Ten Sleep cancels 2019 season

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Ten Sleep will not field a football team for the second consecutive year.

The Pioneers’ 2019 six-man season was canceled this week, Ten Sleep AD Sarah Novak said Thursday via email to wyoming-football.com.

The season schedule on the Ten Sleep school page also noted the cancellation and also said the school’s middle school season had been canceled, too.

Novak said Ten Sleep had seven players come out for the high school team — two freshmen, three sophomores, one junior and one senior. However, the two oldest players suffered injuries, one a season-ending injury and the other significant enough to put the season in question.

“We were planning on playing, but (with) the injury bug it just will not work,” Novak wrote.

Last year’s season was also canceled, as the Pioneers only had four players who showed interest in joining the 2018 team.

Lusk native Taylen Arnett had been named the new head coach for the 2019 season.

–patrick

Three Wyoming players to play in six-man Can-Am Bowl

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Three players from Wyoming will be a part of the 2019 Can-Am Bowl, a six-man all-star game.

Farson’s Clancy Gines and Lain Mitchelson and Meeteetse’s Kirwin Johnson will be a part of Team USA, Farson coach Trip Applequist said via email on Friday.

The game takes place every July in Saskatchewan. A six-man all-star team from the United States faces a six-man all-star team of players from Saskatchewan and Alberta. Full rosters are not yet available.

The game will be July 6 in Wakaw, Saskatchewan.

This will be the 23rd Can-Am Bowl. Team USA has an 18-4 series edge and won last year’s game 68-30. Wyoming players began playing in the Can-Am Bowl in 2014.

Applequist and Farson’s Scott Reed will be among the coaches for the team.

The Team USA provided by Applequist includes:

Montana: Cobe Begger, Caleb Fix, Joey Hale, Bill Hansen, Caleb Hess, Seth Prevost, Bryce Reitz, Jake Solomon, Zane Somerfeld, JR Spenser, Sawyer Thiel, Tyler Thiessen, AJ Ullmer, Colby Zentner.
Nebraska: AJ Jenkins.
Texas: Trisdon Bynum, Toby Cran, Bastion Pickens, Corbin Ruthehardt, Corbin Schrotke, Jake Weiser.
Wyoming: Clancy Gines, Kirwin Johnson, Lain Mitchelson.

–patrick

Updated 8:40 a.m. Saturday, June 29, to include the Team USA roster.

Wyoming wins Six-man Shootout on last play, beats Nebraska

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Team Wyoming‘s 45-yard pass on the final play of the game gave the Equality State a 52-50 victory against Team Nebraska in the eighth annual Six-man Shootout on Saturday in Chadron, Nebraska.

The final play saw Farson’s Lain Mitchelson toss a 45-yard bomb to Burlington’s Dontae Garza, with Garza finding the short corner of the end zone as time expired.

Wyoming led 40-20 in the fourth quarter, but Nebraska rallied and took a 50-46 lead with less than 20 seconds to go.

Wyoming leads the all-time series 5-3.

Full stats for the game are not yet available. This post will be updated when and if full stats become available.

–patrick

Wyoming, Nebraska six-man teams to meet in Chadron for 8th Six-man Shootout

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The eighth edition of the Wyoming-Nebraska Six-man Shootout all-star football game will be Saturday in Chadron, Nebraska.

Kickoff will be at 6 p.m. on the campus of Chadron State College. The game will be at Chadron this year and for subsequent years after alternating between Wyoming and Nebraska for the first seven years of the game’s iteration.

Wyoming leads the all-time series 4-3, including winning last year’s game 16-14.

Team Wyoming will be led by six members of the state championship team from Farson; that quintet includes Lain Mitchelson, who ran for 1,885 yards and 28 touchdowns, and Clancy Gines, who ran for 1,388 yards and 29 scores. Mitchelson was six-man’s offensive player of the year, while Gines was the defensive player of the year.

The Wyoming squad also includes Guernsey’s Dylan Rose, who led six-man with 2,121 rushing yards and 35 TDs a year ago.

Wyoming’s squad had some late changes as Kaycee coach Tony Rouse and player Hunter Rouse had to withdraw to the game due to another commitment. Farson’s Michael Gribowskas will fill that roster spot, while St. Stephens coach Billy Brost will step in as an assistant coach.

Burlington’s Dontae Garza will not play due to injury but will join the team as a student coach.

Nebraska’s team will include three players who cracked 2,000 yards rushing — A.J. Jenkins of Wilcox-Hildreth, Trent Reed of Hay Springs and Christian Timm of Eustis-Farnam. Jenkins was named the six-man offensive player of the year in Nebraska last year. The team also includes Nebraska’s six-man defensive player of the year, Colton Leslie of Spalding Academy.

Players will arrive in Chadron on Wednesday to prepare for the game and will stay in the CSC dorms. Rosters for the game are:

WYOMING
BURLINGTON: Jacob Cook.
FARSON: Cortland Barker, Clancy Gines, Michael Gribowskas, Hagan Jones, Lain Mitchelson, Cody Sloan.
GUERNSEY: Austin Albrecht, Dylan Rose.
HANNA: Tylor Goodro.
HULETT: Ethan Dykes.
MEETEETSE: Nick Anderson, Kirwin Johnson.
MIDWEST: Kaleb Smith.
ST. STEPHENS: Vincent Brown, Roberto Hernandez.
SNAKE RIVER: Thomas Duncan.
Coaches: Trip Applequist, Farson, head coach; Curtis Cook, Guernsey; Scott Reed, Farson; Billy Brost, St. Stephens.

NEBRASKA
ARTHUR COUNTY: Kutter Rogers.
CODY-KILGORE: Brye Szakas.
DESHLER: Peyton Dubbert, Hutch Finke.
EUSTIS FARNAM: Jordan Fangmeyer, Christian Timm.
HARVARD: Hunter Wilkerson.
HAY SPRINGS: Jarret Pieper, Trent Reed.
HUMPHREY LINDSAY HOLY FAMILY: Dylan Hanzel.
HYANNIS: Zane Musgrave.
MCCOOL JUNCTION: Jaden Gonnerman.
ST. EDWARD: Trevor Rasmussen.
SPALDING ACADEMY: Mathew Bloom, Colton Leslie.
WILCOX-HILDRETH: Sidney Gruwell, A.J. Jenkins, Clayton Nichols.

Thanks to coach Applequist for providing rosters and details on the game in advance.

–patrick

Wyoming rosters set for 2019 Wyoming-Nebraska Six-man Shootout game

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The Wyoming rosters have been set for the 2019 Wyoming-Nebraska Six-man Shootout all-star football game, which will be played June 15 in Chadron, Neb.

The game has moved to Chadron permanently after rotating between various locations in Wyoming and Nebraska the past seven years, a press release sent out by team Wyoming head coach Trip Applequist of Farson. The game will be on the campus of Chadron State College.

Wyoming leads the all-time series 4-3.

Coaches for the Wyoming team include head coach Applequist and assistants Curtis Cook (Guernsey), Scott Reed (Farson) and Tony Rouse (Kaycee).

The roster for team Wyoming includes:

BURLINGTON: Jacob Cook, Dontae Garza.
FARSON: Cortland Barker, Clancy Gines, Michael Gribowskas, Hagan Jones, Lain Mitchelson, Cody Sloan.
GUERNSEY: Austin Albrecht, Dylan Rose.
HANNA: Tylor Goodro.
HULETT: Ethan Dykes.
KAYCEE: Hunter Rouse.
MEETEETSE: Nick Anderson, Kirwin Johnson.
MIDWEST: Kaleb Smith.
ST. STEPHENS: Vincent Brown.
SNAKE RIVER: Thomas Duncan.

Applequist said he was not sure when the Nebraska roster would be released.

–patrick

Rock River cancels 2018 season

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Rock River will not complete its 2018 football season.

The Casper Star-Tribune reported Tuesday that the Longhorns were hit by injuries, leaving the six-man football team unable to fill every spot on the field.

Rock River opened the season by playing scrimmages against Saratoga and the Natrona JV. The Longhorns had previously forfeited their Week 2 game against Kaycee.

This is the second consecutive season in which Rock River has started a season but failed to play a game.

Rock River is the second six-man team to fail to complete its season; Ten Sleep canceled its 2018 season before practice started.

Also Tuesday, Rocky Mountain announced it was forfeiting its Week 3 game against Newcastle.

–patrick

Ten Sleep drops high school football program for 2018

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Due to declining participation numbers, Ten Sleep will not field a high school football team this fall.

Ten Sleep activities director Sarah Novak said Wednesday to wyoming-football.com that the Pioneers wouldn’t have enough players to field a team to play in the Class 1A six-man West Conference. Only four solid commitments came in over the summer and only about five students had expressed any interest in playing this fall.

Novak said school administrators made the decision Tuesday night.

“In talking with our administration, we have kind of struggled… with participation numbers over the last two or three years,” she said. “We’ve had to forfeit games or quit at halftime and we’re just not having a positive experience right now.

” … We can’t continue to play with six kids, and this year I’m not even sure we’d have six.”

Ten Sleep has gone a combined 4-26 the past four seasons, winning one game each year since 2014. The program has had three different head coaches in that span.

Ten Sleep’s middle school program will run as usual this year. Novak said she had double-digit participation numbers for that program, which incorporates grades 5-8.

Novak, who also coaches girls basketball, has seen similar problems with low participation in that sport, as well.

“You hate to give up a program because sometimes it’s hard to get it back,” she said.

Novak said the Pioneers who want to continue to play football can do so by joining the program at Worland.

“We’re sad about not having our program, but we’re pleased to have an alternative for those young men,” Novak said.

–patrick

 

Saratoga forfeits season, pursues JV schedule with new coach

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Saratoga will not play its varsity 11-man football schedule in 2018.

Saratoga activities director Greg Bartlett said Wednesday the program only expected 10 to 12 players to come out this fall, not enough for pursuing a full 11-man season.

With low participation, Bartlett said, “it’s tough to keep a season together.”

Instead, the Panthers will pursue a six-man sub-varsity schedule this season, scheduling as many games as possible against nearby junior varsity squads. Bartlett said he’s already got one game scheduled but would prefer five or six games. He said the team’s schedule should be mostly in place by the end of next week, but some games may be added later depending on how the schedule comes together.

Bartlett said the move is likely temporary.

“In about two to three years, we have some elementary boys coming into the middle school where there might be 20 boys per class,” Bartlett said.

The Panthers play in the Class 1A 11-man West Conference. The program also draws players from nearby Encampment.

Bartlett said about three seniors, a couple juniors, about four sophomores and three freshmen showed interest in playing this fall. He said more may join when the season starts, but the decision to forgo the varsity season had to be made based on the numbers of committed players, not on the number of maybes.

Logan Wright, who previously coached in Rock River and taught in Laramie, will be the Panthers’ new head coach this fall. Wright will also teach PE in Saratoga.

Wright previously was a six-man assistant at Rock River, as part of the middle-school program in 2013 and the high school in 2014 and 2015.

“I’m certainly going into it looking at like were a varsity team and we’re going to put our best foot forward every day,” Wright said via telephone on Wednesday. “Whether the games count or not doesn’t matter to me.”

Saratoga played in the Class 1A six-man East Conference for one season, in 2013. Otherwise, the Panthers have fielded a varsity 11-man program every year since moving up after a two-year stint of nine-man football in 1991. The program has played a varsity schedule every season since 1955.

–patrick

Wyoming-Nebraska Six-man Shootout game set for Saturday

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The seventh annual Six-man Shootout game, pitting the best six-man players from Wyoming and Nebraska in an interstate showdown, will be played Saturday.

The game is set for a 2 p.m. kickoff in Albion, Nebraska.

The Wyoming roster includes:

BURLINGTON: Tallon Wiles.
DUBOIS: Matt Codevilla.
FARSON: Cruz Lucero.
GUERNSEY-SUNRISE: Garret Oneyear.
HULETT: Josh Stevens.
KAYCEE: Brice Austin; Hunter Elmer; Atticus Garrett; Mark Largent; Danny Ramirez.
MEETEETSE: Braenn Smith.
MIDWEST: Kayden Best; William Chapman.
RIVERSIDE: Justen Miller.
SNAKE RIVER: J.D. Corson; Kameron Evans; Trenton Jeannerett; Tyler Jensen.
Coaches: Tony Rouse, Kaycee, head coach; Trent Aagard, Burlington; Ken Swieter, Midwest; Jason Humble, Kaycee.

The Nebraska roster includes Issac Buitron of Arthur County; Brody Davis and Garrett Egger of Cody-Kilgore; Derrick Buescher of Deshler; Caleb Werger of Elwood; Tyler Wall of Hampton; Austin Bell, Jaydan Callahan and Tycker Scherbarth of Harvard; Trystin Gielssen of Hyannis; Riley Swerczek of Riverside; Mark Thurston of Silver Lake; and Dan Carraher, Paul Diessner and Spencer Leslie of Spalding Academy. The coaches are head coach Joe Imus of Riverside and assistants Troy Kleffner of Spalding Academy, Landon Miller of Cody-Kilgore and Scott Trimble of Harvard.

The series is tied at 3-3, but Nebraska has won the last three games, including last year’s game 58-38.

–patrick

Team Wyoming set to play in Six-man Shootout

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The Wyoming team will take the field today for the fifth annual Six-man Shootout against the Nebraska all-star team in Albion, Nebraska.

The game will kick off at 1 p.m. (noon MDT). A live video stream will be available here.

The Wyoming roster is as follows:

DUBOIS: Zak Rose.
FARSON: Neale Jones.
GUERNSEY-SUNRISE: Forest Foos, Jonah Girard.
HANNA: Wyatt Phillips.
HULETT: Curtis Cornett, Reece Jolley.
KAYCEE: Hayden Fauber, Rio Stafford.
MEETEETSE: Carter Johnson, A.J. Merz, Scott Sessions, Shawn Shepperson.
SNAKE RIVER: Braden Duncan, J.P. Ely, Irving Ortega.
TEN SLEEP: Quentin Fettig, J.D. Nelson.

Wyoming is coached by Meeteetse’s Matt Jensen. Meeteetse’s Dale Query, Dubois’ David Trembly and Hulett’s Boz Backen and Ryan Neiman are the assistant coaches.

Nebraska’s roster includes Michael Buitron and Ben Miles of Arthur County; Logan Schultz of Deschler; Austin Anthony, Gabe Haney and Wyatt Rowe of Hyannis; Calyn Werkmeister of Maywood/Hayes Center; Yovan Perez of Minatare; Jake Kennedy and Tanner Hudson of Riverside; Bryce Hoffmeister, Brandon Miller and Drake Shanle of St. Edward; Quentin Journey of Silver Lake; Garrett Ellis of Sioux County; Brock Leslie of Spalding Academy; Trey Brown of Walthill; and Triston Farley of Wilcox Hildreth. Nebraska’s head coach is Joe Imus of Riverside.

Wyoming is 3-1 all-time in the series. Nebraska won last year’s game 34-8.

–patrick