A tip for Thermopolis this week in its game against Pinedale: forfeit.

Don’t go. Save the money, the stress, the potential for injury, the wear on the bus tires.

Instead, take Friday night and go to Worland.

After all, the Bobcats’ postseason fate will be decided there — by two teams that aren’t Thermopolis.

In one of the most helpless situations a football team can be in, Thermopolis’ best efforts this season have granted them nothing more than what amounts to a spectator’s role in whether its season will continue.

Win or lose against Pinedale this week in the final regular-season game of the 2024 season, Thermopolis is in the exact same position for the playoffs — the Bobcats need help. The only way the Bobcats make the playoffs is by Kemmerer beating Worland up in Washakie County on Friday.

The scenarios are clear, if not a bit odd.

  • If both Thermopolis and Worland both win, they tie for fourth place and the final playoff spot from the Class 2A West Conference; Worland wins that by the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage that it earned by beating Thermopolis 21-6 all the way back in Week 2. If Thermopolis loses and Worland wins, then Worland is alone in fourth place. So, no matter what, if Worland wins, Thermopolis is out.
  • If Thermopolis wins and Worland loses, Thermopolis is in, alone in fourth. If Thermopolis loses and Worland loses, the three teams (Thermopolis, Worland and Kemmerer) tie for fourth place and the final spot, and Thermopolis wins the tiebreaker by having a victory against the highest-ranking non-tied team, thanks to last week’s 13-6 upset of previously unbeaten Mountain View. So, no matter what, if Worland loses, Thermopolis is in.

Both games — Thermopolis vs. Pinedale and Kemmerer vs. Worland — kick off at 6 p.m. Friday.

Forgive the Bobcats if they’re not totally focused on Pinedale.

What happens in Pinedale really doesn’t matter to Thermopolis’ playoff hopes. Maybe the efforts are better placed in the stands in Worland, rooting for Kemmerer.

About the only good thing that comes out of this for Thermpolis is that the Bobcats get to root for Kemmerer instead of having to root for Worland, its traditional regional rival.

I hope it’s clear that I’m only kidding. Thermopolis absolutely should play this week, and try to win.

If they do win on Friday, regardless of whether they make the playoffs, give the Bobcats credit for succeeding in a helpless spot that no team would envy.

+++

The final week of the regular season presents a multitude of games affecting playoff seeding, but two Fremont County teams play in the only two pure winner-in, loser-out games of the week. And they’re both at home. The first is Lander, which hosts Buffalo in a game that will decide the No. 4 seed from the 3A East. The other is Wind River, which hosts Rocky Mountain in a Thursday game that decides the No. 4 seed from the 1A nine-man West. Oddly enough, the winner knows who they’ll see in the first round — the Buffalo/Lander winner drawing Star Valley and the Rocky Mountain/Wind River winner taking on Lingle. …

Campbell County and Cheyenne East meet in a game that we well might see again in two weeks in the 4A semifinals. The only things at stake on Friday are the No. 2 and 3 seeds, which represent hosting duties and who the first-round opponents will be. Obviously, both teams want to win and have the opportunity to host in the semis (assuming they both win in the first round, which in the playoffs is always a big if), but is it worth it to empty the playbook and show all your secrets against a team that you could see again not too far away in the playoffs? It’s the eternal conundrum, and it’ll be fun to see play out Friday night in Gillette. …

Speaking of 4A, the multitude of playoff scenarios are dizzying for seeds Nos. 5-8. Right in the middle of the fun are Rock Springs and Kelly Walsh, who will play Friday in Casper to help settle much of the confusion. Based on score comparisons, which are fraught with their own problems but are still the best way to determine how teams match up, this one could be a doozy. …

Finally, we’ve reached the point in this week’s analysis where we talk about the only game matching up two undefeated teams, and they just happen to both be six-man teams in Carbon County. Snake River heads across the hill to meet Encampment in a game that’s quickly turned into one of six-man’s best rivalries. Although Encampment has won only one of the teams’ six matchups since 2020, the Tigers do get to host, and they have yet to be beaten at home since… well, Snake River two years ago. By the way, this WILL be the last game, guaranteed, between two undefeated teams this season. Entering this week, only Lingle (1A-9), Big Horn (2A), Star Valley (3A) and Sheridan (4A) remain undefeated, and those four teams, plus the winner of Saturday’s Snake River-Encampment game, are guaranteed not to run into any other undefeated team at any point in the playoffs. So enjoy it while you can.

+++

Here are my choices for winning teams in the final week of the regular season, with my choices in bold. Quick shout-out to all the seniors playing in their final games this week. Enjoy it, savor it, remember it:

Thursday
Class 1A nine-man
Rocky Mountain
at Wind River
Friday
Class 4A
Cheyenne Central at Natrona
Cheyenne East at Campbell County
Cheyenne South at Thunder Basin
Rock Springs at Kelly Walsh
Sheridan at Laramie
Class 3A
Buffalo
at Lander
Cody at Jackson
Green River at Star Valley
Powell at Evanston
Riverton at Rawlins
Torrington at Douglas
Class 2A
Big Horn
at Upton-Sundance
Cokeville at Lovell
Glenrock at Tongue River
Kemmerer at Worland
Lyman at Mountain View
Moorcroft at Burns
Newcastle at Wheatland
Thermopolis at Pinedale
Class 1A nine-man
Lusk
at Wright
Saratoga at Lingle
Southeast at Pine Bluffs
Class 1A six-man
Burlington
at Midwest
Meeteetse at Riverside
Saturday
Class 1A nine-man
Greybull
at Wyoming Indian
Shoshoni at Big Piney
Class 1A six-man
Casper Christian at Dubois
Kaycee at Ten Sleep
Snake River at Encampment
Interclass
Hanna
at St. Stephens
Open: Farson, Hulett.

For a full schedule including kickoff times, click here.

+++

Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 28-4 (88 percent). This season: 186-47 (80 percent).

Thoughts entering the last week of the regular season? I know you’ve got ’em. Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship

–patrick

Heading into this week’s schedule, I can’t escape the words of Al Michaels.

In describing the lead-up to the Miracle on Ice in 1980, he also encapsulated what it feels like could be happening on in Wyoming on Friday. If he were here, and wanted to plagiarize himself, his pregame might go like this:

“What we have at hand, the rarest of sporting events. An event that needs no buildup, no superfluous adjectives. In a regional or communal sense, I’m sure this game is being viewed with varying perspectives, but manifestly, it is a football game, Campbell County and Sheridan on a patch of turf in Sheridan, Wyoming.”

That’s the kind of drama that you can get when two undefeated teams are facing off in — at least until the playoffs — is as big as a game can get. Longtime regional rivals, both eager to prove they’re the best that Wyoming’s Class 4A has to offer, meet on a patch of turf on Friday in Sheridan.

Thus far in 2024, the Broncs and the Camels have answered every challenge, and they both enter 7-0. They have both relied on defense, with the Camels allowing just 36 points all season and the Broncs 37. Campbell County has won in a variety of fashions, from games as close as two points to winning by forfeit against a team so afraid of injury it refused to play. Sheridan has been remarkably consistent, with no team coming within more than 22 points of the Broncs by the time the final buzzer sounded.

If there’s an edge to be found, it’s with the Broncs and their recent history in the Energy Bowl. Sheridan has won seven straight against Campbell County, no game closer than 31 points in that span. The Camels’ last victory in the series came in 2016, the final year of Gillette’s one-high-school days; at that point, the Camels had won six straight against the Broncs and 20 of the past 24.

Sheridan, of course, comes into this weekend with Wyoming’s longest winning streak, both active and of all-time, at 38 games. Just in case the game wasn’t already intriguing enough.

+++

What’s scary about everything I just shared with you is that it could be repeated almost word-for-word with another game being played on a patch of grass in Lingle, where the undefeated Doggers host undefeated Pine Bluffs.

Like Sheridan and Campbell County, Lingle and Pine Bluffs are ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the WyoPreps coaches and media poll this week. However, the Doggers and Hornets are meeting while undefeated in Week 7 for the second consecutive season.

Last year’s meeting was an all-time classic, as Lingle rallied from a 24-0 deficit to tie the game and force overtime, eventually winning 31-30 to spoil Pine Bluffs’ unbeaten season and end the Hornets’ 17-game winning streak.

This one figures to be just as interesting as they fight for the top spot from the 1A nine-man East in the playoff bracket and a chance to stay at home in the first two rounds of the playoffs (always with the caveat that, hey, lose the first one of those and you don’t have to worry about the second).

They have both been scary efficient, with Lingle winning by an average score of 55-12 and Pine Bluffs winning by an average of 56-7. Actually, Pine Bluffs’ average scoring edge is much closer than one point, with the actual averages being Pine Bluffs with 55.7 and Lingle with 55.4; just a two-point conversion (or safety) over the course of a season is all that separates them right now.

No unnecessary buildup, no superfluous adjectives.

Four undefeated teams, two games.

Let’s see what miracles unfold.

+++

You don’t have to be undefeated to be playing in an interesting game, though. Some that deserve a bit of extra-special attention heading into the final two weeks of the regular season:

The 3A East has quickly become the conference of parity, and any of the top four teams could be a sleeper playoff spoiler. That makes this week’s round of games, with Douglas visiting Buffalo and Riverton stopping by Torrington, both intriguing and important. That’s a good combo to have for a football game. …

Tongue River has had its focus and mental toughness challenged more than any other team this season. The Elk Fire has rightly taken a bunch of the team’s attention. When the Eagles play Big Horn this week in a regional rivalry game, expect high intensity but also high empathy for two neighbors who have been through more than just football this season. …

Also in the 2A East, two teams with the best turnaround stories of 2024 will play each other as Newcastle hosts Burns in a game that’s been shifted to Saturday. Both teams are in good position to make the playoffs at 4-1 in 2A East play, and this week’s winner has a really, really, really solid shot at hosting a playoff game — something Burns has done just twice since winning the 2A title in 2008 and something Newcastle hasn’t done since 2014. …

Neighbors Riverside and Burlington are both still unbeaten in Class 1A six-man North Conference play. They’ll also meet up this week in a game with huge playoff implications and (even bigger?) regional bragging rights. …

Class 1A six-man has some big make-or-break games this week with Dubois hosting Farson and Kaycee hosting Hulett. Six-man’s mid-ranks have been a ton more competitive this season, so watch for both of these games; anything could happen, and that’s what makes it fun.

+++

Here is a quick look at playoff possibilities entering the second-to-last week of the season. So far, 16 teams have solidified one of the 40 available playoff positions, while only five teams are mathematically eliminated. A conference-by-conference look:

Class 4A
In
: Campbell County, Sheridan, Cheyenne East, Natrona.
Well positioned: Kelly Walsh, Rock Springs.
On the bubble: Laramie, Thunder Basin, Cheyenne Central.
Need help: Cheyenne South.

Class 3A East
In
: Torrington, Douglas.
Well positioned: Riverton.
On the bubble: Buffalo.
Need help: Lander, Rawlins.

Class 3A West
In
: Star Valley.
Well positioned: Cody, Evanston.
On the bubble: Powell, Jackson.
Need help: Green River.

Class 2A East
In
: Big Horn.
Well positioned: Newcastle, Burns.
On the bubble: Wheatland, Upton-Sundance.
Need help: Moorcroft, Tongue River.
Out: Glenrock.

Class 2A West
In
: Mountain View.
Well positioned: Cokeville, Lovell.
On the bubble: Worland, Kemmerer, Thermopolis.
Out: Pinedale, Lyman.

Class 1A nine-man East
In
: Lingle, Pine Bluffs.
On the bubble: Saratoga, Southeast, Lusk.
Need help: Wright.
Out: Guernsey.

Class 1A nine-man West
In
: Big Piney.
Well positioned: Shoshoni, Greybull.
On the bubble: Rocky Mountain Wind River.
Out: Wyoming Indian.

Class 1A six-man North
In
: Burlington, Riverside.
Well positioned: Midwest.
On the bubble: Meeteetse, Kaycee, Hulett.
Out: Ten Sleep.

Class 1A six-man South
In
: Encampment, Snake River.
Well positioned: Farson.
On the bubble: Dubois, Hanna.
Need help: Casper Christian.

Several conference’s top seeds could be decided this week. However, Sheridan, Star Valley, Big Horn, Mountain View, Pine Bluffs and Riverside can win their conference’s top seed in the playoffs with a victory and no other help this week.

+++

Picks. I bold them so they stand out. No one has complained about the method yet, so I’ll keep rolling with it. I only get complaints about the choices, not the method, so I guess that’s one less thing to worry about.

Friday
Class 4A
Campbell County at Sheridan
Cheyenne East at Rock Springs
Kelly Walsh at Cheyenne Central
Natrona at Cheyenne South
Thunder Basin at Laramie
Class 3A
Douglas at Buffalo
Green River at Cody
Jackson at Powell
Rawlins at Lander
Riverton at Torrington
Star Valley at Evanston
Class 2A
Glenrock at Upton-Sundance
Lovell at Kemmerer
Lyman at Pinedale
Mountain View at Thermopolis
Tongue River at Big Horn
Wheatland at Moorcroft
Worland at Cokeville
Class 1A nine-man
Pine Bluffs at Lingle
Rocky Mountain at Shoshoni
Southeast at Saratoga
Wright at Wyoming Indian
Class 1A six-man
Encampment
at Hanna
Midwest at Meeteetse
Riverside at Burlington
Interstate
Big Piney at Rich County, Utah
Saturday
Class 2A
Burns at Newcastle
Class 1A nine-man
Wind River at Greybull
Class 1A six-man
Farson at Dubois
Hulett at Kaycee
Snake River at Casper Christian
Ten Sleep at St. Stephens

Lusk picks up a forfeit victory against Guernsey-Sunrise this week. For a full schedule including kickoff times, click here.

+++

Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 28-3 (90 percent). This season: 158-43 (79 percent).

What are you looking for out of the last two weeks of the regular season? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship

–patrick

Quick, guess what this signifies: Star Valley, Star Valley, Cody, Cody, Star Valley, Star Valley, Cody, Star Valley, Star Valley, Cody.

Why, yes! That IS the list of the last 10 Class 3A football champions!

It’s also the mental soundtrack for anyone excited about Class 3A football this week.

Cody’s trip to Afton to play Star Valley on Friday is more than just a meeting of two undefeated teams trying to stay that way and gain the upper hand in the 3A West title chase. It’s a meeting of the classification’s two most dominant programs over the past decade, and certainly over the past two-plus seasons.

Since 2014, the Broncs and Braves have played each other 15 times. Star Valley has had the edge, winning 10 of those. In playoff matchups — there have been five, including the past two Class 3A title games — Star Valley has a small, but significant, 3-2 edge.

And over the past two years, Star Valley has a 3-1 edge in games and a 2-0 edge in championships won.

This year? Star Valley started 6-0. Cody started 5-0. Every other Class 3A team at this point has at least two losses. And it hasn’t even been close — no other Wyoming teams have even been within shouting distance of these two. The Braves have won their two conference games so far by a combined 97-14. Cody has won its two conference games by a combined 105-17. Oh by the way, Star Valley’s Bryson Nield set Wyoming’s all-time single-game receiving record last week with 291 receiving yards (on 18 catches, too, just one short of the state record), topping the old record by 10 yards.

I don’t know how a regular-season game gets much bigger than this.

At least after Friday’s done, we’ll be able to get that darn soundtrack out of our heads. I mean, it’ll probably return in mid-November, but…

+++

Other action that deserves more than just a double-take this week:

Rivalry week in 4A? Rivalry week in 4A. We get three intra-city matchups this week, with Campbell County meeting Thunder Basin for the Razor City’s bragging rights (Coal Bowl, yes?); Cheyenne Central and Cheyenne East staging the old Capitol Bowl; and Natrona County and Kelly Walsh facing off in Casper’s Oil Bowl. At this point, the most interesting of the three is the Oil Bowl, with both KW and NC at 3-3 and fighting with also 3-3 Rock Springs and 2-4 but lurking Thunder Basin for a potential home playoff game. What’s weird is that the winner might host the loser in the first round, an extra layer of intrigue on an already interesting matchup. Kelly Walsh, in particular, has been one of the more surprising teams of 2024. With new coach Randy Roden leading the way, the Trojans have been one of the state’s more resurgent teams and almost upset East last week. …

Pine Bluffs and Saratoga, both 5-0, meet in the only other game this week that will put two undefeated teams against each other. Just as intriguing is the Goshen County rivalry game between 5-0 Lingle and 4-1 Southeast, which will be on Thursday this week. Go watch both. …

While Pine Bluffs and Saratoga are sorting out their differences, just down the road in Burns, the Broncs and Upton-Sundance will meet in a game that is a hidden gem. The 2A East playoff chase has evolved into one of the most interesting in the state, and Burns and Upton-Sundance are right in the middle of it all. The 2A East has been a haven for close games, including Burns’ 15-7 victory against Wheatland last week that (I believe) was the first overtime game of the season statewide. …

We also get one of the rarer regular-season phenomena this week — a rematch. Greybull and Rocky Mountain met three weeks ago in a non-conference affair necessitated by wonky scheduling and a lack of available opponents. Greybull won 18-14 at home; this time, though, Cowley is the host, and this one counts for the conference standings in the 1A nine-man West. …

Some of the luster of this week’s 2A West game between Worland and Mountain View down in the Bridger Valley was lost when the Warriors lost to Lovell last week. Still, it’ll be interesting to see how they match up, especially as the race in that league tightens as the season draws to a close. …

A quick note from last week: Midwest’s 94-93 victory against Hulett absolutely obliterated the state record for combined points in a game with 187. The former record was 162 points, set in Dubois’ 102-60 victory against Ten Sleep in 2015. Also of note in Saturday’s game: (1) Combined, the teams had 21 players in uniform. (2) Hulett led 19-0 in the first quarter and 59-36 in the second quarter, officially making this a 23-point comeback for the Oilers in their homecoming victory. Twitter (I refuse to call it X) user Sykotyk, who criss-crosses the country for high school football games, was there and documented it extremely well. … And in case you’re counting, that’s Midwest’s second comeback victory from at least three possessions down this year, as they rallied to beat Kaycee a couple weeks ago after being down by 17 in the fourth quarter.

Another quick note from last week: Five games that were scheduled to be played were not. Cheyenne South’s forfeit to Campbell County out of a concern for player safety was noted last week, as was Guernsey’s forfeit to Southeast as the Vikings have decided not to play the remainder of their nine-man schedule. However, two 2A East games were also lost to forfeit. Tongue River forfeited its game to Upton-Sundance due to TRHS’s temporary closure due to the Elk Fire. Meanwhile, Moorcroft forfeited its game to Big Horn for reasons that are still unclear. Kaycee and the Buffalo JV also did not play their game that was scheduled for Saturday. It’s not unusual to have a few of these during a season, but to have five in one week? Super odd. Here’s hoping all of this week’s games actually get played, including TR’s home game against Wheatland in which contingency plans are already in place in case the smoke is too bad or too close.

+++

Some picks. Here they are. Teams in bold I think will win. Teams not in bold will (hopefully) still show up. After last week, I’m not sure.

Thursday
Class 1A nine-man

Lingle at Southeast
Wyoming Indian at Shoshoni
Interclass
Natrona sophs at Lusk
Friday
Class 4A
Campbell County
at Thunder Basin
Cheyenne Central at Cheyenne East
Laramie at Cheyenne South
Natrona at Kelly Walsh
Rock Springs at Sheridan
Class 3A
Buffalo
at Torrington
Cody at Star Valley
Evanston at Jackson
Lander at Riverton
Powell at Green River
Rawlins at Douglas
Class 2A
Big Horn
at Glenrock
Cokeville at Kemmerer
Moorcroft at Newcastle
Pinedale at Lovell
Thermopolis at Lyman
Upton-Sundance at Burns
Wheatland at Tongue River
Worland at Mountain View
Class 1A nine-man
Greybull at Rocky Mountain
Saratoga at Pine Bluffs
Class 1A six-man
Dubois at Encampment
Meeteetse at Kaycee
Midwest at Riverside
Saturday
Class 1A nine-man
Wind River at Big Piney
Class 1A six-man
Farson
at Casper Christian
Hanna at Snake River
Ten Sleep at Hulett

Wright will pick up a forfeit victory from Guernsey this week. Burlington is off. For a full schedule including kickoff times, click here.

+++

Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 23-5 (82 percent). This season: 130-40 (76 percent).

Well, here we are. This week: What records will fall? What teams will still be undefeated? How many games won’t be played? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship

–patrick

Get in your DeLorean, set the flux capacitor for Aug. 30, 2024, and crank that baby to 88 mph. When you’ve gone back a few weeks, ask someone which 12 Wyoming high school football teams will still be undefeated by the halfway point of the regular season.

After they get over the shock of the fact that we’ve made time travel possible in just one short month, you might get them to throw out some predictable guesses — Sheridan, Cody, Star Valley, Big Horn, Mountain View, Lingle…

Then, because you have knowledge they don’t, casually drop Saratoga into the conversation.

Of the dozen teams still with a zero in the loss column (Meeteetse, Encampment, Snake River, Pine Bluffs and Campbell County are the others, along with the aforementioned “predictables”), Saratoga’s no-loss start to 2024 might just be the most surprising. And the most overdue.

The Panthers are on their third head coach in three years, but new coach Jared Mason has things pointed in the right direction for a program starved for success. Saratoga hasn’t had a winning record since its six-man days; it hasn’t had a playoff berth since 2020 and hasn’t had a playoff victory since 2007.

Yep, that Saratoga is now the Cinderella undefeated team of Class 1A nine-man.

Last week’s victory was pretty easy for the Panthers, a forfeit against Guernsey. An 8-6 nail-biter against Lusk is the only tight game that Saratoga has had this season, with 50-8 (Wind River) and 67-7 (Cheyenne South’s JV) victories notched over the first two weeks.

This week, the Panthers play, well, the Panthers, as Wright makes the trip to Saratoga. Saratoga has actually won the last two games in this series by a combined score of 10-0 (yes, you read that right), with a 4-0 victory two years ago and a 6-0 W last year.

For karma’s sake, a 5-0 victory to make Saratoga’s record 5-0 would be fitting. Nevertheless, I’m sure Saratoga would take the victory no matter the final score to keep the winning streak going.

A 5-0 start is not unprecedented in Saratoga. But it’s been a while. Even a 4-0 start has been 20-plus years in the making.

The last time Saratoga started 4-0 came in 2003. However, after a 21-17 loss to Cokeville in game No. 5, the Panthers faltered down the stretch, going 1-3 to close out the regular season and losing to Big Horn in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs.

Prior to that, Saratoga’s best start — and best most recent season — came in 1982. That season, the Panthers racked up an 8-0 regular season, beat Moorcroft in the Class B semifinals and narrowly lost (7-2) to Lyman in the B championship game, finishing 9-1.

That was the most recent peak for the Panthers’ program. Since then, Saratoga has not reached a title game. And the Panthers have reached the semifinals just two other times, losing to Sundance in 2005 and Big Horn in 2007 in their only two other opportunities to reach the season’s final game.

This year’s Panthers still have challenges ahead. After Wright, the Panthers face 4-0 Pine Bluffs, 3-1 Southeast and 4-0 Lingle in the final three weeks of the regular season.

For now, though, the Panthers can enjoy this moment — and just maybe extend it further than anyone outside Carbon County, or anyone without a time machine, could have anticipated a month ago.

+++

At just past halfway in the regular season, some trends have started to emerge. Some other games that have my attention this week because of, or in some cases in spite of, those trends include:

Sheridan’s streak watch continues this week as the Broncs travel to Cheyenne Central. With 36 consecutive victories in their rearview, victory No. 37 would set the state record for longest unbeaten streak, breaking Worland’s 34-0-2 run from 1953-56. I don’t like to use the word “unprecedented,” because too many people often misuse as “I can’t remember any others like this but I’m too lazy to see if it’s actually the first time.” But a Bronc W would make the word the exact right one. ICYMI, I’ve mentioned this streak more than a few times here already this season, but hey? In more than a century of high school football in Wyoming, a streak like this has never happened. So I’ll indulge and enjoy this while it lasts. …

A couple of Class 3A teams with high expectations hit roadblocks in the first week of conference play, with Powell falling to rival Cody and Riverton coming up just short against Douglas last week. Their games this week will be good gauges for how the rest of the year might go, with Riverton venturing to Buffalo and Powell hosting Star Valley. …

Worland is turning into that 2A monster everyone thought they might. The Warriors have won three in a row to start West Conference play, allowing a total of six points in that stretch. Last week’s 27-0 shutout of Lyman was the most impressive in the bunch. This week’s Warrior foe is Lovell, and I’m intensely curious to see how that game goes — particularly if Worland gets caught looking ahead to Week 6 and undefeated Mountain View waiting there. …

If Lusk gives us any indication, the 1A nine-man East Conference championship chase should be pretty interesting. The Tigers play at Pine Bluffs this weekend, and after two close games in a row (an 8-6 loss to Saratoga and a 27-24 victory against Southeast), the Tigers’ outcome in this one will be yet another barometer in a conference that’s proving to be full of parity. …

After two victories the past two weeks by a combined nine points, Greybull gets the chance of the season this week when the Buffs host Big Piney. Winner gets control of their own destiny in the 1A nine-man West. Can Greybull’s good fortune continue against the defending champs? …

The Class 1A six-man North Conference has the most differentiated conference standings. Combined, the top four teams — Burlington, Midwest, Meeteetse and Riverside — are a combined 9-0 in league play. The bottom three — Hulett, Kaycee and Ten Sleep — are a combined 0-9. Something, finally, has to give when Burlington plays Meeteetse this week.

+++

This week’s schedule brings up an interesting trivia question: When is the last time a Class 4A-level school forfeited a game before it was played? That’s what Cheyenne South has done this week, forfeiting its game against Campbell County in Gillette due to what the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle’s Jeremiah Johnke said Wednesday was “due to the number of injuries limiting player availability.”

As it turns out, South’s forfeit loss is a 4A first. According to the research I’ve done, none of the current teams in Class 4A has ever — EVER — forfeited a game in advance, dating back to 1894.

That previous statement comes with several asterisks and caveats. A couple times, 4A teams have had to forfeit a game after it was played; hey, it happens. And many games at the big-school level have been straight-up canceled, with no winner or loser declared. The most recent one of these involving a current Class 4A school came in 1968 when then-Class B Upton canceled its game with Campbell County, which was then in Class A. Prior to that, the last big-school cancellation came in 1961, when Sheridan and Natrona failed to play each other for the first time in decades because weather wiped out what was supposed to be both teams’ season finales.

Before 1948 and the formation of classification football, such cancellations were much more common. Games were easier to let slide because without classifications, or even “official” conferences, games could go down as canceled instead of forfeited. This was/is a clerical conundrum more than anything. Asterisks and caveats, etc., etc.

Still, only a handful of times has even a current 3A-level school forfeited a game prior to kickoff. The last time I can find a 3A-level team forfeiting a game that wasn’t related to a disease outbreak happened in 1948, almost 76 years ago. The only forfeits involving 3A-level teams, on either side, in the long history of Wyoming high school football are these:

  • Douglas won two forfeited games in 2021 against both Torrington and Rawlins during COVID-19 outbreaks at those respective schools.
  • Rawlins won against Kemmerer at the end of the 1955 season via forfeit. Kemmerer hadn’t beaten another varsity program in four years at that point.
  • Buffalo forfeited its season finale against already-conference-champion Newcastle at the end of the 1948 season due to low numbers and injuries. (This is the game cited above.)
  • Torrington won by forfeit against Douglas at the end of the 1942 season, a season probably ended early due to wartime travel restrictions.
  • Buffalo, like Douglas, also forfeited its 1942 season finale. The Bison forfeited to Newcastle due to “lack of funds as well as the absence of many students caused by their working in beet fields of that vicinity,” the Newcastle News Letter Journal said on Oct. 29, 1942.
  • Both Powell (against Cody) and Douglas (against Lusk) picked up forfeit victories on Nov. 11, 1940, for unspecified reasons.
  • Finally, Torrington beat Lingle by forfeit in 1925 after Lingle’s game with Gering, Nebraska, got pushed back a week due to weather. Lingle opted to play Gering instead of Torrington, as the Trailblazers already had a game scheduled that week with Morrill, Nebraska.

So it’s safe to call South’s decision this week unprecedented, too, just like Sheridan’s winning streak. But just as unprecedented, too, is the Bison’s losing streak, and apparently so too is their injury and depth situation. I’m not here to critique South’s decision; I’m here to point out its rarity, its unprecedentedness that’s forcing me to make up words like unprecedentedness to describe it.

+++

Now comes everyone’s favorite part of the week, the picks. I offer straight-up picks, with the projected winner in bold, because that’s difficult enough. You’ll never see a point spread predicted here. Sorry and/or you’re welcome.

Thursday
Class 2A
Kemmerer at Lyman
Interclass
Lingle
at Cheyenne East sophs
Friday
Class 4A
Cheyenne East
at Kelly Walsh
Laramie at Natrona
Sheridan at Cheyenne Central
Thunder Basin at Rock Springs
Class 3A
Evanston at Cody
Jackson at Green River
Lander at Douglas
Riverton at Buffalo
Star Valley at Powell
Torrington at Rawlins
Class 2A
Burns at Wheatland
Cokeville at Thermopolis
Lovell at Worland
Moorcroft at Big Horn
Mountain View at Pinedale
Newcastle at Glenrock
Tongue River at Upton-Sundance (at Upton)
Class 1A nine-man
Lusk at Pine Bluffs
Shoshoni at Wind River
Wright at Saratoga
Wyoming Indian at Rocky Mountain
Class 1A six-man
Encampment
at Farson
Meeteetse at Burlington
Saturday
Class 1A nine-man
Big Piney
at Greybull
Class 1A six-man
Hanna
at Casper Christian
Hulett at Midwest
Riverside at Ten Sleep
Snake River at Dubois
Interclass
Buffalo JV at Kaycee

In addition to South-Campbell County, this week’s game between Guernsey and Southeast has been removed from the schedule, the Cyclones picking up the forfeit victory. For a full schedule including kickoff times, click here.

+++

Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 27-4 (87 percent). This season: 107-35 (75 percent).

+++

We’re halfway through the regular season. What, aside from two unprecedented streaks, sticks out to you so far? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship

–patrick

Mountain View’s 42-35 Week 2 victory against Lovell was more than just an important 2A West victory for the Buffalos.

It also represented a changing of the guard atop the Buffalos’ school records.

With the victory, coach Brent Walk earned his 91st W as head coach at Mountain View. That surpassed the total of Don Dinnel, who led Mountain View to 90 victories in 14 seasons as the Buffalos’ head coach from 1989 to 2002.

Walk, now in his 13th season leading Mountain View, is now the all-time leader in victories in school history. He joins a group of 13 other Wyoming head coaches who are the career victory leaders at their schools.

By the end of this season, three other coaches could join that club.

In addition to Walk, the other school leaders, with their victory totals entering this week, are:

  • Steve Harsman, Natrona, 236
  • Chad Goff, Cheyenne East, 134
  • Larry Yeradi, Wright, 97
  • Dale Anderson, Lyman, 80
  • Andy Garland, Upton-Sundance, 79 (He has 113 total victories between Upton and Upton-Sundance.)
  • Will Gray, Pine Bluffs, 72
  • Jack Cobb, Snake River, 61
  • Matt Conzelman, Newcastle, 59
  • Trent Pikula, Thunder Basin, 52
  • Trent Aagard, Burlington, 49
  • Zack Scott, Hanna, 40
  • Kegan Willford, Encampment, 35
  • Ryan Harrison, Casper Christian, 6

The coaches within striking distance of their school records this year are Cheyenne South’s Eli Moody, Kaycee’s Dave Largent and Star Valley’s McKay Young — and they’re all approaching their records from different angles.

Moody’s Bison have yet to win a game, but South’s career victories record (seven by Dan Gallas) is technically still achievable this season.

Largent’s Buckaroos are 1-3, but with five weeks left in the regular season, reaching five victories — what it would take to overtake current school leader Dustin Sipe at 32 — is still attainable, as well.

And Young’s Braves have potentially the most achievable task ahead. Young enters this week with 78 victories at Star Valley. The school record, set by both Jerry Hart and Robert Linford, is 83. Five more victories for a team that’s already 4-0? Definitely doable.

This week, South hosts Rock Springs, Kaycee travels to Basin to play Riverside and Star Valley makes the trip to Jackson.

And, yes, Mountain View hosts Kemmerer as Walk tries to build on his own school record, just like 13 other coaches will try to do this weekend. (Oddly enough, two of those games this week are Natrona at Cheyenne East, and Casper Christian hosting Encampment, games matching up two programs with coaches who have their school records.)

Their coaches’ records will be a small part of the season’s story — but a part nonetheless.

+++

Other stuff to keep an eye on in Week 4? Well…

The 3A West will have some of the best football of the week as we get two definitive rival games — Cody heading to Powell and Star Valley trekking to Jackson — and another one with a lot of deep history, with Evanston hosting Green River. It’s a heck of a way to start conference play. …

The Class 1A nine-man East Conference has four teams that are 3-0 in Lingle, Pine Bluffs, Saratoga and Southeast. They don’t play each other this week. They don’t play each other next week. If they win out, we could enter Week 6 with four teams at 5-0 in that conference. Wild. (And if you’re looking ahead, it’s Lingle/Southeast and Pine Bluffs/Saratoga in Week 6, Lingle/Pine Bluffs and Saratoga/Southeast in Week 7, and Lingle/Saratoga and Pine Bluffs/Southeast in Week 8.) …

I mentioned it briefly above, but Natrona’s game with East is one of the most interesting on the schedule not only for this week, but for this season. A home playoff game might be on the line. …

This week’s coin-flip, I-have-even-less-of-a-clue-than-usual games? Cheyenne Central playing at (winless how?) Thunder Basin, and Dubois traveling to Hanna. Yes, I literally flipped a coin. Both are really intriguing matchups that will help clear up my confusion about some things. Or maybe add to it.

Streak watch: Sheridan can tie the state record for longest unbeaten streak this week with a victory against Kelly Walsh. That would give the Broncs 36 consecutive games without a loss, potentially tying the record set by Worland from 1953-56, which went had 34 victories and two ties in its 36-game stretch.

Meanwhile, Cheyenne South is still on the losing end of 42 consecutive games, already a state record. Friday’s game against Rock Springs will be South’s second of four home games this season, and a loss at home on Friday will give South the state record for longest home winless streak at 20 games. That record right now belongs to Saratoga, which went 0-18-1 over 19 home games from 1965-70.

+++

A quick note on last week’s game between Torrington and Yuma, Colo., an 8-3 loss for the Trailblazers. Turns out 8-3 is Wyoming high school football scorigami, meaning it’s the first time in state history that a game has ended with a final score of 8-3. It’s also a super-rare “low” scorigami, with both teams in single digits.

So far this season, seven other games have been scorigami games, with six of those seven happening in the six-man ranks. Oddly enough, Hulett has played in three straight: 85-74 (Hulett over Hanna in Week 1), 66-36 (Riverside over Hulett in Week 2), and 53-48 (Meeteetse over Hulett in Week 3). Others achieved this season include 64-52 (Hanna over Midwest in Week 0), 84-6 (Cheyenne East over Cheyenne South in Week 1), 71-32 (Encampment over the Natrona JV in Week 2), and 52-41 (Farson over Hanna in Week 3).

+++

Picks in bold. Efficiency.

Thursday
Class 1A nine-man
Wind River
at Wyoming Indian
Interclass
Cheyenne South JV at Pine Bluffs
Friday
Class 4A
Campbell County
at Laramie
Cheyenne Central at Thunder Basin
Kelly Walsh at Sheridan
Natrona at Cheyenne East
Rock Springs at Cheyenne South
Class 3A
Buffalo
at Rawlins
Cody at Powell
Douglas at Riverton
Green River at Evanston
Star Valley at Jackson
Torrington at Lander
Class 2A
Big Horn
at Burns
Glenrock at Wheatland
Lyman at Worland
Pinedale at Cokeville
Thermopolis at Lovell
Upton-Sundance at Moorcroft
Class 1A nine-man
Greybull at Shoshoni
Lingle at Wright
Rocky Mountain at Big Piney
Southeast at Lusk
Class 1A six-man
Dubois at Hanna
Ten Sleep at Meeteetse
Saturday
Class 2A
Kemmerer at Mountain View
Tongue River at Newcastle
Class 1A six-man
Burlington
at Hulett
Encampment at Casper Christian
Farson at Snake River
Kaycee at Riverside

Saratoga’s game at Guernsey was canceled, while Midwest’s game with the Kelly Walsh JV on Saturday has been shifted to a scrimmage. For a full schedule including kickoff times, click here.

+++

Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 20-12 (63 percent). This season: 80-31 (72 percent). By the way, I’m not counting forfeits. Maybe I should, because last week was the roughest week for picks in awhile.

+++

What teams are you watching for the midway point of the regular season? Who’s been surprising, in either direction, for you? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship

–patrick

Updated 7:58 a.m. MDT Sept. 26 to fix Walk’s first name. My apologies.

For more than 60 years, the number “34” has stretched across Wyoming football history like a beacon of hope for what’s possible with the right players, coaches and community.

Laramie’s 34-game winning streak has been untouched since its completion in 1963. Several teams have come close — including Kaycee, Douglas and Snake River all reaching 30 consecutive victories in recent times — but no one had been able to match the Plainsmen’s run of the early 1960s.

Until Sheridan. The Broncs tied Laramie’s 61-year-old record last week with its 34th consecutive victory in a 29-7 showing against Natrona. Along the way, the Broncs have won three consecutive Class 4A titles.

So how does the Broncs’ streak compare to the Plainsmen’s?

  • Streak started: Laramie, Sept. 25, 1959, Laramie 34, Torrington 6; Sheridan, Oct. 1, 2021, Sheridan 27, Natrona 0.
  • Average margin of victory: Laramie, 26-5; Sheridan, 45-14.
  • Shutouts: Laramie, 14; Sheridan, five.
  • Length: Laramie, 1,448 days across parts of five seasons; Sheridan, 1,091 days (as of Thursday) across parts of four seasons.
  • Closest games: Laramie had five games end with scoring margins of seven or fewer points: 13-7 vs. Canon City (Colo.) Abbey, 1959; 13-7 vs. Scottsbluff (Neb.), 1960; 13-6 vs. Rawlins, 1961; 14-12 vs. Torrington, 1962; and 13-7 vs. Natrona, 1962. Sheridan has also had five such games: 24-21 vs. Cheyenne Central, 2022; 34-27 vs. Thunder Basin, 2022; 42-39 vs. Cheyenne East, 2022; 28-22 vs. Natrona, 2022; and 44-37 vs. Cheyenne East, 2023.

This week’s stakes are simple, at least historically speaking. A victory against Cheyenne East on Friday in Sheridan would give the Broncs sole control for the overall state record for winning streak at 35 games.

After that? Well, the next record to break is the state unbeaten streak, which Worland has at 36 games (34 victories and two ties) from 1953-56. Worland’s 1924-28 squads (33-0-2) and Star Valley’s 1964-68 squads (33-0-2) also have unbeaten streaks of 35 games, streaks that Sheridan could tie on Friday.

And after that? Well, our friends at the Stateline Sports Network say the Broncs’ streak is the seventh-longest active winning streak in the nation and is the longest active streak anywhere west of the Central Time Zone. Sheridan trails Marion (Ohio) Local, Garden City (New York), Pelham (New Hampshire), Tioga (New York), Bennington (Nebraska) and Phoebus (Virginia), with Marion Local’s 52-game streak leading the way.

And after that? Well, the national record is 151 consecutive victories, set by California’s De La Salle from 1992-2003.

And before that? Well, East.

The Thunderbirds are working on a streak of their own, already 3-0 with victories against Laramie, Cheyenne South and Thunder Basin. Moreover, East has been Sheridan’s most consistent threat during the streak. Most critically, East has been Sheridan’s opponent in the past two Class 4A title games. Across Sheridan’s past 19 games, East is the only one to stay within single-digits; technically, across those games, only East has stayed within 19 points of the Broncs, doing so twice in losses by seven and 11 points. In its past 24 games, East has a record of 20-4; all four losses were to Sheridan. And while Sheridan enters the game ranked No. 1 in the WyoPreps coaches and media football poll, East is ranked No. 2.

If anyone can interrupt the Broncs on their historic trek, it’s the Thunderbirds.

No team would love it more.

Similarly, Sheridan would love it to break the record against the team that’s been its biggest threat.

It’s the kind of matchup deserving of this kind of milestone, either way it turns out.

+++

The rest of the Week 3 schedule is filled with games that I’d pay money to see. A few of those:

It’s odd that both Laramie and Rock Springs have their only victories this season against Cheyenne Central, a hard-luck 0-3 team that’s had losses by two points and by seven points (twice). It’ll be interesting to see how they match up this week in Sweetwater County. …

It’s the last week of nonconference play in 3A, and with only three remaining undefeated teams in the class, two — Buffalo and Cody — will play each other this week. The other? Star Valley. …

The 2A West continues to be one of the most interesting conferences in the state. Mountain View (42-35 against Lovell) and Cokeville (13-8 against Lyman) had arguably the biggest victories last week, and now they get to play each other. Thing is, so do Lovell and Lyman. And both Worland and Kemmerer are now hanging out as 1-0 in league play, too. Most even conference in the state? (By the way, I missed seven games last week in my picks, and four of them were in Class 2A.) …

Newcastle and Big Horn had the two biggest victories in the 2A East last week in terms of margin of victory, with Big Horn beating Wheatland 55-0 and Newcastle beating Upton-Sundance 48-6. They’ll play each other this week in Big Horn, and it’ll be a big one. …

In an odd quirk to the schedule, Wheatland gets its fourth consecutive road game to start the season in its trek north to Sundance to play Upton-Sundance. Wheatland has six road games and three home games this year and won’t have its home opener until Week 4 against Glenrock. Star Valley also has a weird streak like that, as the Braves’ trip to Teton, Idaho, this week is the second of four straight road games. The Braves, at least, got four at home and five on the road this season. …

Saratoga has had a fast start, going 2-0 while outscoring opponents 117-15. Among nine-man programs, only Lingle (124) has scored more, and only Pine Bluffs (12) has allowed fewer. I’m exceptionally curious to see how the Panthers stack up against 1-1 Lusk at home on Friday.

+++

On to this week’s picks, where anything can happen. Not with the picks, though. I can only pick one team per game; in fact, I have to for this to work, so I indicate that with bold. It’s on the field where anything can happen. That’s where the real fun is anyway. Go touch grass, or turf, this weekend.

Thursday
Class 1A nine-man
Rocky Mountain
at Greybull
Interclass
Shoshoni
at Natrona sophs
Wyoming Indian at Thermopolis JV
Friday
Class 4A
Campbell County at Natrona
Cheyenne East at Sheridan
Cheyenne South at Cheyenne Central
Kelly Walsh at Thunder Basin
Laramie at Rock Springs
Class 3A
Buffalo at Cody
Evanston at Lander
Green River at Riverton
Powell at Douglas
Class 2A
Burns
at Glenrock
Cokeville at Mountain View
Lovell at Lyman
Moorcroft at Tongue River
Newcastle at Big Horn
Thermopolis at Kemmerer
Wheatland at Upton-Sundance
Worland at Pinedale
Class 1A nine-man
Guernsey-Sunrise at Lingle
Lusk at Saratoga
Pine Bluffs at Wright
Class 1A six-man
Casper Christian
at St. Stephens
Hanna at Farson
Hulett at Meeteetse
Midwest at Kaycee
Snake River at Riverside
Interclass
Dubois at Natrona JV
Interstate
Bear Lake, Idaho, at Jackson
Rawlins at Middle Park, Colo.
Star Valley at Teton, Idaho
Torrington at Yuma, Colo.
Saturday
Class 1A nine-man
Southeast
at Wind River
Class 1A six-man
Burlington
at Ten Sleep
Interclass
Evanston JV at Big Piney

Encampment is off this week. For a full schedule including kickoff times, click here.

+++

Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 22-7 (76 percent). This season: 60-19 (76 percent).

+++

What pops out to you about the Week 3 schedule? Disagree with any picks? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship

–patrick

Separated by just 33 miles and one county line, Thermopolis and Worland were destined by geography to be rivals.

For more than 15 years, though, the two teams have had to put their football rivalry on hold, a rivalry that dates back to the start of both programs and to the origins of the sport itself in Wyoming.

It didn’t take long for the bad blood to start in this rivalry. In fact, it took less than a month, during both programs’ first seasons.

Thermopolis won the first game between the programs on Oct. 12, 1921, by a modest score of 32-19. Worland won the rematch, played on Nov. 11 of the same year, by the less modest score of 109-7. Yes, 109-7. Apparently, some dude named Meadows went ham for Worland, scoring 12 touchdowns and kicking 11 extra points, scoring 83 total points in one game.

A rivalry was born.

They’ve only had one sustained gap in their rivalry — from 1976 to 1979, when Thermopolis was struggling as a Class A team and Worland was a Class AA contender, they took a short break. They renewed the rivalry in 1980; Thermopolis needed only one season after that to win the rivalry game once again. (They also didn’t play each other in 1933, when Worland failed to field a team.)

They stuck with it, playing 97 total games in the rivalry — Worland winning 58, Thermopolis 34, five ties. But since 2008, the Warriors and Bobcats have not played each other on the gridiron.

When the two teams stopped playing after the 2008 season, you could say it was time. Worland had won 12 in a row in the rivalry, including two playoff games. Thermopolis hadn’t, and still hasn’t, beaten Worland since 1998.

Oh sure, the rivalry has continued in other sports. And in football, they’ve sprinkled in a Zero Week contest here and there, a scrimmage to break a sweat and see someone other than a teammate.

Worland’s offseason move from Class 3A to Class 2A, where Thermopolis had long been classified, prompted the official renewal of the rivalry. There were other casualties, too; to get its rivalry with Thermopolis back, Worland had to give up longstanding series with Lander (90 games), Riverton (88 games) and Cody (88 games). Worland’s series with Powell, 81 games rich, continued only through a nonconference game last week.

But Thermopolis is back on the Warriors’ schedule, and vice versa. Neither has played any other opponent more. The delayed 98th chapter will be written Friday.

While chances are good that the score won’t end up 109-7, that doesn’t mean the game will be any less memorable for those who play in it on Friday.

+++

Other contests drawing my attention this week more than the usual game:

Conference play starts this week across a litany of leagues — 2A East and West teams, (most) 1A nine-man East (and one game in 1A nine-man West) teams, and (most) 1A six-man North teams will get going with conference games this week. Among the most intriguing are in the 2A West, where Lyman travels to Cokeville and Mountain View takes the trip to Lovell in games that will be critical in the title chase. Also, don’t overlook the Pinedale/Kemmerer matchup; both squads have struggled recently but posted big victories in Week 1. The winner there could be the state’s biggest surprise team this fall. The fourth and final 2A West game? Thermopolis/Worland…

Class 4A continues its early-season grind with two more huge games pairing up last year’s semifinalists, with Sheridan traveling to Natrona and Thunder Basin heading to Cheyenne East. Three of these teams are 2-0, with Thunder Basin the outlier at 0-2. 4A’s only other 2-0 team is Campbell County, who hosts 1-1 Rock Springs in what might be the most intriguing game of the week. …

Streak watch: Sheridan has now won 33 games in a row. A victory against Natrona on Friday would tie Laramie’s 1959-63 state record for consecutive victories. Any guess where Laramie’s streak ended in that ’63 season? That’s right, literally the same patch of earth Sheridan will visit on Friday — the one at NCHS. And guess what the date was when Laramie’s streak ended? Sept. 13, 1963. Sheridan’s visit comes exactly 61 years later, to the date, to the place. This can’t be coincidence. …

Only one out-of-state game is on the docket this week, but it’s a doozy as Star Valley travels to play Sugar-Salem, Idaho. Sugar-Salem has won 25 games in a row and 33 out of its past 34, including three victories over Star Valley. In its 3-0 start so far this season, the Diggers have outscored their opponents 140-6. Conversely, Star Valley has beaten its two (Idaho) foes by a combined 93-13. Maybe this is the Braves’ time? …

In Class 3A, the only team without a victory is Green River. Meanwhile, in the 2A East, the only team with a victory is Big Horn. And in the 1A nine-man West, the only team with a victory is Wyoming Indian. Early season standings are weird. …

Also, real quick, I want to note Hulett’s 85-74 victory against Hanna last week. With a combined 159 points, it’s the second-highest scoring game in state history, behind only Dubois’ 102-60 victory against Ten Sleep in 2015. Hanna’s 74 points also ties the state record for most points scored in a loss, set last year. Pretty remarkable.

+++

Are you new here? This is where I pick games every week. I bold the teams I think will win. If you’re new here, you probably are reading this. If you’re not, you’re not, because you know how this works by now.

Thursday
Interclass
Cheyenne Central JV at Torrington
Shoshoni at Cheyenne East sophs
Friday
Class 4A
Cheyenne Central
at Laramie
Cheyenne South at Kelly Walsh
Rock Springs at Campbell County
Sheridan at Natrona
Thunder Basin at Cheyenne East
Class 3A
Cody
at Douglas
Evanston at Riverton
Jackson at Buffalo
Lander at Powell
Rawlins at Green River
Class 2A
Burns at Tongue River
Glenrock at Moorcroft
Lyman at Cokeville
Mountain View at Lovell
Pinedale at Kemmerer
Upton-Sundance at Newcastle
Wheatland at Big Horn
Worland at Thermopolis
Class 1A nine-man
Lingle
at Lusk
Pine Bluffs at Guernsey-Sunrise
Saratoga at Wind River
Wright at Southeast
Class 1A six-man
Kaycee at Burlington
Interclass
Farson
at St. Stephens
Interstate
Star Valley at Sugar-Salem, Idaho
Saturday
Class 1A nine-man
Big Piney
at Wyoming Indian
Class 1A six-man
Meeteetse
at Dubois
Riverside at Hulett
Ten Sleep at Midwest
Interclass
Powell JV at Greybull

Encampment played Natrona’s JV on Tuesday. Casper Christian, Hanna, Rocky Mountain and Snake River have open weeks.

For a full schedule including kickoff times, click here.

+++

Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 26-8 (76 percent). This season: 38-12 (76 percent).

+++

Who was your surprise Week 1 team, and how do you see them shaping up for Week 2? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship

–patrick

Carbon County will be the hotspot for some of Wyoming’s most interesting games in Week 1.

In the course of one weekend, we’ll figure out not only who Class 1A six-man’s favorite is, we’ll figure out who is that team’s greatest threat.

The fun starts Friday in Encampment, where the Tigers host six-man newcomer Riverside in a game that will help determine how strong both teams’ championship aspirations are this season. Both teams are experienced and talented, and they both want to prove they belong in the conversation for six-man’s best.

As good as Encampment and Riverside will be this fall — and they should both be pretty good, making Friday’s game a must-watch — there’s no doubt that they, and everyone else, are chasing two other programs.

And that’s where the fun continues Saturday in Baggs, where Snake River hosts Burlington in a rematch of last year’s Class 1A six-man championship game and an early test to see who will turn the conversation in their direction.

I mean, come on. This game epitomizes the kind of rivalry that’s been missing in six-man since its rebirth in 2009. Heading into last year’s championship game, the Rattlers had won 30 games in a row and were trying to win a third straight title; they came up one yard short against the Huskies, who avenged a title-game loss to the Rattlers in 2022 to win their first state title since 1994. They provided the kind of six-man championship game Wyoming had never had — evenly matched, well-played on both sides, down to the final possession. Burlington just happened to get one more good play than Snake River.

Saturday, the Rattlers get the chance to try to even the tally, start a new streak and put the focus back on the purple and yellow, which is where it’s mostly been for three years. Of course, Burlington has the crown, and that’s where it will stay until November, and Laramie.

No state champions will be coronated in Week 1. And the two Big Horn County programs making the journey south this week, just like the two Carbon County programs hosting them, aren’t out of anything with a loss. In the grand scheme of things, they’re playing nonconference games that have no effect on playoff chances.

A little psychological advantage, just in case of another meeting later this season, wouldn’t hurt.

And the pace of the chase is a lot more fun when you can dictate it instead of follow it.

+++

Most every team saw some kind of action last week, with 28 teams tallying their first victory or first loss in Zero Week and many others playing in scrimmages or jamborees. Of the remaining 36 teams, 34 will enter the W or L column for the first time this week, and all 64 will have seen someone across from them on the line who wasn’t a teammate (either last week or this week) by Saturday night. Some other potential showstoppers this week:

The two Class 4A teams who pulled off victories that I didn’t predict for them were Natrona and Rock Springs. They’ll see each other this week in Rock Springs, and I’m curious to see who can keep the early season momentum rolling. …

Riverton’s 7-0 victory against Powell in Zero Week action was a head-turner for me. Is the Riverton revival complete? Well, this week the Wolverines go to Cody, so one way or another, we’ll all find out. …

Whenever Big Horn plays Lovell, it’s never disappointing. With as much parity as there might be in 2A this year, I might just vote the winner of this game No. 1 in my 2A poll next week (he said, knowing that a ton of other 2A teams have potential to be equally as impressive). …

I’m quite interested in how last year’s Class 1A nine-man title-game participants, champ Big Piney and runner-up Wind River, do in their games. Both play in Goshen County, oddly enough, and they’re going against teams in Southeast (Big Piney) and Lingle (Wind River) that figure to be at or near the top of the title chase this year. …

A handful of out-of-state games are super-intriguing, including games with 2A West squads Cokeville (at West Jefferson, Idaho) and Mountain View (hosting Rich County, Utah). …

A late change to the schedule has Evanston hosting Vista Ridge out of Colorado Springs on Friday. The Red Devils were originally scheduled to play South Summit, Utah, this week, but here we are. It’s Vista Ridge’s first game against a Wyoming opponent, so that’s pretty cool. Also playing its first game against a Wyoming team is Holyoke, Colo., which is coming up to play Glenrock on Saturday. …

Coin-flip games this week abound, as they often do in Week 1. I turned to a heads-tails method of picking for several games: Laramie-Kelly Walsh, Greybull-Wright, Kaycee-Farson, Hanna-Hulett. If the pick went against you this week in those games, blame Mr. Lincoln and the penny in my pocket. I’ll certainly blame him if I’m wrong.

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On to the picks. When I bold a team, that means I think they will win. Hopefully your browser is equipped to view different font formats. If it’s not… dude, it’s time to upgrade. Even Netscape and dial-up had bold text capabilities.

Thursday
Class 2A
Kemmerer
vs. Moorcroft (at Shoshoni)
Interclass
Cheyenne South JV at Saratoga
Friday
Class 4A
Campbell County
at Cheyenne Central
Cheyenne East at Cheyenne South
Laramie at Kelly Walsh
Natrona at Rock Springs
Sheridan at Thunder Basin
Class 3A
Douglas
at Jackson
Lander at Green River
Riverton at Cody
Class 2A
Big Horn
at Lovell
Burns at Lyman
Tongue River at Thermopolis
Class 1A nine-man
Big Piney at Southeast
Greybull at Wright
Lusk at Rocky Mountain
Pine Bluffs at Shoshoni
Wind River at Lingle
Class 1A six-man
Casper Christian
at Midwest
Kaycee at Farson
Riverside at Encampment
Interclass
Newcastle at Buffalo
Pinedale at Rawlins
Powell at Worland
Wheatland at Torrington
Interstate
Cokeville at West Jefferson, Idaho
Preston, Idaho, at Star Valley
Rich County, Utah, at Mountain View
Vista Ridge, Colo., at Evanston
Saturday
Class 1A nine-man
Wyoming Indian at Guernsey
Class 1A six-man
Burlington
at Snake River
Dubois at Ten Sleep
Hanna vs. Hulett (at Midwest)
Interstate
Holyoke, Colo., at Glenrock

Upton-Sundance has an open week, while Meeteetse is scrimmaging the Cody JV. For a full schedule including kickoff times, click here.

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Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 12-4 (75 percent). This season: 12-4 (75 percent).

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What things will you be looking for in Wyoming’s first full week of games? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship

–patrick

Sheridan’s game with Cheyenne South on Friday will be a historic game, even before the opening kickoff.

The Broncs enter the 2024 season on a 31-game winning streak, just four short of the state record for consecutive victories and six short of the record for an unbeaten streak (which include ties).

Across the field will be Cheyenne South, losers of 38 consecutive games back to 2019, which in and of itself is already tied for the state record. A loss against Sheridan will put the Bison alone in “first” for this record.

Either streak alone would be deserving of attention. But the fact that they’re criss-crossing each other at this point, where each program’s streak is already at least 30 games, is truly historic.

Wyoming teams have built six winning streaks and nine unbeaten streaks that went at least 30 games. Oddly enough, Wyoming has also had programs build six losing streaks and nine winless streaks of at least 30 games.

But never in the history of Wyoming high school football have two teams on active streaks of 30 or more games — either unbeaten or winless, or any combination therein — played each other.

In fact, I can’t find a single instance of two teams with active unbeaten or winless streaks of even 20 consecutive games playing each other.

The closest I can find are three instances of teams putting 19-game streaks on the line against teams with streaks of at least 20 games. In all three cases, the games shaped up much like we will see on Friday — a team with a long losing streak facing a team with a long winning streak. In all three cases, the team with the winning streak continued to win, the team with the losing streak continued to lose:

  • Oct. 18, 1968: Saratoga took a 24-game losing streak into its game against Glenrock, which had an active 19-game winning streak. Glenrock won 72-0.
  • Oct. 20, 1989: Cokeville, winners of 20 straight, faced Kemmerer, losers of 19 straight. Cokeville won 49-20.
  • Oct. 1, 1999: Rocky Mountain, which had won 24 in a row, played Greybull, which had lost 19 in a row. Rocky Mountain won 60-18.

Although Cheyenne South could pull the absolute biggest upset ever seen in a century of Wyoming football — hey, the game always starts 0-0 — Sheridan is the obvious favorite entering Friday’s action.

I think this game, coincidentally scheduled to be the season opener for both squads, deserves special attention because of its historic nature.

However, I also think that the fact that these streaks are crossing paths at all should be a red flag for Class 4A football. Or, in the language of kids these days, it should give you the ick.

This game’s nature should be an indictment of 4A’s scheduling system as a whole.

Since 2009, Class 4A schools have used a 10-team, nine-game round-robin regular-season schedule, where each 4A team plays all the others. What this nine-week schedule does, though, is prohibit schools from seeking nonconference games. Every game is a conference game. And it’s the same teams over and over again every year. Long streaks aren’t a surprise in that kind of closed environment.

The thing that many people overlook? That round-robin schedule is just as bad for Sheridan as it is for Cheyenne South.

It means Sheridan has to wait for someone in 4A to rise up to give them a serious challenge to its winning streak. And it means the Broncs can’t look outside the state’s borders for a new challenge — say, from traditional regional rivals in Montana or for opportunities like Idaho’s Rocky Mountain Rumble, where state champions from across the region face off for a weekend full of games. Most coaches would rather face a tough opponent with the possibility of a nonconference loss in preparation for league games. They’d sacrifice a winning streak in August to make their team better for the games in November. Sheridan hasn’t even had the chance to make that choice since 2009.

The round-robin also means Cheyenne South can’t schedule a nonconference game against a more equitable regional opponent with the hopes of picking up a victory. Captain Obvious will note here that it’s not good for a program to lose 38 games in a row — for that program or for any of its opponents — but it might be even worse to hamstring that team’s schedule in a way where they can’t find teams of equal or near-equal talent to have both a chance to win and a chance to gain confidence even in a loss.

Personally, I’d love to see South go up against a 3A or 2A team like Green River, Lander, Torrington, Douglas, Wheatland, or any number of teams from western Nebraska or northern Colorado. But in its existence — its entire 13-season, 10-victory, 108-loss existence — the Bison have never had that freedom.

The intercepting streaks should be a call for a return to conference play, and nonconference freedom, for 4A’s biggest schools.

It’s kind of like income inequality. It’s better for society when everyone has a chance to be a part of it. And it makes for better for football when everyone has the chance to play at least a few games against opponents that fit your skill level and experience.

Conference play would mean fewer streaks like Sheridan’s and South’s, fewer opportunities for historic games where those streaks cross ways, fewer records.

But probably, it would mean better football, and better experiences for those playing and coaching.

The second option sounds like the better one.

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Some other action I’m keeping a closer eye on than usual this week:

The 4A schedule is absurdly front-loaded this season, with all four semifinal teams playing each other in the first five weeks of the season. That starts with Thunder Basin, who has the challenge of playing the other three semifinalists from 4A last year in the first three weeks. That journey starts with a trip to Casper on Friday to play Natrona in a super-intriguing, and important, season opener for both teams. …

One late change to the schedule has Lovell going to Buffalo instead of the other way around for their scrimmage. Lovell’s facilities are undergoing a bit of a facelift, and things weren’t going to be ready by this weekend, hence the switch. Newcastle and Thermopolis are also scheduled to be scrimmaging (quick-whistle special teams) in Buffalo on Friday night (in what could be the most intriguing showdown of the week across the state) in what will become Wyoming’s temporary football capital. …

Are jamborees dying? This season, only three jamborees are scheduled — Farson, Pine Bluffs and Greybull will host — with a total of 12 teams participating. That seems down. …

Evanston’s opponent this week, Ben Lomond, Utah, has already played two games. However, Evanston and Ben Lomond have scored an equal number of points so far this season. Do the math; I’ll wait.

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On to this week’s picks. By the way, the 2024 season is my 20th consecutive year of picking winners of Wyoming high school football games. Fortunately, I’m not always right, and the game and the sport are a lot more fun to follow with some chaos in the mix. I’ll still try, though, with projected winners in bold:

Friday
Class 4A
Cheyenne Central
at Rock Springs
Cheyenne South at Sheridan
Kelly Walsh at Campbell County
Laramie at Cheyenne East
Thunder Basin at Natrona
Class 3A
Riverton at Powell
Class 1A nine-man
Wright
at Shoshoni
Class 1A six-man
Midwest at Hanna
Ten Sleep at St. Stephens
Interclass
Glenrock vs. Jackson (at Riverton)
Interstate
Evanston
at Ben Lomond, Utah
Lyman at Malad, Idaho
Shelley, Idaho, at Star Valley
Torrington at Gering, Neb.
Wheatland at Mitchell, Neb.
Saturday
Class 1A six-man
Kaycee at Casper Christian
Interclass
Mountain View
at Green River
Rawlins at Burns

The Zero Week schedule also includes several scrimmages and jamborees. As usual, here are the guidelines I use to determine whether something played in Zero Week “counts” or not:

  • 1. Was the game played with four 12-minute quarters (10 for six-man) with normal timing rules?
  • 2. Were officials used? And were normal rules of play instituted for the game?
  • 3. Was score kept?

If these three criteria are met, I call it a game and record it as such on this site.

I reached out to most of the non-4A coaches and ADs this week for clarification. Turns out, a few of the scrimmages are just that — controlled contact, with coaches on the field and scenarios in play. A few of the scrimmages are almost games — no or limited special teams, quick-whistle plays, and so on. And there’s some stuff in between. Still others may not have their format decided until just before kickoff. So that’s fun. I tried to confirm every contest on the schedule this week with the coaches and ADs across the state, and almost everyone got back to me. The schedule I have is the best I can do. With that:

For a full schedule including kickoff times, click here.

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Which team do you see making that indelible impression on the 2024 season here in Zero Week? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship

–patrick

The 2023 state football championships — and the 2023 season — are done. Here’s a quick look at how the championship games turned out:

Class 1A six-man: Snake River’s 30-game winning streak came to an end after Burlington stopped the Rattlers four times inside the 10-yard line — including a fourth-and-inches play — in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter to preserve its 42-39 victory. The Huskies won their third state championship and their first since 1994 and thwarted Snake River’s three-peat attempt. Joe Bassett’s receiving touchdown in the fourth quarter gave the Huskies the lead for good in a game that was tight throughout; after a quick Burlington start, the game was tied at 26 at halftime.

Class 1A nine-man: In the Class 1A nine-man title game, the first quarter belonged to Wind River. The rest of the game belonged to Big Piney. The Punchers rallied from a 14-0 deficit and scored the game’s next 39 points to win going away, 39-14. Big Piney won its ninth state title in program history and its first since 2006.

Class 2A: The 2A game — for the third straight year — came down to extra points. Torrington made all four of its, while Big Horn missed two of its four (one kick and one two-point), and the Trailblazers won 28-26. The Trailblazers never trailed and won their first state championship since 1990 after several close calls, finishing as runners-up in 1992, 1996, 2017, 2018 and 2020. Big Horn was playing in its 15th state championship game since 2000 and was denied an opportunity to repeat as state champion. Torrington will head to Class 3A next season.

Class 3A: The 3A championship was anticlimactic, as Star Valley never let Cody into the game and won going away, 27-0. The Broncs did have opportunities, making it inside Star Valley’s 20-yard line four times, but the Braves held each of the four times, including a block field goal in the first half. The Braves rode Smith McClure’s offensive production, as the quarterback ran for three touchdowns and threw another. Star Valley won its 14th state championship and its sixth title in the past nine years.

Class 4A: Speaking of anticlimactic, Sheridan absolutely had its way with Cheyenne East to win the Class 4A title, with the Broncs winning 31-3. In winning yet another championship — the program’s 30th — the Broncs finished their second three-peat of the decade. Along the way, the Broncs finished 2023 with 608 points, a new state 11-man record.

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Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 3-2 (60 percent). This season: 266-49 (84 percent). 19-year overall mark: 4,621-1,092 (81 percent).

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And with that, the 2023 season has come to a close. Site updates will be coming over the next week or so, with individual team pages getting the 2023 season data added to them as soon as I can.

Got a thought on how the 2023 season ended? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship

–patrick

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