total offense, and 20 of those came in the final moments against the Bulldogs’ backups.
Heartbreaker: The 1990 reclassification came at just the right time for Sundance, which fell into Class 1A-11 man play just as a talented, athletic group of players was finding its stride. The players didn’t prove that hunch wrong, rolling up an 8-0 record, including a 23-20 squeaker in a semifinal victory over Burns, to reach the state title game for the first time in school history. But once there, Cokeville – the perennial favorites in the 1A division – controlled the game from start to finish, picking off four Sundance passes throughout the game, and knocked off the top-ranked Bulldogs 20-6.
School: LaGrange
Nickname: Longhorns
Colors: red and white
Stadium: unknown
State championships: None
Short history: The Longhorns’ football history is a brief one. The team went 0-5 in its only season, 1961, and its best chance went by the wayside in a 15-7 loss to Pine Bluffs in the season finale.
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School: Ranchester
Nickname: Rustlers
Colors: purple and gold
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: The Rustlers posted two non-losing seasons in six years before combining with Dayton to become Tongue River, 3-3 in 1953 and 4-2 in 1955.
Times worth forgetting: On the flipside, Ranchester’s other seasons were pretty bad, including two winless seasons, 0-3 in 1951 and 0-4 in 1954.
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School: Sunrise
Nickname: Miners
Colors: blue and white
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: The Miners picked the wrong time to have their best season. Sunrise posted an 8-0 record in 1961 — just one year after the WHSAA did away with the eight-man playoff system. The season included a 26-20 intersectional win over Mountain View.
Times worth forgetting: The late 1950s were a tough time for the Miners. From 1955-59, Sunrise did not have a winning season. The toughest year was the first year of the streak — a 2-3-1 season in 1955.
School: Byron
Nickname: Eagles
Colors: green and white
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: 1948, 1949, 1951, 1956, 1957, 1958 and 1960
Times worth remembering: Byron has lots of good times to choose from, but it’s hard to ignore the three-year stretch the Eagles had from 1956-58. In that time, the Eagles went 27-0-1 and won three consecutive Class B championships. To boot, the Eagles added another undefeated season and state championship in 1960. (Honorable mention goes to the 40-plus-game winning streak Byron put together in the late 1940s, which at the time was a national six-man record.)
Times worth forgetting: Byron’s shortcomings are rare. In fact, from 1946 to the program’s end in 1982, the Eagles only had three losing seasons. Two of those came in 1977-78, though, including an 0-7 season in 1977 in which the Eagles only scored 24 points the entire season.
Best team: The Eagles had 15 undefeated teams from 1946-82. Of those, two stick out — the 1960 11-man team, which went 10-0 and notched eight consecutive shutouts and gave up only 13 points all season, and the 1970 eight-man team, which averaged 57 points per game and won eight of its nine games by at least 28 points.
Biggest win: Byron made the jump from six-man to 11-man in 1953, but didn’t make the playoffs again until 1956. Once there, though, the Eagles quickly proved they knew how to play the 11-man game, too. The Eagles beat Kemmerer 19-7 in the Class B title game that year, a victory that completed the transition from six-man to 11-man powerhouse.
Heartbreaker: The Eagles came up just one game short of a five-year run of championships, and the 1959 title-game loss to Shoshoni was all that kept the Eagles from a half-decade run at the top. The loss itself wasn’t all that surprising — Shoshoni had beaten Byron 13-7 earlier in the year, and the Wranglers were in the midst of building a powerhouse program of their own — but losing a title game that ended the run was certainly a tough one to swallow. Then again, that loss probably provided the motivation for the undefeated championship season that followed in 1960.
School: Glenrock
Nickname: Herders
Colors: purple and gray
Stadium: Sheldon Henderson Stadium
State championships: 1958, 1960, 1977, 2002, 2003 and 2008
Times worth remembering: From 1964 to 1972, the Herders never had more than one loss in any given season. At one point, Glenrock won 22 consecutive games and went 26 games in a row without a loss. For those nine years, the Herders posted a 72-5-2 record; perhaps even more impressive, Glenrock didn’t post a losing record in any season for 21 years from 1960-80.
Times worth forgetting: The early 1990s were a struggle for Glenrock. Back-to-back 0-7 seasons in 1991 and 1992 were the start of a stretch of four consecutive losing seasons. The 1991 and 1992 seasons were part of an 0-18 stretch for the Herders, who didn’t post a winning season until 1995.
Best team: There are plenty of options — the Herders have had seven undefeated seasons in school history — but two teams more than any others stand out. The 1977 team, which went 9-0 and beat Evanston 39-14 for the state title, stands out because the Herders went unbeaten only four years after joining the Class A ranks. The 2008 team, too, stands out as the best because of who they beat. Not only did Glenrock mow through the playoffs (combined scoring margin of 122-8) on its way to the Class 3A title, the Herders also beat the two teams that ended up playing in the 2008 Class 4A title game in Buffalo and Douglas. Honorable mention to the 1972 team, which gave up only 12 points all season on its way to a 9-0 record.
Biggest win: It didn’t take long for Glenrock to establish credibility after its move from Class B to Class A before the 1974 season — but winning a championship took a bit longer. After three consecutive six-win seasons, the Herders finally copped a Class A title behind a talented group of players in 1977. That season was capped with a 39-14 win over Evanston in the championship game, but the win before that, a 14-7 road victory over Torrington on the regular-season finale, is what truly vaulted the Herders into a championship-caliber team. Joe Jackson scored both touchdowns for Glenrock, a one-yard sneak in the third quarter and the game-winning 21-yard run in the fourth quarter, as the Herders rallied from a 7-0 halftime deficit to prove their mettle and come into the championship game on an emotional high.
Heartbreaker: Losing in overtime is tough. Losing in overtime in the playoffs is doubly tough. Losing in overtime in the playoffs when you’ve got a team that had the potential to win it all – and after you’ve rallied from a 27-0 first-half deficit to force overtime – is heartbreaking. But that’s what happened to the Herders in 2001, who lost a 34-33 thriller to Big Piney in the 3A semifinals, where a missed extra point by the Herders in overtime was the difference. However, the core of that Glenrock team went on to win 3A titles in 2002 and 2003.
School: Lovell
Nickname: Bulldogs
Colors: blue and red
Stadium: Kevin P. Robertson Memorial Stadium
State championship: 1987
Times worth remembering: For seven seasons, the Bulldogs were among the best 2A teams in the state, going 50-13 from 1985-91. In that span, Lovell appeared in three state championship games and won it all with a perfect 9-0 season in 1987; the two losses were by 21-20 and 6-0 scores, both to Thermopolis.
Times worth forgetting: Consistently going up against much larger schools, the Bulldogs struggled for most of the 1950s and 1960s. The bottom, though, came in back-to-back winless seasons in 1960 (0-10) and 1961 (0-8). Those seasons were part of an overall 23-game losing streak and 24-game winless streak. Lovell only had one winning season in an 18-season span from 1955-72 — and that was a 5-4 mark in 1964.
Best team: Lovell’s lone undefeated season, and lone state championship, came in 1987, when the Bulldogs went 9-0 and beat Upton 14-6 for the state championship in Lovell. The Bulldogs were big on offense, rolling up 299 points (33 per game), and were as effective as they needed to be on defense, holding seven of their nine opponents to single digits. Six players made first-team all-state, including four linemen.
Biggest win: Once again, the Bulldogs’ only state championship stands alone – and within that game, it was Lovell’s defense that shone brightest. Playing on its home field, Lovell beat Upton 14-6 for the 1987 2A championship. Neither touchdown came from Lovell’s offense; Mike Jones scored on a blocked punt recovery and Corey Vandenboom added an interception return for a score to seal the game in the fourth quarter.
Heartbreaker: Losing a state championship is always tough. Losing a state championship game in overtime to a conference rival is doubly tough. That’s what the Bulldogs experienced in 1990, when they lost 21-20 to Thermopolis for the 2A championship. Lovell didn’t trail until the final play of the game – a successful extra point by the Bobcats – but left the door open by missing its overtime extra point. It set a trend of coming up just short: Lovell also lost title games in 1991, 1998 and 2003.
School: Evanston
Nickname: Red Devils
Colors: red and blue
Stadium: Red Devil Stadium
State championships: 1951, 1985 and 1997
Times worth remembering: Starting in 1977, Evanston had nine consecutive winning seasons and reached state championship games five times, culminating with a Class 3A title in the 1985 season. In that span, Evanston tallied a record of 62-18.
Times worth forgetting: Two tough stretches have affected Evanston football — back-to-back winless seasons in both 1970-71 and in 2001-02. The 1970-71 stretch was part of a bigger streak that included 33 games without a win, encompassing 1969-72, one of the longest in state history. The Evanston teams in 2000-03, meanwhile, lost 26 consecutive games.
Best team: The 1964 Red Devils brought together the school’s best assemblage of defensive talent. The squad went 9-0 and gave up just 20 points all season, shutting out six of its opponents. The scary part about the ’64 squad was how similar every game was: the Red Devils’ nine wins were by scores of 19-0, 21-0, 14-0, 28-7, 25-7, 21-0, 13-0, 27-6 and 19-0. Talk about consistency…. Even so, in the final UPI poll, Evanston was ranked fifth in the state, behind both three-loss Sheridan and two-loss Natrona.
Biggest win: The 1985 championship game brought the Red Devils out of a frustrating streak of championship-game losses. Evanston had lost championship games four times in the previous eight years, including one in overtime, but with a 47-8 win over Torrington for the 3A title in 1985, the Red Devils earned their first state championship in 34 years and finally put to rest all the frustration of close calls of past title games.
Heartbreaker: Twice in the waning moments of the 1983 Class 3A title game, Evanston had the chance to put Buffalo away. Twice, the Red Devils came up short, and lost a chance at a state championship in the process. Buffalo kept Evanston from scoring on a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line in the final minute, and then stopped the Red Devils’ two-point conversion attempt in overtime to wrap up a 13-12 overtime victory.