School: Southeast
Nickname: Cyclones
Colors: blue and white
Stadium: Teeters Field
State championships: 1980, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Times worth remembering: Seven championships in 11 seasons – the end of the 20th century and the start of the 21st has been good to the Cyclones. Southeast won three titles in a row from 1999-2001 and four straight from 2006-09. Southeast went 9-1 each year from 1999-2001, winning 1A-Division II titles in 1999 and 2000 and a 2A title after reclassification reorganized the schools in 2001. Then, more recently, the Cyclones went 10-1 in 2006, 11-0 in 2007, 9-2 in 2008 and 10-1 in 2009, winning a 2A title in 2006 and 1A titles in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Times worth forgetting: Southeast’s record is pretty impeccable, but the three years from 1994-96 helped the Cyclones appreciate their success. In that span, the Cyclones were a combined 3-18, including an un-Southeast-like 11-game losing streak.
Best team: Of Southeast’s two undefeated teams, the nod goes to the 1980 team that went 9-0 and won the school’s first state championship. That year, the Cyclones averaged 33 points per game and only gave up about six on average, only twice allowing teams into double digits. Even more impressive is that the Cyclones won both their playoff games on the road, beating Midwest — the team that had knocked Southeast out of the playoffs the year before in Yoder — at Midwest before destroying Cokeville 38-8 in Cokeville in the title game.
Biggest win: Southeast met Lusk in some unusual circumstances in the 2001 title game — both teams were two-time defending state champions. The battle lines were drawn soon after reclassification placed both teams in Class 2A, and the two teams did not disappoint during the regular season or playoffs, setting up a dream matchup that had ramifications well beyond the end of the season. The Cyclones played up to the moment, as Byron Booth scored both touchdowns for Southeast, including the game-winner in the fourth quarter of a 14-7 victory in Yoder.
Heartbreaker: Southeast’s main heart-snapper has been Cokeville, which has busted the Cyclones’ dreams twice in the playoffs in gut-wrenching style. The first such occurrence came in the 1993 1A semifinals, when Ricky Himmerich’s two-point conversion in overtime gave the Panthers a 22-21 victory; the Panthers went on to win the 1A title. The other came in the 2003 1A championship, when Nathan Fiscus snuffed out Southeast QB Alan Moore’s two-point conversion attempt in the final moments of the fourth quarter, the deciding play in the Panthers’ 14-13 win.
School: Cody
Nickname: Broncs
Colors: blue and yellow
Stadium: Spike Vannoy Field
State championships: 1958, 1976 and 1991
Times worth remembering: The back-to-back runs of the 1976 and 1977 teams represented Cody’s best. Both teams went 9-1; the 1976 squad won the state championship, while the 1977 squad finished as the state runners-up.
Times worth forgetting: Cody’s rich tradition hasn’t left much room for struggling, but for one seven-year stretch from 1969-75, the Broncs never had a winning season. However, all of those squads won at least three games, except the 2-7 team of 1971, and the core of the 1974 and 1975 teams helped set up the championship-game runs in ’76 and ’77.
Best team: With apologies to the dominant 1991 squad and the plucky 1976 champions, Cody’s best team was probably built in 1958. That year, Cody went 10-0-1 and knocked off Torrington to win the school’s first state football championship. The Broncs never really won big — their largest margin of victory all season was a 26-0 win over Lander — but they always found a way to win.
Biggest win: Cody fans still remember the 1976 Class AA championship game against Laramie, a 41-40 triple overtime thriller. The Broncs were decidedly the underdogs against the Plainsmen, a traditional powerhouse trying to give legendary coach John Deti a victory in his final game on the sidelines. But Cody, playing on its home field, had different plans. The Broncs rallied from a 20-8 halftime deficit and sealed the win in the third overtime on a successful extra point from Rob Russell.
Heartbreaker: After struggling through the first three quarters of the 1985 4A title game, Cody put itself in perfect position to beat Natrona in Casper for the championship. But the Broncs turned the ball over on downs inside the Mustangs’ 20-yard line and missed a field goal in the fourth quarter, key turning points in Cody’s eventual 14-13 loss to Natrona. The 1985 season was Cody’s last best chance at a big-school title; the Broncs went on to win the 3A title in 1991 but never again came close to winning it all in Wyoming’s big-school division.
School: Lyman
Nickname: Eagles
Colors: blue and white
Stadium: Eagle Stadium
State championships: 1976, 1982 and 1999
Times worth remembering: The two best seasons in Lyman’s history were put together back-to-back in 1999 and 2000, when the Eagles went 9-1 and 7-1. The 1999 team won a state title, beating Mountain View in the 2A championship game to avenge a regular-season loss; the 2000 team went undefeated until the semifinals, when Mountain View reversed the previous year’s outcome and avenged its regular-season loss to Lyman.
Times worth forgetting: Back-to-back winless seasons in 1959 and 1960 were part of a larger stretch of eight consecutive losing seasons for the Eagles. The Eagles lost 17 in a row at one point over the course of four seasons (1958-61).
Best team: Of Lyman’s three championship-winning clubs, the 1999 team had the best sustained success. That season, the Eagles relied on defense, holding eight of 10 opponents to single digits. The offense was as good as it needed to be, with a powerful rushing attack setting the pace — especially in the championship game, a 16-6 win over Mountain View, in which the Eagles didn’t complete a pass but still won the 2A title.
Biggest win: Every fan in the Bridger Valley remembers Nov. 6, 1999. That’s when valley rivals Mountain View and Lyman met up with the state championship on the line. About 3,000 fans packed into Mountain View’s stadium to watch; about half, the Lyman half, went home happy, thanks to a solid Eagle defense that rose up at key times. The 16-6 win avenged Mountain View’s 15-13 win in the regular season — and, years later, became a key example in the argument against a neutral-site championship setup in Wyoming.
Heartbreaker: After winning it all in 1999, the Eagles appeared poised to do it again in 2000 — but rival Mountain View derailed those ideas in the 2A semifinals. Even though Lyman beat Mountain View 20-7 in the regular-season finale just two weeks prior on the same field, the Buffalos changed up their plans and shut out the Eagles 14-0 to advance to the championship. Big Piney — a team Lyman beat 35-19 in the regular season — went on to beat Mountain View in the championship game.
School: Encampment
Nickname: Tigers
Colors: red and black
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: The 1990 season — Encampment’s last — was the only season in which the Tigers won more than one game. However, both wins came over Farson, one a 14-12 win early in the season, the other a forfeit win at the end of the season after the Pronghorns had disbanded.
Times worth forgetting: The close to the 1990 season wasn’t pleasant. After the win over Farson, Encampment was shut out four consecutive times and ended its program at the end of the season.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
School: Manville
Nickname: Panthers
Colors: blue and white
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: Manville’s best effort came in its undefeated 6-0 season of 1947, a season in which the Panthers beat Guernsey, Glenrock and Sunrise twice each. What set the Panthers apart was their defense, which gave up just two points in its first three games and gave up fewer than 11 points per game – a stellar defensive effort in the six-man football world. However, the victories might have come one year too early, as statewide six-man playoffs didn’t start until 1948.
Times worth forgetting: The Panthers’ final two seasons weren’t exactly encouraging. The team went 1-3-1 in 1952, Manville’s last full season, before canceling most of the 1953 season, save a 31-2 loss to Glendo.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
School: Normative Services
Nickname: Wolves
Colors: maroon and silver
Stadium: Wolves Stadium
State championships: none
Times worth remembering: The Wolves’ two best seasons came in their first two years in pads. The 2000 team posted a 6-1 record in the regular season before bowing out to Southeast in the first round of the playoffs; the 2001 team went 6-2, then posted playoff road wins over both Burlington and Riverside before bowing to Cokeville in the state championship game.
Times worth forgetting: After its championship-game run in 2001, NSI had a disastrous 2002 season, finishing officially at 0-6. However, the Wolves only played three games, losing all three by wide margins, then forfeited three more after a case of food poisoning broke out at the Sheridan institution.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
School: Worland Institute
Nickname: Unknown
Colors: Unknown
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: none
Times worth remembering: Only four victories by the Worland Institute, also known as Colter High, have been accounted for. Two came in 1957 — 19-13 over the Worland JV and 31-0 over the Lander JV. Worland Institute also knocked off Burlington 6-0 in 1959 and Meeteetse 7-0 in 1960.
Times worth forgetting: Pretty much every other game was tough for the Institute. The boys’ school squad had its toughest season in its final season, 1961, going 0-6 and losing every game by double digits.
School: Moorcroft
Nickname: Wolves
Colors: green and white
Stadium: Wolves Field
State championship: 1996
Times worth remembering: The Wolves won four consecutive conference championships from 1993-96, and culminated the run with the school’s only state championship. The Wolves put together seasons of 8-1 in 1993 and 1995 and 10-0 in 1996, and even with a 3-5 season in 1994 still won the conference championship.
Times worth forgetting: It took quite a while for the Wolves to reach the speed of high-school football. After adopting the sport in 1952, it took (according to games results found so far) five years for Moorcroft to win its first game. In that span from 1952-58 (with available results), the Wolves were 1-22, including a 1956 season in which the Wolves didn’t take the field due to a lack of bodies. Of course, in 1959, the Wolves made up for all that by advancing to the state championship game….
Best team: The 1996 Wolves did two things no other Moorcroft team has ever done — they went undefeated and they won the state championship. The Wolves, led by three-time all-stater Shawn Dowdy, proved throughout the season that they knew how to both dominate inferior teams and frustrate good ones.
Biggest win: Clearly, again, the nod has to go to 1996. The 9-6 title-game victory over Lusk provided enough excitement to last for 10 championships. Kyle Workman nailed the winning 30-yard field goal with 41 seconds remaining, a kick set up by a punt block just a couple minutes before. Moorcroft scored all nine of its points in the fourth quarter and kept the Tigers out of the end zone, giving up just two first-half field goals.
Heartbreaker: The Wolves were one of the best teams in the state in 1982. Led by Rock Mirich, the Wolves posted an 8-0 record in the regular season, holding every single opponent to eight points or fewer, but couldn’t get the job done once they reached the playoffs. Playing the first home playoff game in school history, the Wolves jumped out to a 20-0 lead but lost to Saratoga 28-20 in overtime. After Mirich ran back the opening kickoff of the second half 95 yards for a touchdown, the Wolves crumpled, and Saratoga’s David Jones scored three times in the second half to help crush Moorcroft’s perfect season.
School: Burlington
Nickname: Huskies
Colors: orange and black
Stadium: Husky Stadium
State championships: 1992 and 1994
Times worth remembering: Led by lineman Mike Aagard — now the team’s coach — and all-everything star Justin Hopkin, the Huskies were a team to be feared in the early 1990s. Burlington went 8-1 on its way to the championship in 1992, then after a brief dip to 4-3 in 1993, the Huskies returned to the top in 1994 with a perfect 8-0 season. Both times, Burlington beat Hulett in the championship game.
Times worth forgetting: It can’t get much worse than what happened to the Huskies in the late 1980s. After a winless season in 1988, Burlington didn’t field a team in 1989. By 1990, the Huskies were back, but still struggled on the field until turning in their state championship season in 1992.
Best team: The Husky squad of 1994 was the only team in school history to go undefeated. With Hopkin, Aagard, Brandon Preator and a host of others, the Huskies were only occasionally challenged — their closest game of the season was the 36-20 win over Hulett in the state title game.
Biggest win: To get to the 1992 9-man title game, the Huskies had to pick up a 26-20 road win in the semifinals over East Conference champion Big Horn. It was a winnable game from the start — Burlington had beaten Big Horn 20-19 earlier in the season on the Rams’ home field — and the win in the playoffs help assure the Huskies of their success. And after Hulett upset Dubois on the other side of the bracket, Burlington rolled to the title, setting the stage for sustained success.
Heartbreaker: In both 2004 and 2005, Burlington had its hopes for a state championship crushed in ways no team should have to endure – on the final play of the game. Both times, Guernsey-Sunrise played the role of the crusher. In ’04, the Vikings won 24-21 in overtime on Shawn King’s field goal; in ’05, David Castle caught a touchdown pass as time expired as the Huskies lost 25-22.
School: Burns
Nickname: Broncs
Colors: orange and black
Stadium: Bronc Stadium
State championships: 1983 and 2008
Times worth remembering: After languishing for most of the mid-1980s, the Broncs came into their own in the 1989, going 9-1 on their way to a runner-up finish in Class 2A. The next year, the Broncs went 7-2 and made the playoffs in 1A. Together, those two years were part of five consecutive non-losing seasons, the longest such streak in the program’s history.
Times worth forgetting: It took a while for Burns to get the hang of this football thing. It wasn’t until the Broncs’ third full season in 1970 that they earned their first victory — Burns lost 21 times and tied once before beating Goshen Hole on Oct. 9, 1970. It took another four years for Burns to earn its first winning season.
Best team: The 2008 team did something no other team in Burns’ history has done: go undefeated. The Broncs were favorites from August, and after beating Southeast by nine in the season opener, didn’t win another game by fewer than 20 points for the rest of the season.
Biggest win: Burns was filled with seniors in its championship season of 1983 — four of them were all-staters, including Milward Simpson Award finalist David Petsch — so the Broncs were going for broke. Anything less than the championship would have been a disappointment for the Broncs. That’s why the 19-15 victory over Greybull in the 2A title game that year was so important. The team cashed in on its potential and earned the program’s first championship on its home field.
Heartbreaker: Heading into the 2A championship in 1989, the Broncs were rolling. They had won nine in a row and had earned home-field advantage for the title game against Cokeville. But the optimism barely lasted past the opening kickoff, as the Panthers throttled the Broncs 46-0 in the title game. It took Burns 16 years after that loss to win another playoff game.
School: Manderson
Nickname: Demons
Colors: red and white
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: None
Times worth remembering/best team: The good times were few and far between for the Demons, who had just four winning seasons in 20 years of football — and none consecutively — and no playoff appearances. But if a season sticks out, it’s the 1962 season, when Manderson went 5-2-1. That team had a knack for winning close, low-scoring games and held all of its opponents to 13 or fewer points; a 7-6 loss to Byron and a 13-12 loss to Morton were the team’s only smudge.
Times worth forgetting: Although Manderson was perennially a conference doormat, the Demons typically pulled off a couple victories each season to keep interest going and opponents honest. But from 1965-68, when the Demons went 4-30-1, there wasn’t much to celebrate. The Demons weren’t bad defensively, but rarely got its offense untracked — they averaged only about 9 points per game during the first three years of that stretch.
Biggest win: What made the 1962 season special was how it started. After a 12-0 win over Meeteetse, the Demons beat Cowley 12-6 at Cowley — a game that may not have been recognized at the time as perhaps the biggest win in school history. But after that, Cowley (and the rest of the Bighorn Basin schools) never let Manderson sneak up on them again. Manderson went 0-13-1 in its final 14 games against Cowley before dropping football after 1975.
Heartbreaker: Success was never really Manderson’s calling card, but it had to hurt to go out like this. In the final game in program history, the Demons took a 70-8 beating from Deaver-Frannie. The defeat was made all the more difficult by how Manderson had improved heading into the season finale, beating Burlington 12-6 and losing to Ten Sleep 14-6 in the two previous games. But Deaver showed no mercy on the outgoing Demons, who will never have a chance to avenge the 62-point loss they took in their last outing.
School: Cokeville
Nickname: Panthers
Colors: black and orange
Stadium: Panther Field
State championships: 1978, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2003
Times worth remembering: Pick ‘em. Cokeville’s success — 16 state championships in a 21-year span from 1983-2003 and 17 titles overall — makes the Panthers the pinnacle of consistent success. But perhaps the Panthers’ best stretch came from 1986-91, when the program put together six consecutive state championships and won 26 consecutive games at one point.
Times worth forgetting: Cokeville has had its struggles, too. The program’s toughest times came in 1964 and 1965, as the Panthers went a combined 0-12-1. Every loss the Panthers suffered was by at least 12 points.
Best team: Again, pick ‘em. Cokeville has had 12 undefeated teams in school history, but the team that stands out more than any is the team from 1989. That year, Class 1A became exclusively a 9-man division, and Cokeville opted up to Class 2A play to stick with its 11-man program. The change did nothing to stop Cokeville’s run of championships, as they went 10-0 and blasted the two best teams 2A had to offer in the playoffs, both on the road — Greybull 35-11 in the semis and Burns 46-0 in the championship.
Biggest win: Again, pick ‘em. All 17 championship-game victories have added a little bit more to Cokeville’s mystique. If any one stands out, it’s No. 17, a 14-13 win over Southeast in 2003 secured only after Nathan Fiscus made an open-field tackle on Alan Moore on the Cyclones’ two-point conversion try in the final moments of the fourth quarter.
Heartbreaker: The Panthers were one yard away from the 2006 1A championship, but the 19-yard field goal attempt Cokeville tried on the final play of the game went wide. Cokeville lost 14-12 to Guernsey after losing a 12-0 lead; the Panthers gave up a safety in the fourth quarter for the final margin and also had a touchdown negated on a holding penalty in the final quarter.
School: Huntley
Nickname: Cardinals
Colors: red and white
Stadium: unknown
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: Huntley’s three best seasons were its first three. From 1951-53, the Cardinals went 14-8 and made their only playoff appearance, a semifinal berth earned in the program’s first season, 1951. From 1954-69, the Cardinals only had one more winning season.
Times worth forgetting: The span from 1957-60 was the Cardinals’ toughest. With a winless season in 1957 kicking off the stretch, Huntley went 4-30 in five seasons.
Best team: The 1951 team was the only team to make the playoffs in Huntley’s 19-year program history, so they take the title by default. That team went 5-3.
Biggest win: Huntley’s biggest win was probably a combination of its first two. With no reputation and no tradition, the Cardinals won their first two games in program history by a combined 98-0 (50-0 over Albin and 48-0 over Lingle), which gave the program immediate legitimacy.
Heartbreaker: For as good as it started, the 1951 season ended with bitter disappointment in the playoffs. After taking a 20-7 lead, the Cardinals watched as Hanna scored 20 fourth-quarter points to rally for a 27-20 victory and a berth in the state 6-man championship. Huntley had a 308-190 yardage edge and had 10 first downs to Hanna’s four, yet stayed at home — not only for the ’51 championship, but for the remainder of the program’s history.