School: Natrona
Nickname: Mustangs
Colors: black and orange
Stadium: Cheney Alumni Field
State championships: 1975, 1985, 1996, 1999 and 2003
Times worth remembering: Few teams won as consistently for as long as the Mustangs did in the 1970s. For the 11 seasons from 1970-80, NC finished a combined 78-20-1, with the worst record in that span 6-3 marks in 1973 and 1977. Oddly enough, though, the Mustangs only won one state championship in those 11 years.
Times worth forgetting: Losing seasons don’t happen often in west Casper, so what happened in 1990-92 is almost hard to believe. The Mustangs had losing seasons all three of those years, at one point losing 14 consecutive games, as the program transitioned from Mike Ragan to Steve Harshman. Of course, it only took NC two more years to get back into a championship game, and then two more after that to win a title.
Best team: NC has had some great teams, but none were as dominating as the 10-0 state championship team from 1999. The Mustangs outscored opponents by an average of 44-6 and won every regular-season game by at least 35 points. NC had 10 first-team all-state players that season and a record five first-team Casper Star-Tribune Super 25 players.
Biggest win: The Mustangs of the early 1960s were consistent — always solid, always among the top teams in the state, but always an also-ran to Laramie’s rolling dynasty. That all changed on Sept. 13, 1963. Laramie came to Casper with its record 34-game winning streak, but left 28-0 losers to an inspired bunch of Mustangs who let the Plainsmen offense past midfield on only one possession the entire game. NC finished with a 9-0 mark — its first unbeaten season in decades — and its first solo claim on a state championship since 1948.
Heartbreaker: The 1980 Oil Bowl was a clash of unbeatens — 8-0 Natrona vs. 8-0 Kelly Walsh. The winner was the conference champion and earned the right to play in the state championship game; the loser stayed home with an 8-1 record and the nagging question of what might have been. It was NC that stayed home. The Trojans scored on a long touchdown in the first minute and overwhelmed the Mustangs 28-13. KW beat Rock Springs the next week to win the state championship; from there, NC posted three consecutive losing seasons, losing to KW in all three of those seasons, and longtime Mustangs coach Art Hill retired after the last of those in 1983, his last, best chance at a championship denied by that one Oil Bowl loss in ’80.
School: Deaver-Frannie
Nickname: Trojans
Colors: blue and white
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: The span from 1973-75 was the best three-year stretch for the Trojans, as they went 6-3, 9-0 and 8-1 in those years respectively. At one point, D-F won 15 games in a row.
Times worth forgetting: The Trojans had a tough go of it in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, finishing 1959-62 without a winning season. Deaver-Frannie only won seven games in those four seasons.
Best team: It’s a toss-up between the 1971 team and the 1974 team, both of which went 9-0. But the nod goes to the ’74 squad, which didn’t have any games closer than a 38-13 victory over Burlington.
Biggest win: Despite all its success — the Trojans won more than 58 percent of their games from 1947-76 — Deaver-Frannie never made the playoffs. Even so, the biggest game in the school’s history might have been a 26-22 victory over Byron on Oct. 8, 1971. That game basically assured the Trojans the Bighorn Basin championship in a 9-0 season and helped vault the Trojans into third place in the final UPI poll (four Class B-C teams went undefeated that year).
Heartbreaker: The only game that kept the Trojans from back-to-back undefeated seasons in 1974 and ’75 was a 26-18 loss to Cowley on Sept. 26, 1975. Deaver-Frannie later avenged that loss, beating Cowley 58-28 on Oct. 31 that season, but the one loss gave the Trojans their lone blemish on a two-year run as the best eight-man team in the state.
School: Douglas
Nickname: Bearcats
Colors: red and blue
Stadium: Bearcat Stadium
State championships: 1975, 1978, 2008 and 2009
Times worth remembering: Douglas was a force in the 1950s, and if it hadn’t been for Torrington, the Bearcats could have been a dynasty for the ages. From 1951-60, Douglas went 67-23. Eight of those losses in that time period were to Torrington; seven of the losses kept Douglas from reaching the playoffs.
Times worth forgetting: For as good as the 1950s were, the 1960s were just as bad. The Bearcats didn’t have a winning season in the decade, including four one-win seasons and an 0-8 campaign in 1967.
Best team: Few teams in state history have been as dominating as the Bearcats were during their 12-0 championship season in 2009. Douglas won all but one game by at least 25 points, a 26-10 victory over Belle Fourche, S.D., the lone exception. The offense averaged more than 46 points per game and the defense gave up fewer than eight points per game. Led by running back Pierre Etchemendy, who ran for 2,036 yards, and nine other all-state players, the Bearcats won their second consecutive state championship and helped establish Douglas as one of the best teams in the state regardless of classification.
Biggest win: As important as the first two championships were to the program, the Bearcats’ 2008 championship victory – a 34-21 win over Buffalo for the 4A title – may have been the most special. Not only did Douglas break a 30-year championship drought, it got to do so at home over a team that has had a knack not only for winning championships, but for beating Douglas to get there.
Heartbreaker: Douglas barely scraped together a winning record in the 1986 regular season, but won the ones that counted to win the 3A East Conference’s bid for the championship game. And facing Jackson — a team with the same 5-4 record — at home in the title game, the Bearcats had a great chance to sneak away with a championship. But the Bearcats lost a 16-0 third-quarter lead and sputtered on both sides of the ball on its way to a disheartening 17-16 loss.
School: Ten Sleep
Nickname: Pioneers
Colors: blue and red
Stadium: Pioneers Stadium
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: The Pioneers put together three consecutive playoff berths from 1984-86, buoyed by a pair of conference championships in 1984-85. Ten Sleep went 19-8 in those three years combined, including back-to-back 7-2 seasons in the two conference championships.
Times worth forgetting: Football died for seven years at Ten Sleep, and bringing it back may have not seemed like the best idea after looking at the scoreboard the first few years it was back. After returning to the field in 1972, the Pioneers won just two games the first three years they were back, going a combined 2-23 from 1972-74. That included a forfeit loss to Dubois in Ten Sleep’s first scheduled game back from its seven-year hiatus. Numbers have always been Ten Sleep’s big question mark; the Pioneers also canceled their 1990 season and played truncated seasons in 1992, 1994, 2007 and 2008 due to a lack of players.
Best team: In the final year of the Bighorn Basin’s rogue eight-man division, the Pioneers proved they were ready for the transition to 11-man. In 1976, Ten Sleep went 7-0, holding its final five opponents to a total of six points. For the season, the Pioneers outscored their foes by an average of 39-5. In ’77, the Pioneers went 6-1 in their first full-fledged year of 11-man.
Biggest win: The Pioneers’ only playoff win in program history came in 2005, a 29-14 victory over Rapelje/Ryegate, Mont., in the opening round of the Montana six-man playoffs. It was Ten Sleep’s first year in the six-man division in the Big Sky State, and the victory helped assure the Pioneer faithful that the move was the right one.
Heartbreaker: Jumping into 11-man play in 1977, the Pioneers adapted quickly, winning their first six games to set up a showdown with Meeteetse in the final game of the regular season. The stakes were simple: winner goes to the playoffs, loser stays home. And, on Ten Sleep’s home field, Meeteetse won — 32-26 in double overtime. It was the best chance at success Ten Sleep had for years; the Pioneers didn’t reach the postseason until 1984.
School: Saratoga
Nickname: Panthers
Colors: purple and yellow
Stadium: Robert Hileman Field
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: Starting in 1974 and stretching through 1977, Saratoga put together one of the best stretches in history. Over those four seasons, the Panthers went 30-4, posting 14 shutouts. Saratoga didn’t give up more than 20 points in any of those 34 games and only 10 opponents cracked double digits on the scoreboard. The Panthers’ four losses were by a combined 18 points.
Times worth forgetting: Four years, one victory: That’s the conundrum the Panthers faced from 1966-69. In those four years, the only win the Panthers could manage was a 17-12 victory over Burns in the 1968 season finale — a win that snapped a 26-game losing streak, including a streak of 15 shutout losses in their previous 18 games. But the Panthers couldn’t capitalize on that one win and went 0-8-1 in 1969.
Best team: For all the struggles Saratoga went through in the late 1960s, the mid-1970s must have felt like heaven. The best team of that bunch was the one from 1974, in which the Panthers split a mythical state title with Tongue River after an 8-0 season. Saratoga gave up just six points all season and scored 348, one of the most dominating seasons in state history.
Biggest win: Football doesn’t often give second chances, but that’s exactly what Saratoga had in 1975. After losing to Guernsey-Sunrise 16-12 on Oct. 10, the Panthers’ playoff chances rested on another shot against the Vikings just 18 days later. The second time around, the Panthers held top-ranked Guernsey-Sunrise to just 109 total yards and, behind Steve Shaw’s two touchdowns, beat the Vikings 20-6. It was Guernsey-Sunrise’s only loss of the year and gave Saratoga its first playoff berth. Saratoga went on to beat Upton later that week for its first playoff victory and a berth in the first Class B championship game of the modern era.
Heartbreaker: Although Saratoga has lost its two championship games by a total of seven points, the biggest heartbreakers came in the form of not getting a chance to play for the championship at all. After a Class B runner-up finish in 1975, the Panthers went 7-1 in both 1976 and 1977 but didn’t qualify for the playoffs in either season. That’s because both times, the Panthers lost to Guernsey-Sunrise for the southeast district’s playoff spot — both times by 14-8 scores. Saratoga lost in the regular-season finale in 1976 in Guernsey and in the fourth week of the 1977 season in Saratoga.
School: Albin
Nickname: Wildcats
Colors: red and white
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: Albin was consistently decent, winning at least one game in each of the shortened seasons from 1946-50, including the only multiple-win season that I can find, a 2-1 campaign in 1946.
Times worth forgetting: The Wildcats went four seasons with only one victory, and only played one more game after that victory, ending the program after a 1-6 season in 1955.
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School: Dayton
Nickname: Elks
Colors: blue and red
Stadium: Unknown
State championship: 1953
Times worth remembering: The Elks had a relatively successful run before combining with Ranchester to form Tongue River in 1956, including four consecutive conference championships from 1952-55 and a state championship in 1953.
Times worth forgetting: The Dayton program was extremely successful for its short span In fact, it had only two losing seasons – an 0-2-1 campaign in 1949, the first full-fledged year of the program after World War II, and a 2-3 season in 1951.
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School: Pavillion
Nickname: Panthers
Colors: red and white
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: It didn’t take long for Pavillion to gain respect. After a 1-7 season in its 1959 premiere, the Panthers went 7-1 in 1960, reeling off seven victories in a row to start the season before falling to Shoshoni in the season finale.
Times worth forgetting: The Panthers’ biggest struggles came in back-to-back seasons in 1962 and ’63. Pavillion went 2-6 in 1962 and 1-6-1 in 1963, losing five times by shutout while failing to climb out of double digits 12 times in 16 games. The 1963 season was particularly tough; the Panthers only scored 26 points all season and the only victory came in a 2-0 slugfest against Meeteetse.
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School: Superior
Nickname: Dragons
Colors: purple and white
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: After finding mixed success against Class A schools through 1957, the Dragons dropped to Class B play in 1958 and immediately became a powerhouse. Superior posted three consecutive winning seasons from 1958-60, including a 7-0 season in 1960. In those three years, Superior went 18-3-1. However, none of the seasons, not even the 1960 undefeated season, resulted in a playoff berth.
Times worth forgetting: The Dragons knew when they were in above their heads. Superior’s last year of Class A play was in 1957, a year in which the Dragons posted an 0-6 record. The team was shut out five times in those six games and scored only once, in a 25-14 loss to Saratoga.
School: Upton
Nickname: Bobcats
Colors: blue and white
Stadium: B.F. Weaver Field
State championships: 1961 and 2005
Times worth remembering: The Bobcats were consistently their best in the five-year stretch from 1969-72, in which Upton went a combined 35-6-3. The Bobcats’ best finish came in a 7-0-1 1971 season in which they ended up second in the final statewide poll; Upton’s chance to take on top-ranked Glenrock in the final week of the 1971 season went by the wayside due to a late October snowstorm that slammed the state. Upton also finished fourth in the final Class B-C ballot in both 1969 (7-2) and 1970 (7-1-1).
Times worth forgetting: Back-to-back winless seasons in 1949 (0-7) and 1950 (0-6) were the hardest for Upton to trudge through. In those 13 losses, the Bobcats were shut out six times and failed to crawl out of single digits on all but two occasions. On average, Upton lost games those two seasons by a score of 30-4.
Best team: Although the 1971 team only gave up eight points in its mythical runner-up season, and although the 1961 team won the school’s first state title, the Bobcats’ best pound-for-pound team likely came in 2005. Led by seven first-team all-state choices, including CST Super 25 first-team choices Jason Watt (2004) and Dan Dysart (2005), the Bobcats finished that season 10-1 and whitewashed Guernsey-Sunrise 55-6 in the 1A championship. Upton’s only loss was a 26-19 nail-biter to eventual 2A champion Sundance — in Sundance. Outside of that, the Bobcats outscored foes by an average of 36-5, as only one opponent came within 19 points.
Biggest win: The good feelings from Upton’s 1961 championship only lasted so long, and by 2005 the Bobcat faithful were ready for another trophy. After cruising through most of the regular season with ease and wiping out Shoshoni by 52 points in the 1A quarterfinals, Upton traveled to Cokeville for a key semifinal game. Unfazed by both the Panthers’ tradition and the 500-mile one-way trip, the Bobcats played a flawless defensive game and Dysart scored the lone touchdown in a 7-3 victory. Confidence boost? You bet — Upton breezed past defending champion Guernsey-Sunrise by 49 points the following week in the 1A championship in Guernsey.
Heartbreaker: Upton put up the type of defensive effort needed to beat Cokeville in the 1998 Class 1A-D2 title game, holding the Panthers to just 111 yards of total offense. But the Bobcats’ offense never came through. Upton had four turnovers, including a fumble on a punt that led to Cokeville’s game-winning touchdowns, and the Bobcats lost 12-7. It was Upton’s second title-game loss in as many years.
School: Powell
Nickname: Panthers
Colors: black and orange
Stadium: Panther Stadium
State championships: 1957, 1987 and 2006
Times worth remembering: The Panthers have consistently been one of the top teams in the Bighorn Basin, and that was made particularly clear in a pair of three-year spans — the three years from 1955-57 and the three years from 1965-67. The Panthers went 28-2 from 1955-57; both losses were to Worland, and both losses kept Powell from playing in the Class A championship. Finally, in 1957, the Panthers beat the Warriors and went on to win the title with an 11-0 season. And from 1965-67, Powell went 25-3-1, including 8-1-1 in 1966 and 9-0 in 1967, each good enough to win a mythical Class AA-A state championship.
Times worth forgetting: Powell’s toughest times came in back-to-back winless seasons in 1992-93. The Panthers went 0-8 each season and were outscored by an average of 30-5 in the two seasons; only two of the losses were by single digits.
Best team: It’s basically a toss-up between Powell’s two undefeated teams — the 11-0 team from 1957 and the 9-0 team from 1967. The slight nod goes to the ’57 team, which won the Class A title but was probably the best team in the state regardless of class. One of Powell’s 11 victories was 13-6 over Sheridan, which finished 7-1-1 and tied Natrona for the mythical Class AA championship. And few teams controlled a championship game the way the Panthers did in ’57, in which they destroyed Torrington 40-6 on the Trailblazers’ home field to win the title.
Biggest win: The 1966 season finale was set up perfectly for the Panthers — a chance to prove themselves against the top-ranked team in the state, Cody, on the Broncs’ home field. And the Panthers never hesitated. Powell controlled the game from start to finish, winning 32-13 in an “upset” that vaulted the Panthers into first place in the final statewide poll despite an early-season loss to Worland and a tie with Riverton. The 1967 finale set up similarly, but in that game top-ranked Powell justified its ranking by smacking Cody 20-7.
Heartbreaker: Powell had all the momentum going its way heading into the second-to-last game of the 1978 regular season against Rock Springs — the Panthers had won six in a row, four by shutout, and were seemingly in perfect shape for the Tigers. But the Tigers didn’t get the message from Powell and beat the Panthers 15-7. Rock Springs went on to win the state championship, beating Laramie 7-6 two weeks later; Powell beat Cody the next week to finish at 7-1 but never again reached the same level of success in Class AA ball.
School: Kelly Walsh
Nickname: Trojans
Colors: green and yellow
Stadium: Harry Geldien Stadium
State championships: 1972, 1980 and 1981
Times worth remembering: KW had 10 consecutive winning seasons from 1975-84, and back-to-back championships in 1980 and 1981 were the Trojans’ crowning achievement in that span. The 1980-81 teams were a combined 19-1; the 1982 and 1983 teams followed up with consecutive 7-2 seasons, although neither team reached the state title game.
Times worth forgetting: Back-to-back 0-8 seasons, an overall 16-game losing streak, from 1997-98 was by far KW’s toughest stretch. Only three of those 16 games were decided by fewer than 10 points. The 1997-98 seasons were part of larger difficulties for the Trojans, who played in the “Toilet Bowl,” reserved for the last-place teams in the two 4A conferences, five consecutive times from 1996-2000.
Best team: You want flash and dash? Try the KW team from 1980, which featured future UW Cowboy Allyn Griffin and future MLB star Mike Devereaux and outscored opponents, on average, 33-8. You want consistency? Go for the 1981 squad, which shut out six of its final seven opponents and finished on the right side of an average score of 25-3. The slight nod goes to the ’81 team, which is KW’s only undefeated team in school history.
Biggest win: There aren’t too many big-game wins for KW — only five playoff wins in 46 years — but the Trojans are 3-0 in title games. The biggest of those came in 1980, the first year KW won an Oil Bowl and a state championship in the same season. The Trojans beat Rock Springs 20-7 in Rock Springs for the state championship a week after beating Natrona 28-13 in the Oil Bowl to secure the spot in the title game.
Heartbreaker: How about the first Oil Bowl in 1965? Playing without any seniors, the Trojans stuck right with Natrona for nearly four quarters and appeared to take the lead after a 70-yard punt return for a touchdown by Frank Wojtech. But officials ruled Wojtech stepped out of bounds at midfield, KW couldn’t score, and thus began a series of Oil Bowl heartaches.
School: Morton
Nickname: Broncs
Colors: Unknown
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: Only one thing stood in the way of a Morton dynasty in the mid-1950s — Byron. The Broncs were a combined 22-4 in three seasons from 1956-58; three of those losses came against Byron, and all three helped keep Morton out of the playoffs. Even so, the Broncs were consistent winners with a penchant for winning close, competitive, hard-fought defensive games (nine of Morton’s 22 wins in those years were by 10 points or less).
Times worth forgetting: In three seasons from 1960-62, the Broncs were the conference doormat. Those three seasons, Morton finished a combined 3-17-1, only posting victories over the Riverton JV team, Manderson and the Worland Institute (boys’ school) team.
Best team: A team has never done more with less than the Morton Broncs did in 1965. That season, Morton posted a 5-1-1 record and finished third in the final statewide poll for the mythical title, but what was impressive about the Broncs was how they won. The scores from Morton’s victories that year? 13-6, 6-0, 6-0, 12-8 and 19-14. The lone loss was a 13-6 nail-biter to eventual mythical champ Byron; the lone tie was a 0-0 draw with Big Piney. Two other games were canceled.
Biggest win: For a school with no playoff appearances, big victories are hard to find. But imagine the thrill the Broncs felt on Oct. 18, 1957. That day, Morton beat Shoshoni in classic Morton style — a hard-fought, close, thrilling 13-6 contest — for its 15th consecutive victory. It set up a dream matchup with Byron the next week on Morton’s home field — a game that has no drama to it whatsoever if the Broncs don’t beat Shoshoni in the previous week.
Heartbreaker: The mythical Class B title was Morton’s to claim in 1964. All they had to do was beat Byron in the season finale. But Byron was ready for the challenge and swamped Morton 34-12 in the capper. As it was, Morton finished fourth in the final statewide poll; Byron, even with one loss, won the mythical title. It wasn’t the first time Byron thwarted Morton (see 1956-58), and it wasn’t the last — a similar scenario unfolded in 1965, and Byron again got the best of Morton to wrap up the mythical state title.