Shared state championships: An update

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

With the archive of weekly football rankings complete, I wanted to turn my attention to something that I now have the opportunity to fully research and expand upon: the shared state championship.

Several championships were already listed as shared on my state champions listings. In the pre-playoff, polls-only era, this isn’t unprecedented. However, with both the complete AP and UPI rankings now fully available, it’s afforded me a chance to look back at season-ending polls to see if everything matches up.

In short, it doesn’t. And that’s what this post is designed to do — give some teams the props, and championships, they’ve earned but not had listed here.

This isn’t a new exploration of mine. When I first worked through shared champions in 2009 on this site, I made the decision to solely accept the UPI polls. With the extended research, though, I’ve come to the realization that both the AP and UPI polls were just about as equally valid, run just as often and about just as far and wide across the state as each other.

I defaulted to the UPI rankings because they were the favorite of my adopted hometown paper, and later my employer, the Casper Star-Tribune, which often didn’t even run the AP rankings for an entire season. But the AP rankings definitely had validity, and they need to be recognized as such. That means this site should accept the champions of both the AP and UPI polls, not just the UPI.

So that’s what I’m doing.

This means four teams — Torrington and Glenrock from 1972, Deaver-Frannie from 1971 and Cheyenne Central from 1966 — will retroactively have the championships they earned in those years added to the site. All four were AP champions in some form:

  • Torrington and Glenrock were AP champions in their respective classes (A and B) 1972, as opposed to UPI champions Star Valley and St. Mary’s.
  • Glenrock and Deaver-Frannie tied for the top of the Class B rankings in the final AP poll in 1971, whereas Glenrock won the UPI poll outright.
  • Cheyenne Central and Powell tied atop the final AP poll of the 1966 season, as Powell won the UPI outright.

Two other final polls where teams shared the top spot in the polls were NOT added for the following reasons:

  • The 1971 AA final polls’ top spots were shared between Laramie (AP) and Natrona (UPI). However, by 1971 Class AA had a championship game, which Laramie won. Likewise, the final polls were taken prior to the championship game, in which Laramie beat Rock Springs.
  • In 1961, Greybull (AP) and Laramie (UPI) finished atop the final polls of the season. These, too, came before the playoffs, in which Greybull as a Class A school was involved. Greybull’s loss to Buffalo in the Class A semifinals ended its title run and could not be accounted for in the polls, leaving Laramie as the sole Class AA title claimant and Star Valley, the team that beat Buffalo in the Class A championship game, as the titleist for that class.

Other shared championships that are already listed will remain, including Byron and Glenrock sharing the 1968 Class B championship, Sheridan and Laramie sharing the 1958 Class AA championship, and Sheridan and Natrona sharing the 1957 Class AA championship.

Shared titles before the start of statewide polls in the mid-1950s were “by acclaim” champions, as no formal polling system existed prior to the AP/UPI polls, and in earlier days the polls by the Wyoming Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

Researching the polls week to week has given me significantly more insight to the processes used in these times to choose a state champion. I think these updates accurately reflect the sentiment at the time.

And it makes me glad that we have playoffs these days.

–patrick

So, Wyoming’s missing 1930 all-state football team turns up in a 1957 Nebraska newspaper…

by ⋅ 2 Comments

One thing that constantly amazes me is that no matter how much research I do into Wyoming’s sports history, I always keep finding more interesting things.

The latest? Wyoming’s 1930 all-state football team, published in a Nebraska newspaper published in 1957.

Yep, you read that right.

The 1930 all-state team was one of just a handful of missing all-state teams on wyoming-football.com, a list that now includes only the all-class teams from 1926 and 1932 and the elusive 1994 Class 1A nine-man team.

But I did not expect to find the 1930 all-state team the way I did, published in an out-of-state paper nearly 30 years after the season was done.

In doing research for a big project (details coming, maybe this summer), I fell into a deep dive of looking into Sheridan’s 1930 championship team. I started looking into a few of the players, particularly guys like Raymond “Jeff” Doyle, Sheridan’s speedy halfback; center Rusty Thompson; and end Clarence Brokaw. They were cornerstones of the Broncs’ team that beat Laramie (and later Cody) for the championship in the final year before state-sanctioned playoffs and the formation of the Wyoming High School Activities Association.

When I threw their names into a search on newspapers.com — a subscription made possible by the site sponsors (thank you!) — I stumbled into a column from the Oct. 29, 1957, edition of the Scottsbluff Star-Herald in Nebraska from Bill Madden. More on him in a bit.

In that column, Madden said the upcoming game between Scottsbluff and Laramie would be his first time seeing the Plainsmen since 1930, when he was a boy in Sheridan and the Plainsmen came north for a key game. He then went into detail on the 1930 game between the Plainsmen and Broncs, which for all intents and purposes decided the state championship, and those who played in it. Madden said the rosters included five all-staters from Sheridan (Doyle, Thompson, Brokaw, guard Clint Endicott and tackle Albert Husman) and two from Laramie (end Lester Forsyth and fullback Wes Christenson).

But in addition, he also mentioned the other four players named all-state that year: tackle Dan Sedar and quarterback Porter Davis of Natrona, guard Fay Thompson of Midwest, and halfback Don Tottenhoff of Cheyenne Central.

That’s 11 guys. An all-state team from that era only had that many. I double-checked the names in other publications and yearbooks I could access online, and the list looks legit. No unexpected names here.

However, Madden didn’t cite his source, which is always a big question in research like this. After looking into his career, though, if there’s one Nebraska journalist whose word we can trust on matters like this, it’s Madden’s.

Madden grew up in Sheridan an avid sports fan and attended Hastings College in Nebraska. From 1955 to 1974, Madden was a sportswriter for the Scottsbluff Star-Herald; he then moved on to the nearby Gering Courier, where he stayed until he retired in 1991.

He was named to the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1996; his bio said he was “a noted historian of high school athletics.” In reading a selection of Madden’s work, it’s easy to draw comparisons to Chuck Harkins, Casper Star-Tribune sports editor in the 1970s and the one person who has taught me more about Wyoming sports than anyone else I’ve never met. Madden died in 1997.

In his 1957 pontifications of a 1930 football game and the all-state players in it, Madden didn’t need to cite a source because he was the source. That’s good enough for me.

The 1930 all-state team is now listed among this site’s all-state listings — with any luck, never to be lost again.

–patrick

Updates: Jackson, Torrington, Guernsey, Cowley

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

Some digging into Jackson’s early days turned up four new games for the listings — two against a nearby rival, one against a college and one canceled by snow:

I added Jackson’s first two games in program history, a 26-6 victory against Driggs, Idaho, on Oct. 17, 1930, in Jackson, and a 12-0 loss to Driggs on Oct. 24 in Driggs. Jackson played four other games that season against the Jackson town team, but games against non-scholastic opponents are not counted in the listings. I also added Jackson’s Oct. 4, 1930, game against Big Piney that was supposed to be Jackson’s first game but was canceled due to snow.

I also added Jackson’s 18-0 loss to Ricks College, Idaho, played on Sept. 16, 1932; I also added it to the missing games list as I could not determine a location, although it was probably in Idaho.

In addition to the Jackson updates, I also added the location for Torrington’s 51-0 victory against Guernsey on Oct. 16, 1931; it was in Torrington.

I also added Cowley’s coach for 1936; it was G.W. Rollins.

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

–patrick

Updates: Torrington, Newcastle, Lyman, Lusk, Sundance, Sunrise, historic playoff brackets

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

Thanks to a new financial supporter — the Wyoming Department of Transportation, whose “Buckle Up for Life” campaign now proudly supports numerous pages on the site — I have been able to pour some more financial resources back into the site.

One of those was a full subscription to newspapers.com, which has allowed me to pursue missing out-of-state results with a renewed energy. Some updates to the site include:

Found the result for Lusk’s 51-0 loss to Edgemont, S.D., on Sept. 27, 1935, in Edgemont.

Found the date and location for Lyman’s 27-6 loss to Park City, Utah, on Aug. 30, 1968; the game was in Park City.

Found the location for Sundance’s 27-0 loss to Spearfish, S.D., on Oct. 29, 1926; it was in Sundance.

I also found the following games were never played: the Nov. 16, 1942, game between Torrington and Scottsbluff, Neb.; the Nov. 22, 1929, game between Torrington and Gering, Neb.; the Nov. 17, 1925, game between Sunrise and Morrill, Neb.; and the Nov. 24, 1922, game between Newcastle and Crawford, Neb.

Also, historic playoff brackets have been reconfigured. Check out any of the archived brackets from the Results by year page to see their new look!

As always, if you can help me track down any information for games on my missing games list, please let me know!

–patrick

2022 season added to wyoming-football.com archives

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

Here’s a quick overview of some of the pages on wyoming-football.com that saw updates at the conclusion of the 2022 season:

Scoring records: For just the 18th time in state history, two 11-man teams combined to score triple digits, as Cheyenne Central (42) and Sheridan (63) finished just outside the top 10 with 105 combined points scored. It did mark the third highest combined point total in an 11-man playoff game, though, just four points shy of the record.

Burlington finished in the top 10 all-time in single-season scoring with 659 total points, good for ninth.

Cheyenne East and Cody both reached the top 10 in points scored in an 11-man season. East was No. 2 all-time with 553 total points, while Cody was eighth at 531. Oddly enough, neither one won a state title. Cody’s 48.27 points per game, meanwhile, finished fifth in state history for 11-man teams.

On the flipside, Guernsey-Sunrise’s 66.13 points allowed per game ranked 10th all-time in most points allowed in a season.

Streaks: Cody’s 26-game winning streak, which came to an end in the Class 3A title game, finished tied for eighth among Wyoming’s longest winning streaks. And Lyman’s 20-game winning streak, which ended early in the season, finished in a tie for the 22nd longest. Snake River, meanwhile, enters the 2023 season on a 21-game winning streak, good for 19th-longest in state history.

Cheyenne South’s 29-game losing streak, however, is tied for the sixth-longest losing streak in state history. Pinedale has now lost 22 games in a row, a streak that’s tied for 20th-longest.

Snake River’s scoring streak moved up to second-longest in state history at 137 games; however, the Rattlers have a ways to go to break the state record of 175. Sheridan, meanwhile, has scored in 95 straight games entering 2023, the eighth-longest scoring streak in state history.

Cokeville had its 35th consecutive winning season and its 37th consecutive non-losing season, both continuing state records. Sheridan’s 16th consecutive winning season, though, moved the Broncs up into a tie for second-longest such streak in state history behind Cokeville.

Laramie’s 22nd consecutive losing season moved the Plainsmen into a tie for the longest streak of consecutive losing seasons. Moorcroft is now tied for fourth on that list with 14 losing seasons in a row, with Worland and Wyoming Indian tied at sixth with 13 and Cheyenne South and Wright tied for ninth with 12.

Individual records: Several players notched games or seasons worthy of the individual records page. They included:

  • Receiving yards in a season: Star Valley’s Wyatt Crogg set a new individual single-season receiving record with 1,253 yards, beating the old record set by Jackson’s Nate Keipert last year by 43 yards. And Thunder Basin’s Kayden LaFramboise put up the No. 3 season all-time with 1,151 yards. In nine-man, Pine Bluffs’ Ryan Fornstrom also broke the single-season record with 1,084 yards. Three other players made the top eight with Shoshoni’s Trey Fike (509), Lingle’s Louden Bremer (482) and Moorcroft’s Chaz Dewey (478). Nine-man records are from 2020-22 only.
  • Passing yards in a season: Three players cracked the top 10, including Star Valley’s Taft McClure in second (3,294 yards), East’s Cam Hayes in sixth (2,867 yards) and Thunder Basin’s Alonso Aguilar in ninth (2,575 yards). In nine-man, Pine Bluffs’ Stu Lerwick broke the single-season record with 2,226 yards, breaking his own record from last year by 11 yards. Shoshoni’s Alex Mills was fifth with 1,403 yards, while Rocky Mountain’s Carsyn Weber was seventh at 1,190 yards. In six-man, Burlington’s Seth Wardell posted the No. 9 season all-time with 1,469 yards.
  • Rushing yards in a season: Dubois’ Wyatt Trembly set a single-season rushing record in six-man with his 2,502-yard effort of a season, beating the old mark by 194 yards. Sheridan’s Colson Coon finished fourth all-time in 11-man with 2,195 rushing yards. In nine-man, Shoshoni’s Pehton Trueumpler had the No. 2 all-time season with 2,080 yards, while Wind River’s Cooper Frederick was No. 3 all-time with 1,919 yards.
  • Rushing yards in a game: Sheridan’s Colson Coon and Wind River’s Cooper Frederick each set rushing records in their respective areas. Coon’s 29 carries for 517 yards against Cheyenne Central set the state’s all-time 11-man rushing mark, while Frederick’s 549 yards on 61 carries against Southeast set the state’s all-time nine-man rushing record.
  • Passing yards in a game: Five of the top 10 single-game passing performances in 11-man history came in 2022. Three came from Star Valley’s Taft McClure, who finished in third (480 yards), fourth (448 yards) and fifth (429 yards) for his performances against Powell, Cody and Riverton, respectively. East’s Cam Hayes had the No. 9 performance all-tie with 420 yards against Sheridan, while Thunder Basin’s Alonso Aguilar tied for 10th with a 419-yard game against East. Pine Bluffs’ Stu Lerwick finished with the No. 4 and No. 5 all-time passing games in nine-man with 314 and 312 yards against Lusk and Moorcroft, respectively.
  • Receiving yards in a game: East’s Garet Schlabs set a single-game record for receptions with 19 catches against Sheridan. Thunder Basin’s Kayden LaFramboise finished tied for fifth all-time in single-game receiving yards with 242 yards, on 16 catches, against East. In nine-man, Pine Bluffs’ Ryan Fornstrom was fourth all-time with 187 yards against Moorcroft, while Moorcroft’s Chaz Dewey was fifth with 163 yards against Saratoga.

Coaching: Four coaches cracked the 50-victory barrier for their careers and entered Wyoming’s top 100 list for total victories for coaches — Shoshoni’s Tony Truempler, Buffalo’s Rob Hammond, Sheridan’s Jeff Mowry and Snake River’s Jack Cobb. They are all among the top 18 active coaches in the state in career victories in Wyoming. Barring retirements, Natrona’s Steve Harshman (227 victories), Southeast’s Mark Bullington (165 victories) and Douglas’ Jay Rhoades (130 victories) will enter 2023 as Wyoming’s top three active coaches in career in-state victories.

State champions: Sheridan’s 29th state championship continued a Bronc state record.

Weekly rankings: Of the five state champions, only Class 1A six-man Snake River completed a wire-to-wire run as the No. 1-ranked team in the state. Meanwhile, both Class 2A Big Horn and Class 3A Star Valley won a title despite not being ranked first at any point during the season.

Finally, Wyoming’s newest football program, the Casper Christian Mountaineers, saw their team page go up at the end of the 2022 season — too late for the season but just in time to start chronicling their history.

–patrick

Updates: All-state

by ⋅ 9 Comments

I was able to add a couple more first names to the all-state listings thanks to some help — Cindy Asay in Lovell hooked me up with some first names of Lovell players, and Andrew Towne at the Torrington Telegram chipped in some Torrington first names.

Update: Thanks to those of you who left comments below to help — they were valuable! And another big thanks to the Stat Rat, Jim Craig, for helping me find the others so far.

Update 2, Sept. 4, 2022: With some more help from the Stat Rat, we are down to only six first names that are still missing. I’ve cleaned up the list below to remove names that have been found.

Thanks for the help!

And here’s a list of the first names I’m still missing for all-state selections, by school:

Buffalo
1929: Metcalf

Douglas
1922: F. Rice

Lovell
1925: Brosheaus (maybe Brosious)

Midwest
1935: Barsh

Thermopolis
1925: Guffey

University Prep
1920: Sonners

–patrick

Updates: Campbell County, Buffalo, Torrington, Jackson, Pinedale, Ranchester, Reliance, all-state

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

Some recent site updates, thanks to new information I found through yearbooks and old press clippings:

Torrington beat Lyman, Neb., 34-6 on Nov. 8, 1934, in Torrington.

Noted that the game between Oct. 13 and 16, 1943, between Buffalo and Campbell County was played in Gillette; it’s still on the missing games list because I have yet to pin down a date.

Noted that the Oct. 15, 1966, game between Jackson and the Rock Springs JV was canceled due to snow.

Noted that the Oct. 9, 1956, game between Reliance and Pinedale and the Oct. 11, 1940, game between Ranchester and Big Horn were not played.

Noted that Ranchester’s coach in 1948 was Bert Johnston, not Silas Lyman.

Updated Campbell County’s coaches for 1943. The Camels actually used three coaches that season — Chet Bowen for the first game, Ray Ritter for the next three games, and Ben Dobbs for the final four games. It was war times.

Corrected the spelling for Campbell County’s coach from 1950-52; it was Albert Consbruck.

I’m also working on a separate all-state project, and in that work I’ve corrected a handful of misspellings or players listed with the wrong team in all-state listings. I’ve also added about a half-dozen first names for players who were missing those names on lists. I’m still missing 50 first names on all-state teams from 1920 to 1936.

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

–patrick

Weekly rankings from 1955-83 and 1952 added to Wyoming-football.com

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

Weekly rankings from 1955-83 and from 1952 have been added to the annual listings on wyoming-football.com.

This all but completes a big chunk of research on weekly polls, the first part of which — from 1984 to 2021 — was posted and shared on wyoming-football.com in January.

Polls from 1955 to 1983 included two polls per week — one from the Associated Press and, usually, one from United Press International. Prior to 1960, though, the UPI poll was not yet being conducted, and a poll from the Wyoming Association of Sportswriters and Sportscasters fills those years.

The top five teams in each classification have been ranked since 1972. From 1965-70, the top 10 teams in both Class AA/A and Class B were ranked in the UPI polls, while the top 10 in all classes were ranked in the single AP poll. (The exception is in 1971, when the AP ran top fives for Class AA, Class A and Class B, while UPI ran top 10s in Class AA/A and Class B.) Prior to 1965, both the AP and UPI/WASS poll had one set of all-class rankings, which ranked the top 10 teams regardless of classification.

Here’s more on how rankings have changed over time.

Once again, a huge thank you goes out to “Stat Rat” Jim Craig for his help in filling in the numerous missing pieces I had in this research. This wouldn’t have been possible without his help!

You can access the weekly polls on the results by year page.

+++

Here are some updated records on who’s had the most consecutive weeks ranked and most consecutive weeks at No. 1:

Consecutive weeks ranked (minimum 40 weeks)

Top 10 streaks
Cokeville: 194 weeks (1993-2015)
Sheridan: 114 weeks (2009-20)
Cokeville: 94 weeks (1982-92)
Campbell County: 87 weeks (1996-2007)
Cheyenne Central: 82 weeks (1963-70)
Buffalo: 77 weeks (2003-11)
Laramie: 76 weeks (1959-66)
Big Horn: 73 weeks (2012-20)
Lusk: 73 weeks (1994-2003)
Byron: 71 weeks (1965-72)
Next 10
Lovell: 70 weeks (1987-95)
Campbell County: 68 weeks (2010-16)
Lusk: 66 weeks (2008-15)
Meeteetse: 63 weeks (1987-94)
Natrona: 63 weeks (1959-65)
Star Valley: 63 weeks (2015-21) *active
Guernsey-Sunrise: 62 weeks (2002-08)
Douglas: 61 weeks (2008-15)
Farson: 61 weeks (2015-21)
Natrona: 61 weeks (2010-16)
Others longer than 40 weeks:
Big Horn: 59 weeks (1983-89)
Sheridan: 59 weeks (1981-87)
Big Piney: 58 weeks (1998-2005)
Cheyenne Central: 58 weeks (1976-82)
Upton-Sundance: 56 weeks (2014-20)
Kelly Walsh: 54 weeks (1979-84)
Natrona: 52 weeks (2001-07)
Sheridan: 52 weeks (1956-61)
Cheyenne East: 51 weeks (2011-16)
Cheyenne East: 50 weeks (2017-21) *active
Mountain View: 49 weeks (2016-21)
Rock Springs: 49 weeks (1986-91)
Laramie: 46 weeks (1967-71)
Kemmerer: 45 weeks (2005-10)
Rocky Mountain: 45 weeks (1994-2000)
Star Valley: 45 weeks (1990-95)
Natrona: 44 weeks (1955-59)
Cody: 43 weeks (2017-21) *active
Thunder Basin: 43 weeks (2017-21) *active
Southeast: 43 weeks (2005-10)
Laramie: 42 weeks (1994-99)
Laramie: 41 weeks (1955-59)
Midwest: 41 weeks (1983-87)
Natrona: 41 weeks (2016-20)
Star Valley: 41 weeks (1980-85)
Mountain View: 40 weeks (1993-98)
Torrington: 40 weeks (1987-92)

+++

Consecutive weeks at No. 1 (minimum 10 weeks)

Top 10 streaks (OK, 12…)
Sheridan: 23 weeks (1991-93)
Rocky Mountain: 22 weeks (1997-99)
Cokeville: 21 weeks (2001-03)
Powell: 21 weeks (2012-14)
Meeteetse: 20 weeks (1989-91)
Natrona: 20 weeks (2011-13)
Tongue River: 20 weeks (1966-68)
Douglas: 19 weeks (2009-11)
Snake River: 19 weeks (2010-12)
Big Horn: 18 weeks (2018-19)
Glenrock: 18 weeks (2016-17)
Cheyenne Central: 18 weeks (1989-90)
Remainder of top 20…
Big Horn: 17 weeks (1985-87)
Kemmerer: 16 weeks (2007-08)
Rock Springs: 16 weeks (2001-03)
Laramie: 15 weeks (1969-70)
Riverton: 15 weeks (1998-99)
Big Horn: 14 weeks (2007-08)
Laramie: 14 weeks (1964-65)
Laramie: 14 weeks (1968-69)
Rocky Mountain: 14 weeks (1995-96)
Others with at least 10 consecutive weeks at No. 1…
Campbell County: 13 weeks (1997-99)
Lovell: 13 weeks (2011-12)
Sheridan: 13 weeks (2017-18)
Torrington: 13 weeks (1974-75)
Cheyenne Central: 12 weeks (1979-80)
Cokeville: 12 weeks (1996-97)
Cokeville: 12 weeks (2009-11)
Lovell: 12 weeks (1987-88)
Star Valley: 12 weeks (2016-17)
Star Valley: 12 weeks (2018-20)
Big Horn: 11 weeks (2003-04)
Dubois: 11 weeks (2012-13)
Laramie: 11 weeks (1960-61)
Laramie: 11 weeks (1962-63)
Midwest: 11 weeks (1979-80)
Powell: 11 weeks (2000-01)
Sheridan: 11 weeks (1986-87)
Thermopolis: 11 weeks (1992-93)
Tongue River: 11 weeks (1974-75)
Buffalo: 10 weeks (2004-05)
Cokeville: 10 weeks (1991-92)
Cokeville: 10 weeks (2014-15)
Meeteetse: 10 weeks (1987-88)
Meeteetse: 10 weeks (2015-16)
Natrona: 10 weeks (1963-64)
Natrona: 10 weeks (2010)
Rocky Mountain: 10 weeks (1992-93)
Southeast: 10 weeks (2007-08)
Southeast: 10 weeks (2020-21)

Got any questions about the polls? Leave a comment and let’s chat about it.

–patrick

Updates: Big Piney, Moorcroft, Cokeville, Guernsey-Sunrise

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

A few quick updates over the weekend:

Fixed the score for the 1959 Class B eight-man championship game on Nov. 14, 1959; Big Piney beat Moorcroft 25-12, not 15-12.

Added Cokeville’s 45-6 victory against Big Piney on Oct. 23, 1953, in Cokeville.

Updated the location of the November 1935 game between Cokeville and Inkom, Idaho; it was in Cokeville. The date is still unknown but was between Nov. 6 and Nov. 9.

Corrected Guernsey-Sunrise’s coach for 1995; it was Dean Rahmig, not Trevor Williams.

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

–patrick

Weekly rankings for Wyoming high school football back to 1984 posted on wyoming-football.com

by ⋅ 2 Comments

I’ll be honest: During the season, one of the things I look forward to most between games is the weekly rankings.

I love them because they are a great gauge for perspective. Is that team as good as I think it is? What do others think? Are y’all seeing what I’m seeing?

I also love them because it gives every team in the state except for the five teams ranked No. 1 some motivation. You know, “everyone” is overlooking us, “no one” thought we could do it, etc. Motivation can come in many forms, but rankings are the most public. Without them, how could anyone ever feel slighted?

Most of all, though, I love them because they are basically one big way for coaches and media types to have a conversation about who they think are the best teams without ever having to talk to each other.

The problem with rankings is that they’re only good for a week. Friday comes along, a whole slew of games are played, and that new information is incorporated into a new set of votes for next week’s rankings.

However, looking at old rankings can give us lots of insight into a season. Who rallied after a poor start? Who was the team that everyone knew was coming and lived up to expectations? Who lived fast and died young?

Since I want to know the answers to those questions, I started tracking down every single weekly poll for Wyoming high school football, all the way back to the start of such statewide polls.

This research took several weeks of evenings and weekends, most of which was spent either on wyopreps.com or the Casper Star-Tribune archive on newspapers.com. To this point, research has taken me back to 1952, which I believe is the first year for a coordinated statewide effort at an actual poll and not just rankings put out by individual newspapers.

I’m ready to share a big chunk of that research today.

Starting today, weekly polls from 1984 to 2021 will be available on wyoming-football.com. Polls for each year will be linked from the results by year page.

+++

Highlights

With 38 years of week-by-week rankings now part of wyoming-football.com — and with more to come — we can take a quick look at which teams have done what in the polls.

Most weeks ranked, most weeks at No. 1: It should be no surprise that Cokeville has spent the most weeks ranked (313) and the most weeks ranked No. 1 (141). With 345 weekly rankings available — and with not every week containing a ranking for the classification that Cokeville was in at the time — the Panthers have been ranked more than 90% of the time and have been No. 1 more than 40% of the time.

Not coincidentally, the same five programs that spent the most time both at No. 1 also spent the most time in the rankings, period.

Behind Cokeville in time in the No. 1 spot is Natrona at 94 weeks, Big Horn at 92, Star Valley at 86 and Sheridan at 80.

Behind Cokeville in total weeks ranked is Natrona (279), Sheridan (265), Big Horn (263) and Star Valley (259).

Cokeville is also the program that has spent the most weeks ranked at No. 2 with 82 weeks, tied with Lusk for the most time spent in the second slot.

Who’s been No. 1: In all, 38 teams since 2010 have been ranked No. 1 for at least one week, and since 1984 all but eight programs have failed to reach the top spot. Those who haven’t been ranked No. 1 since 1984 include:

  • Saratoga (last reached No. 1 in the final AP poll of 1982)
  • Pinedale (last reached No. 1 in the UPI poll in Week 9, 1981)
  • Newcastle (last reached No. 1 in the UPI poll in Week 5, 1980)
  • Rawlins (last reached No. 1 in the AP poll in Week 10, 1974)
  • Cheyenne South, Encampment, St. Stephens, Wyoming Indian (never ranked No. 1, according to currently researched polls)

Five more programs (Hulett, Kelly Walsh, Ten Sleep, Tongue River and Moorcroft) have been ranked No. 1 for just one week since 1984.

Of the teams that have been around since 1984, Wyoming Indian (15 weeks), Rawlins (29 weeks) and Saratoga (36 weeks) have spent the least amount of time ranked. Every other program that has existed since 1984 has spent at least 42 weeks ranked. Of the eight Class 4A programs that have existed since 1984, Kelly Walsh has the fewest weeks at No. 1 (one week) and the fewest total weeks in the polls (93 weeks).

No. 1 all season long: In all, 60 teams have gone wire-to-wire ranked No. 1, most recently Southeast and Farson in 2020. Of those 60, 41 eventually won a state championship.

+++

At the end of this post is a table that notes the total weeks at No. 1, the total weeks ranked and the last time ranked No. 1 for each program.

Prior to 1984, two polls existed for most years — the Associated Press poll and the United Press International poll. Research is continuing on those, and I hope to share them, or at least what we can find, soon. Poll information from 1952 to 1983 is much more spotty, but I will share it all once I feel like it’s in a “shareable” state; right now, it’s not quite there yet.

Remember, weekly polls from each season from 1984-2021 are on the results by year page. More blog posts are coming, so keep your eyes open! I’m still exploring the current data, including figuring out who’s spent the most consecutive weeks ranked and the most consecutive weeks at No. 1.

My huge gratitude goes out to “Stat Rat” Jim Craig and his help for finding a few of the polls I couldn’t. Do a search for his name on this blog and you’ll see how helpful he has been for many, many years, and he’s also one of the key architects to the work posted on sister site wyoming-basketball.com. Thanks again, good sir!

I’m always looking for new information I can post to wyoming-football.com. What do you want to see next?

–patrick

Weekly poll rankings, 1984-2021

TeamWeeks at No. 1Total weeks rankedLast ranked No. 1
Cokeville141313Playoffs 2017
Natrona94279Week 2 2019
Big Horn92263Playoffs 2019
Star Valley86259Week 1 2020
Sheridan80265Week 4 2021
Meeteetse66145Week 5 2021
Mountain View54217Week 8 2020
Southeast54218Preseason 2021
Campbell County51239Playoffs 2016
Powell49199Week 4 2020
Rocky Mountain46135Playoffs 1999
Buffalo46202Week 3 2019
Lovell42219Week 2 2020
Snake River39107Playoffs 2021
Glenrock37164Week 4 2018
Rock Springs36131Playoffs 2021
Torrington35169Preseason 2021
Lusk33229Week 2 2021
Jackson30144Week 2 2021
Big Piney30152Week 2 2007
Lander29112Week 8 2004
Thermopolis28105Week 5 2010
Kemmerer28120Playoffs 2008
Lyman28127Playoffs 2021
Cheyenne Central28154Week 6 2020
Guernsey27131Week 4 2015
Cody27185Playoffs 2021
Green River24143Week 6 2016
Wheatland22145Week 3 2021
Douglas22188Playoffs 2014
Farson2179Playoffs 2020
Laramie21124Week 8 1996
Burlington21163Playoffs 2008
Dubois20106Week 4 2013
Riverton20117Week 7 2014
Greybull17121Week 5 1991
Shoshoni15121Week 5 2021
Worland1493Playoffs 2003
Midwest13132Week 3 2010
Thunder Basin1257Week 1 2021
Riverside1276Week 3 2007
Kaycee1289Playoffs 2017
Upton-Sundance1173Playoffs 2016
Evanston11117Week 5 2007
Cheyenne East11182Preseason 2021
Pine Bluffs9101Playoffs 2021
Sundance886Week 2 2006
Wright762Week 4 2005
Lingle786Week 7 2015
Upton7106Week 2 2006
Wind River544Preseason 1998
Burns363Playoffs 2013
Hanna266Week 5 2000
Moorcroft154Preseason 1997
Tongue River169Preseason 2007
Ten Sleep191Week 4 1987
Kelly Walsh193Week 4 2006
Hulett193Week 6 1994
Rock River00Never
St. Stephens00Never
Basin04Never
St. Mary's/Seton05Never
Cheyenne South07Never
Wyoming Indian015Never
NSI025Never
Encampment029Never
Rawlins029Week 10 1974
Saratoga036Playoffs 1982
Pinedale042Week 9 1981
Newcastle043Week 5 1980

Note: Post updated 5:49 p.m. Jan. 18, 2022, to reflect Newcastle’s last No. 1 ranking in 1980.

Post Navigation

← Older Posts