Shortcoming in the System, Part 1: The plight of school 28

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The last major change to Wyoming’s high school classification system came in 2001.

In the past 15 years, the system hasn’t changed. The schools have.

Wyoming’s high schools — and, by proxy, the Wyoming High School Activities Association — have struggled to devise a classification system that works for all schools for all sports except football. The problems show up most significantly in Class 3A, particularly those in the bottom quarter of the 16-team classification.

Not only are the schools at the bottom of Class 3A smaller, they’re also less competitive than they were 15 years ago. However, a small tweak to the state’s existing classification system could help solve the problem that’s dogged the bottom of 3A, and therefore the entire system, for the past several years.

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In Wyoming high school sports, no school has it more difficult than school No. 28.

When the Wyoming High School Activities Association sets its classifications every two years, school No. 28 of Wyoming’s 71 athletics-sponsoring high schools is in a difficult spot — the smallest school in Class 3A.

Consistently, the same schools end up in the 28th spot: Mountain View, Thermopolis, Lovell, Glenrock and Lyman. And Mountain View, Thermopolis, Lovell and Kemmerer have all recently been school 29 — the biggest in Class 2A.

In 2001, when the WHSAA went from enrollment-based cutoffs (e.g., smaller than 104 students was 1A, and so on) to a set number of schools per classification (the 12 largest in 4A, the next 16 largest in 3A, the next 20 largest in 2A, the rest in 1A), the splits worked pretty well. The smallest 3A school, school 28, floated at about 300 students; the largest 2A school was about 250 students, or maybe a bit smaller. However, that cutoff has changed dramatically. For the next reclassification cycle, set to start in the fall of 2016, school 28 will be Lyman at 210 students. In 1998, the school ranked 28th — the cutoff between 3A and 2A — had 288 students.

The problem, though, isn’t that the smallest 3A schools are shrinking. It’s that the biggest schools in 3A aren’t shrinking as fast.

In the past 15 years, the largest discrepancy to crop up is the one between the largest and smallest schools in Class 3A. Almost all schools near the 3A/2A cutoff line 15 years ago — Kemmerer, Glenrock, Mountain View, Lyman, Lovell, Thermopolis, Newcastle, Wheatland — have all gotten smaller. The ones that have grown only grew by minuscule amounts. (The exception is Pinedale, where natural gas development prompted a huge influx of students.) The schools at the top of 3A are smaller, too… but their rate of loss is not nearly like that of those schools near the bottom of the classification.

And while the most recent reclassification cycle has Glenrock, Kemmerer and Lovell in 2A, the other four small schools hovering near the 2A/3A cutoff (Newcastle, Wheatland, Lyman and Thermopolis) are still in 3A despite having lost significant numbers of students.

This is almost exclusively a 3A problem. For 4A, 2A and 1A, the 12-16-20-rest setup continues to work. For example, the gap between the largest 2A school and the smallest 2A school has remained fairly static: In 2005, the smallest 2A school had 97 students; entering 2016, it will be at 87.

Here’s a quick glance at the school ranked 13th (largest 3A using current classification rules), schools 24-28 (the bottom five in 3A) and 29-32 (the largest three in 2A) over the years:

1976
13. Powell, 645
…
24. Wheatland, 322
25. Lovell, 266
26. Kemmerer, 262
27. Greybull, 227
28. Glenrock, 217
——-
29. Lusk, 203
30. St. Mary’s, 190
31. Sundance, 181
32. Pinedale, 178

1981
13. Cody, 718
…
24. Glenrock, 330
25. Thermopolis, 316
26. Lovell, 247
27. Kemmerer, 233
28. Greybull, 214
——-
29. Lyman, 197
30. Pinedale, 192
31. Hanna, 192
32. Sundance, 192

1985
13. Cody, 693
…
24. Glenrock, 321
25. Thermopolis, 304
26. Kemmerer, 248
27. Lyman, 237
28. Mountain View, 236
——-
29. Lovell, 228
30. Greybull, 192
31. Wind River, 187
32. Pinedale, 185

1998
13. Lander, 787
…
24. Kemmerer, 331
25. Lyman, 316
26. Mountain View, 309
27. Glenrock, 306
28. Thermopolis, 288
——-
29. Lovell, 254
30. Wyoming Indian, 240
31. Big Piney, 218
32. Wright, 200

2005
13. Jackson, 743
…
24. Glenrock, 257
25. Kemmerer, 244
26. Pinedale, 221
27. Thermopolis, 216
28. Mountain View, 213
——-
29. Lovell, 209
30. Lyman, 200
31. Big Piney, 192
32. Greybull, 168

2007
13. Cody, 695
…
24. Glenrock, 253
25. Pinedale, 249
26. Kemmerer, 210
27. Lyman, 208
28. Lovell, 204
——-
29. Mountain View, 196
30. Thermopolis, 189
31. Big Piney, 179
32. Wright, 173

2009
13. Cody, 671
…
24. Newcastle, 260
25. Glenrock, 223
26. Lyman, 218
27. Mountain View, 213
28. Thermopolis, 204
——-
29. Kemmerer, 199
30. Lovell, 199
31. Big Piney, 187
32. Burns, 181

2011
13. Star Valley, 734
…
24. Wheatland, 286
25. Newcastle, 248
26. Mountain View, 226
27. Lyman, 225
28. Glenrock, 219
——-
29. Lovell, 214
30. Big Piney, 203
31. Thermopolis, 201
32. Kemmerer and Burns, 183

2014
13. Star Valley, 717
…
24. Wheatland, 298
25. Newcastle, 237
26. Mountain View, 222
27. Glenrock, 222
28. Lovell, 215
——-
29. Thermopolis, 210
30. Lyman, 204
31. Big Piney, 198
32. Kemmerer, 177

2016
13. Riverton, 742
…
24. Wheatland, 272
25. Mountain View, 236
26. Newcastle, 224
27. Thermopolis, 215
28. Lyman, 210
——-
29. Lovell, 204
30. Moorcroft, 193
31. Big Piney, 192
32. Glenrock, 191

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As noted, the problem is not just the schools’ ranking — it’s also their size relative to other 3A schools.

This wouldn’t be a problem if competitiveness had stayed consistent even as the enrollments have changed. Over the past five years, though, we’ve seen a definitive shift in 3A’s competitiveness.

In short, no size means no chance. For 3A, the 12-16-20-rest classification splits have been a competitive death sentence for schools at the bottom.

Part 2, tomorrow: How small 3A schools’ decreasing enrollments has diminished those schools’ ability to stay competitive.

–patrick

Natrona, 2013: When one point separates winning from losing

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Calling Natrona’s 2013 season gut-wrenching is like calling the pope Catholic.

You’re right, but you’re still a long ways away from the truth.

The pope is the ultimate Catholic. And it turns out Natrona’s 2013 season was the ultimate gut-wrenching season in state history.

In 2013, Natrona went 8-4, and all four losses were by one point. No other team in state history has had as many one-point losses in a season. And it’s not even close.

Three Natrona losses — 42-41 to Cheyenne East, 24-23 to Gillette and 21-20 to Kelly Walsh — came in the regular season, while the fourth, 14-13 to East again, came in the 4A state title game.

That season-long run has only been challenged by schools in two other seasons.

In 1987, Kemmerer lost three games by a single point, falling 9-8 to Pinedale, 8-7 to Saratoga and 14-13 to Cokeville, en route to a 2-6 season. In fact, the Rangers’ first three games of the season were one-point games, as they beat Big Piney 7-6 before losing to Pinedale in the second week and Saratoga the following week.

And in 1991, Cheyenne East lost three times by one point, also finishing 2-6. East’s narrow losses came to Green River (15-14), Cheyenne Central (22-21) and Laramie (21-20), losses made more difficult because they came in three consecutive weeks. In the game before the three one-point losses, East fell to Rock Springs 17-14; the Thunderbirds’ four consecutive losses in this stretch were by a combined six points.

No other teams in state history have had more than two one-point losses in a season.

Alternatively, six teams have won three games by a single point in a season. The most recent? Cheyenne East in 2013 — the same team that beat the historically hard-luck Natrona team. That season, East had its two one-point victories against Natrona and a 28-27 victory against Sheridan in the 4A semifinals on its way to the 4A title and a 10-2 season.

The other teams that had three one-point victories in a season were:

Lander in 1945. The Tigers also lost a game by a single point, too.
Worland in 1951. The Warriors also won a game by two points and finished as Class A runners-up.
Newcastle in 1979.
Cheyenne East in 1983.
Cokeville in 1994. Cokeville won the 1A title this year, winning back-to-back 7-6 games in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

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The 1994 Cokeville team was part of an amazing streak for the Panthers: From 1985 to 2004, Cokeville won 15 consecutive one-point games.

And the 2013 Natrona and Cheyenne East teams were both part of some interesting ongoing streaks. East has won nine consecutive one-point games dating back to 2004, the longest such active streak in the state. Meanwhile, Natrona has lost nine consecutive one-point games, tied for the longest active such run. East’s last loss in a one-point game came in a 20-19 loss to Sheridan in the 2004 consolation playoffs; Natrona hasn’t won a one-point game since beating Gillette 29-28 on Sept. 28, 2001.

The other program with nine consecutive one-point losses is Midwest. The Oilers have not won a one-point game in 56 years, with their last coming in a 7-6 victory against the Natrona JV on Sept. 23, 1960.

Other long active streaks belong to Riverside, which has won five one-point games in a row, and Glenrock, which has lost eight in a row. Glenrock hasn’t won a one-point game since 1981.

On the flipside, several squads have gone decades since losing a one-point game. Hulett and Lyman have not lost one-point games since 1987; however, Hulett has had only one one-point game since 1987, while Lyman has only had two. Dubois hasn’t lost a one-point game since 1990, Hanna hasn’t lost one since 1991 and Burns hasn’t lost one since 1994.

After the long streaks of Midwest and Glenrock, the longest droughts without one-point game victories belong to Wyoming Indian (1993) and Rawlins (1994).

I don’t know how much we can glean from looking at one-point games. Usually, the winners and losers in these types of games arise from a little good fortune.

Natrona’s 2013 season, though, stands alone as the one season where fortune favored the opponent in close game after close game after close game after close game — more often than any other season in state history.

–patrick

One and done: Undefeated until the playoffs

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Shoshoni’s first-round playoff loss to Southeast last October came as a surprise to everyone but the Cyclones.

The Wranglers, after all, entered the Class 1A 11-man playoffs 8-0. They had won the West Conference with ease, giving up just six total points in six conference games (plus one forfeit victory), the closest game in conference play a 19-0 victory against perennial contender Cokeville. To top it off, Shoshoni’s closest victory — a 14-13 nailbiter against 2A Big Piney in the season opener — set the course for the season and, ultimately, allowed the Wranglers to start the playoffs unbeaten.

The Wranglers’ regular-season success, though, didn’t translate to the postseason. Southeast not only won, it controlled the game from kick to gun and ended the Wranglers’ dream season with a 21-3 thumping.

Shoshoni’s loss in the playoffs marked just the fifth time in an eight-team bracket that an undefeated team lost in the first round of the playoffs. The Wranglers joined Burns in 2013, Mountain View in 2006, Rocky Mountain in 2002 and Upton in 1992 on the list of teams with unbeaten regular seasons but no playoff wins in eight-team brackets.

Here’s a glance at the other teams who encountered the same problems Shoshoni did last year:

Burns 2013: The Broncs’ regular season wasn’t dominant — their biggest win was by 26, and only two of their seven on-field wins (plus a forfeit) came by more than 20 points. Still, Burns finished 8-0, only to fall to Thermopolis 20-12 in the first round of the 2A playoffs.

Mountain View 2006: The Buffalos won several close games, winning by scores of 8-0, 8-6, 22-16 and 12-9, on their way to an 8-0 regular season. But lightly heralded Glenrock, which had lost to Mountain View 41-7 in the season opener, surprised the Buffalos 7-0 in the first round of the 3A playoffs to end Mountain View’s season prematurely.

Rocky Mountain 2002: The Grizzlies were also a fortunate team, with victories of 14-6, 23-20 and 22-21 on their resume. That 23-20 victory came against Lovell, the team Rocky faced in the first round of the 3A playoffs. The second time around, the eight-seeded Bulldogs knocked out the second-seeded Grizzlies 18-15.

Upton 1992: The Bobcats swept through their regular season, winning seven straight games — a one-point victory against Bayard, Neb., and a two-point victory against the Gillette sophomores mixed into an otherwise impressive series of games — before the playoffs. However, 5-2 Riverside, whose two regular-season losses were by a total of six points, ended Upton’s season in the first round of the 2A playoffs with a 24-14 victory in Upton.

Oddly enough, beating an undefeated team in the first round has proven to be more of an upset anomaly than a predictor of future success: None of the teams that beat undefeated teams in the first round of the playoffs won their semifinal games.

Since the reinstitution of playoffs for all classes in 1975, 15 other teams had perfect regular seasons spoiled by a loss in the first round of four-team playoff brackets: Meeteetse in 1990, Greybull in 1989, Rock Springs and Lovell in 1988, Pinedale in 1987, Greybull again in 1986, Burlington in 1983, Moorcroft in 1982, Sundance and Byron in 1981, Midwest in 1980, Shoshoni and Big Horn in 1978, Guernsey-Sunrise in 1977 and Byron again in 1976. Seven other unbeaten seasons — Evanston in 1983 and 1979, Newcastle in 1981, Laramie in 1978, Cody in 1977, Buffalo in 1976 and Rock Springs in 1975 — also ended in the first game of the playoffs, but those losses came in state title games when playoffs were only the title games.

–patrick

A basketball schedule for football: Who has done it and how it might look today

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A school’s football schedule often looks vastly different from a school’s basketball schedule.

Ignore for a second the obvious differences in conference alignment and schedule length, and focus instead on conference games.

For most Wyoming high schools, conference games take up more than half of the basketball schedule. And, maybe more importantly, teams get two cracks at their conference opponents — once on the road, once at home.

What if football scheduling adapted the same approach?

A round-robin conference schedule that allowed teams two chances at their conference opponents would give teams schedules with reduced travel and increased focus on regional rivalry. It sounds odd, but it actually might work.

This idea is not completely foreign.

For 15 years, from 1960-74, the Class A Southwest schools (Star Valley, Evanston, Kemmerer, Green River and, eventually, Jackson) played a round-robin schedule where the teams played each other twice during the regular season. The Class B Southwest schools (Mountain View, Lyman, Pinedale, Big Piney and Cokeville) did the same from 1970-76. And that doesn’t even scratch the surface of schools that traditionally played each other twice during the regular season in football’s early days in the state (Cody-Powell, Lander-Riverton, Sundance-Upton and a host of others).

However, previous round-robin schedules fit into longer regular seasons, usually 10 weeks long. These days, Wyoming’s regular season fits into eight or nine weeks. That means, to fully execute a round-robin, no-byes schedule, we can’t have any more than four teams in a conference, giving schools the opportunity for six conference games and two non-conference games.

Splitting 49 11-man teams into four-team conferences turns out to be more difficult than first blush: It means either scaling back to three classifications of roughly 16 schools each or keeping four classifications but skewing to roughly 12 schools each. For our sake, we’ll stick with 12 per class — but that means three conferences per classification (except 1A 11-man and 1A six-man), which might make playoff qualifying a bit weird.

But whatever. Our focus for now is on the regular season, not the postseason.

Let’s give it a try.

When go to 12 teams and three conferences per class, some weird geographical splits appear. For example:

In 4A, it’s pretty much a given that we’ll have to separate the two Casper schools. With three schools (Gillette, Sheridan and Thunder Basin) in the northeast and three (Rock Springs, Green River and Evanston) in the southwest, we pretty much have to split the two Casper schools to make balanced conferences.

The same thing happens with the Fremont County schools Lander and Riverton in 3A. Again, pockets of three-school groupings — Pinedale, Star Valley and Jackson in the far west and Cody, Worland and Powell in the northwest — make it tough to keep Lander and Riverton together.

In 2A, we have to split neighbors Moorcroft and Newcastle — three-school pockets of Greybull, Thermopolis and Lovell in the Northwest and Glenrock, Burns and Wheatland in the southeast force us to split the northeast pairing of the Dogies and Wolves.

Meanwhile, in 1A, things get complicated because we have 13 remaining schools. Rather than two conferences of four teams apiece and one of five, I split the teams into four conferences of four, three, three and three schools. Because of that scheduling, most 1A 11-man teams had to play either three straight home games or three straight road games, something I worked to avoid in other classifications (along with having four road or home games in a five-week stretch) but couldn’t avoid for about half the schools in this conference setup.

Six-man gets to remain relatively unchanged except for conference structure.

Class 4A kept its nine-week schedule; other classifications stayed at eight weeks.

Here is a sample schedule of what Weeks 0-8 (with Zero Week for 4A only) might look like in 2018 if Wyoming adopted these basketball scheduling practices for football (note that “JOB” means JV, out-of-state or bye):

4A Northeast
Gillette: vs. Natrona; vs. Laramie; at Cheyenne Central; vs. Sheridan; at Kelly Walsh; vs. Thunder Basin; vs. Kelly Walsh; at Sheridan; at Thunder Basin.
Sheridan: at Cheyenne South; at Natrona; vs. Cheyenne East; at Gillette; vs. Thunder Basin; at Kelly Walsh; at Thunder Basin; vs. Gillette; vs. Kelly Walsh.
Thunder Basin: at Cheyenne Central; vs. Cheyenne South; at Cody; vs. Kelly Walsh; at Sheridan; at Gillette; vs. Sheridan; at Kelly Walsh; vs. Gillette.
Kelly Walsh: vs. Green River; at Douglas; vs. Natrona; at Thunder Basin; vs. Gillette; vs. Sheridan; at Gillette; vs. Thunder Basin; at Sheridan.

4A Southeast
Cheyenne East: at Rock Springs; vs. Evanston; at Sheridan; vs. Cheyenne South; at Laramie; vs. Cheyenne Central; vs. Laramie; at Cheyenne South; at Cheyenne Central.
Cheyenne South: vs. Sheridan; at Thunder Basin; vs. Green River; at Cheyenne East; vs. Cheyenne Central; at Laramie; at Cheyenne Central; vs. Cheyenne East; vs. Laramie.
Cheyenne Central: vs. Thunder Basin; at Rock Springs; vs. Gillette; vs. Laramie; at Cheyenne South; at Cheyenne East; vs. Cheyenne South; at Laramie; vs. Cheyenne East.
Laramie: at Evanston; at Gillette; vs. Rock Springs; at Cheyenne Central; vs. Cheyenne East; vs. Cheyenne South; at Cheyenne East; vs. Cheyenne Central; at Cheyenne South.

4A West
Rock Springs: vs. Cheyenne East; vs. Cheyenne Central; at Laramie; vs. Evanston; at Natrona; vs. Green River; vs. Natrona; at Evanston; at Green River.
Evanston: vs. Laramie; at Cheyenne East; vs. Star Valley; at Rock Springs; vs. Green River; at Natrona; at Green River; vs. Rock Springs; vs. Natrona.
Green River: at Kelly Walsh; vs. Lander; at Cheyenne South; vs. Natrona; at Evanston; at Rock Springs; vs. Evanston; at Natrona; vs. Rock Springs.
Natrona: at Gillette; vs. Sheridan; at Kelly Walsh; at Green River; vs. Rock Springs; vs. Evanston; at Rock Springs; vs. Green River; at Evanston.

3A East
Buffalo: vs. Glenrock; at Worland; vs. Torrington; at Rawlins; vs. Douglas; vs. Rawlins; at Torrington; at Douglas.
Torrington: at JOB; vs. Wheatland; at Buffalo; vs. Douglas; at Rawlins; at Douglas; vs. Buffalo; vs. Rawlins.
Douglas: vs. Kelly Walsh; at Glenrock; vs. Rawlins; at Torrington; at Buffalo; vs. Torrington; at Rawlins; vs. Buffalo.
Rawlins: at Riverton; vs. Powell; at Douglas; vs. Buffalo; vs. Torrington; at Buffalo; vs. Douglas; at Torrington.

3A Northwest
Riverton: vs. Rawlins; at Lander; vs. Cody; at Powell; vs. Worland; vs. Powell; at Cody; at Worland.
Cody: at Jackson; vs. Thunder Basin; at Riverton; vs. Worland; at Powell; at Worland; vs. Riverton; vs. Powell.
Worland: at Star Valley; vs. Buffalo; vs. Powell; at Cody; at Riverton; vs. Cody; at Powell; vs. Riverton.
Powell: vs. Thermopolis; at Rawlins; at Worland; vs. Riverton; vs. Cody; at Riverton; vs. Worland; at Cody.

3A Southwest
Jackson: vs. Cody; at Mountain View; vs. Pinedale; at Lander; vs. Star Valley; vs. Lander; at Pinedale; at Star Valley.
Pinedale: at Kemmerer; vs. Big Piney; at Jackson; vs. Star Valley; at Lander; at Star Valley; vs. Jackson; vs. Lander.
Star Valley: vs. Worland; at Evanston; vs. Lander; at Pinedale; at Jackson; vs. Pinedale; at Lander; vs. Jackson.
Lander: at Green River; vs. Riverton; at Star Valley; vs. Jackson; vs. Pinedale; at Jackson; vs. Star Valley; at Pinedale.

2A East
Wheatland: vs. Wright; at Torrington; vs. Glenrock; at Newcastle; vs. Burns; vs. Newcastle; at Glenrock; at Burns.
Glenrock: at Buffalo; vs. Douglas; at Wheatland; vs. Burns; at Newcastle; at Burns; vs. Wheatland; vs. Newcastle.
Burns: vs. Saratoga; at Pine Bluffs; vs. Newcastle; at Glenrock; at Wheatland; vs. Glenrock; at Newcastle; vs. Wheatland.
Newcastle: vs. Southeast; at Moorcroft; at Burns; vs. Wheatland; vs. Glenrock; at Wheatland; vs. Burns; at Glenrock.

2A Northwest
Greybull: vs. Lyman; at Tongue River; vs. Thermopolis; at Moorcroft; vs. Lovell; vs. Moorcroft; at Thermopolis; at Lovell.
Thermopolis: at Powell; vs. Big Horn; at Greybull; vs. Lovell; at Moorcroft; at Lovell; vs. Greybull; vs. Moorcroft.
Lovell: at Big Horn; vs. Rocky Mountain; vs. Moorcroft; at Thermopolis; at Greybull; vs. Thermopolis; at Moorcroft; vs. Greybull.
Moorcroft: at Upton-Sundance; vs. Newcastle; at Lovell; vs. Greybull; vs. Thermopolis; at Greybull; vs. Lovell; at Thermopolis.

2A Southwest
Kemmerer: vs. Pinedale; at Cokeville; vs. Mountain View; at Lyman; vs. Big Piney; vs. Lyman; at Mountain View; at Big Piney.
Mountain View: at JOB; vs. Jackson; at Kemmerer; vs. Big Piney; at Lyman; at Big Piney; vs. Kemmerer; vs. Lyman.
Big Piney: vs. Cokeville; at Pinedale; vs. Lyman; at Mountain View; at Kemmerer; vs. Mountain View; at Lyman; vs. Kemmerer.
Lyman: at Greybull; vs. Wind River; at Big Piney; vs. Kemmerer; vs. Mountain View; at Kemmerer; vs. Big Piney; at Mountain View.

1A 11-man Northeast
Upton-Sundance: vs. Moorcroft; at Shoshoni; vs. Tongue River; at Lusk; vs. Wright; at Southeast; vs. Lusk; at Wright.
Wright: at Wheatland; vs. JOB; vs. Lusk; at Pine Bluffs; at Upton-Sundance; at Lusk; vs. Big Horn; vs. Upton-Sundance.
Lusk: vs. Pine Bluffs; at Southeast; at Wright; vs. Upton-Sundance; at JOB; vs. Wright; at Upton-Sundance; vs. Saratoga.

1A 11-man Southeast
Southeast: at Newcastle; vs. Lusk; at JOB; at Saratoga; vs. Pine Bluffs; vs. Upton-Sundance; vs. Saratoga; at Pine Bluffs.
Pine Bluffs: at Lusk; at Burns; vs. Saratoga; vs. Wright; at Southeast; at Saratoga; vs. JOB; vs. Southeast.
Saratoga: vs. Burns; at Wyoming Indian; at Pine Bluffs; vs. Southeast; vs. Rocky Mountain; vs. Pine Bluffs; at Southeast; at Lusk.

1A 11-man Northwest
Tongue River: at Wind River; vs. Greybull; at Upton-Sundance; at Rocky Mountain; vs. Big Horn; vs. JOB; vs. Rocky Mountain; at Big Horn.
Big Horn: vs. Lovell; at Thermopolis; vs. Rocky Mountain; vs. JOB; at Tongue River; at Rocky Mountain; at Wright; vs. Tongue River.
Rocky Mountain: vs. Shoshoni; at Lovell; at Big Horn; vs. Tongue River; at Saratoga; vs. Big Horn; at Tongue River; vs. JOB.

1A 11-man Southwest
Wind River: vs. Tongue River; at Lyman; vs. Wyoming Indian; at Cokeville; vs. Shoshoni; vs. Cokeville; at Wyoming Indian; at Shoshoni.
Wyoming Indian: at JOB; vs. Saratoga; at Wind River; vs. Shoshoni; at Cokeville; at Shoshoni; vs. Wind River; vs. Cokeville.
Shoshoni: at Rocky Mountain; vs. Upton-Sundance; vs. Cokeville; at Wyoming Indian; at Wind River; vs. Wyoming Indian; at Cokeville; vs. Wind River.
Cokeville: at Big Piney; vs. Kemmerer; at Shoshoni; vs. Wind River; vs. Wyoming Indian; at Wind River; vs. Shoshoni; at Wyoming Indian.

1A six-man Northeast
NSI: vs. Ten Sleep; at Burlington; vs. Midwest; at Kaycee; vs. Hulett; vs. Kaycee; at Midwest; at Hulett.
Midwest: at Guernsey; vs. Rock River; at NSI; vs. Hulett; at Kaycee; at Hulett; vs. NSI; vs. Kaycee.
Hulett: at Lingle; vs. Guernsey; vs. Kaycee; at Midwest; at NSI; vs. Midwest; at Kaycee; vs. NSI.
Kaycee: at Meeteetse; vs. Lingle; at Hulett; vs. NSI; vs. Midwest; at NSI; vs. Hulett; at Midwest.

1A six-man Southeast
Lingle: vs. Hulett; at Kaycee; vs. Hanna; at Rock River; vs. Guernsey; vs. Rock River; at Hanna; at Guernsey.
Hanna: at Dubois; vs. Snake River; at Lingle; vs. Guernsey; at Rock River; at Guernsey; vs. Lingle; vs. Rock River.
Guernsey: vs. Midwest; at Hulett; vs. Rock River; at Hanna; at Lingle; vs. Hanna; at Rock River; vs. Lingle.
Rock River: vs. St. Stephens; at Midwest; at Guernsey; vs. Lingle; vs. Hanna; at Lingle; vs. Guernsey; at Hanna.

1A six-man Northwest
Riverside: vs. Farson; at St. Stephens; vs. Burlington; at Ten Sleep; vs. Meeteetse; vs. Ten Sleep; at Burlington; at Meeteetse.
Burlington: at Snake River; vs. NSI; at Riverside; vs. Meeteetse; at Ten Sleep; at Meeteetse; vs. Riverside; vs. Ten Sleep.
Meeteetse: vs. Kaycee; at Farson; vs. Ten Sleep; at Burlington; at Riverside; vs. Burlington; at Ten Sleep; vs. Riverside.
Ten Sleep: at NSI; vs. Dubois; at Meeteetse; vs. Riverside; vs. Burlington; at Riverside; vs. Meeteetse; at Burlington.

1A six-man Southwest
Dubois: vs. Hanna; at Ten Sleep; vs. Farson; at Snake River; vs. St. Stephens; vs. Snake River; at Farson; at St. Stephens.
Farson: at Riverside; vs. Meeteetse; at Dubois; vs. St. Stephens; at Snake River; at St. Stephens; vs. Dubois; vs. Snake River.
St. Stephens: at Rock River; vs. Riverside; vs. Snake River; at Farson; at Dubois; vs. Farson; at Snake River; vs. Dubois.
Snake River: vs. Burlington; at Hanna; at St. Stephens; vs. Dubois; vs. Farson; at Dubois; vs. St. Stephens; at Farson.

So, what do you think? Would basketball scheduling ideas work for football? Should the round-robin schedule make a comeback?

–patrick

Zeroes and sixes part 2: Final four (and five)

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In nearly 24,000 games over more than 120 years of Wyoming high school football, the final score of 4 has only happened seven times; the final score of 5 has happened 20 times, but 14 of those came prior to 1912, when touchdowns were worth five points instead of six. Since 1912, the final score of 5 has only happened six times.

And only two of those teams since 1912 have won games by scoring that many points: Pavillion in 1960 (four) and Cheyenne East in 2006 (five).

The seven occurrences of a final score of 4:

UW JV 12, Laramie 4 — Dec. 5, 1896. There’s not much known about this game other than the score. But the score alone is enough to bring attention to it here….

Kemmerer 7, Rock Springs 4 — Oct. 29, 1937. This was actually a big game in the 1937 season, as it decided the Southwest District title. If Rock Springs had won, the Tigers would have won the district title and went to the playoffs. Instead, Kemmerer won and represented the Southwest in the postseason.

Sheridan 25, Natrona 4 — Nov. 11, 1946. This game meant a lot more to Sheridan than to Natrona; the Broncs won the game to secure the big-school state championship, while Natrona finished with a losing record. This game was the final game of Sheridan’s regular-season schedule, and the last before the Broncs’ victory in the 1946 Turkey Bowl, which I call one of the 10 most important games in state history.

Byron 49, Big Horn 4 — Nov. 11, 1949. This six-man state semifinal game is here because the Rams converted a successful field goal, worth four points in six-man, for their only points of the game. Byron won the state title the next week, beating Reliance 28-20 for its second consecutive title.

Pavillion 4, St. Stephens 0 — Sept. 16, 1960. The Pavillion Panthers of 1960 are the only team in state history to win a game while scoring exactly four points, shutting out the Eagles while notching a pair of safeties to earn the victory. Pavillion finished 7-1 in 1960, the best finish in the program’s short history.

Lyman 12, Big Piney 4 — Sept. 11, 1970. The memory of this one didn’t last long. The Punchers got their revenge, beating the Eagles by a more traditional 30-6 score about a month later.

Wyoming Indian 22, Meeteetse 4 — Sept. 1, 2000. The only four-point final score in the past 45 years came in Week 1 of the 2000 season.

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The six five-point finals since 1912, when touchdowns became worth six points instead of five:

Kemmerer 21, Evanston 5 — Oct. 6, 1923. Kemmerer started its program uniquely; this was the first game in program history, and it produced a “5” on the scoreboard. It was KHS’s only victory in its inaugural season, and Evanston notched revenge two weeks later by beating the Rangers 19-13.

Cody 7, Thermopolis 5 — Oct. 31, 1931. The 1931 season — the first one for state-sanctioned statewide playoffs — was confusing in the Northwest. Despite tying with Cody for the Northwest title and losing by this unique 7-5 score, Thermopolis was given the Northwest’s spot in the playoffs, much to the chagrin of the Cody faithful.

Southeast 14, Cokeville 5 — Oct. 28, 2000. Wyoming had 69 years pass between final scores of 5. This playoff victory helped propel the Cyclones to the Class 1A-Division II state title this season.

Upton 25, Sundance 5 — Sept. 17, 2004. Sundance scored all five points — a safety and a field goal — in the second quarter of their loss to Upton. Oddly enough, both the Bulldogs and Bobcats lost to Big Horn in the Class 2A playoffs, Sundance in the semifinals and Upton in the state title game. Upton moved to Class 1A in 2005, and Upton in 1A and Sundance in 2A both won state titles that year.

Cheyenne East 5, Natrona 3 — Nov. 3, 2006. This was one of the craziest games in state playoff history, with East scoring all five of its points late in the fourth quarter and then hanging on as Natrona sent its field goal attempt wide left on the final play of the game. (And some folks in Casper will go to their graves thinking that field goal — which sailed over the top of the left upright — should have been ruled good.) East lost to Gillette the next week in the Class 5A title game. And it remains the only time since 1912 that a team has won a game by scoring exactly five points.

Mountain View 9, Pinedale 5 — Oct. 2, 2009. This was Mountain View’s only victory of the 2009 season, with a fourth-quarter touchdown sealing the game for the Buffalos.

–patrick

Zeroes and sixes: The most common final score tallies in Wyoming football

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When Cheyenne East’s players burst off the sidelines and onto the field at Cheney Alumni Field in Casper on Nov. 3, 2006, the Thunderbirds were celebrating a huge victory in their season — and a historic one for the state’s football teams.

Their 5-3 victory against Natrona put East into the state championship game for the second consecutive year. The T-Birds made it to the title game the hard way, winning two hard-fought road games to get there; they had beaten Evanston 10-6 the week before the big win against the Mustangs.

But East’s victory stood out for another reason, one beyond the in-season ramifications: the final score.

East won the game by scoring five points, something that hadn’t been done in nearly a century.

In fact, the least common final scores in the 122 seasons of Wyoming high school football below 77 points are scores of 4 and 5.

The final score of 4 has only happened seven times in that 122-season span. The final score of 5 has happened 20 times, but 14 of those came prior to 1912, when touchdowns were worth five points instead of six. So, since 1912, the final score of 5 has only happened six times — including East’s 2006 victory against Natrona, the ONLY time since 1912 that a team has won a game by scoring exactly five points.

Conversely, the most popular final score (zero) has happened 7,628 times in Wyoming’s nearly 24,000 high school games on record; the second-most popular final score of 6 has been reached 4,865 times.

The 11 most popular final scores, all with at least 1,000 occurrences, through the end of the 2015 season:

0: 7,628
6: 4,865
7: 3,008
14: 2,423
13: 2,262
12: 2,239
20: 1,878
19: 1,223
26: 1,163
21: 1,145
8: 1,039

The lowest final score to never be reached is 98 points. Final scores of 94, 95 and 97 have only been achieved once.

Here is how often each final score has been reached, through the end of the 2015 season:

Point occurrences through 2015

PointsOccurrences
07628
2196
3235
47
520
64865
73008
81039
9259
10285
1149
122239
132262
142432
15394
16456
17274
18863
191223
201878
211145
22535
23219
24569
25608
261163
27910
28955
29209
30411
31449
32672
33650
34730
35482
36313
37270
38439
39343
40502
41407
42404
43183
44266
45276
46342
47273
48287
49239
50173
51158
52189
53120
54177
55132
56124
5763
58101
5964
60104
6162
6270
6347
6447
6536
6652
6732
6844
6925
7036
7116
7225
7318
7418
7516
7611
7713
788
797
806
816
829
835
848
859
866
8710
884
896
903
912
923
935
941
951
963
971
980
990
1000
1010
1021
1030
1040
1050
1060
1070
1080
1092
1100
1110
1121
1131
1140
1150
1160
1170
1180
1190
1200
1210
1220
1230
1240
1250
1260
1271

In the next post, we’ll take a look at those occurrences when teams have finished with the unique final scores of 4 and 5.

–patrick

2015 season wrap-up

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The 2015 season — aside from individual records, all-state, all-America and Super 25 recognition — has been uploaded to the site. Let me know if you see any errors or problems!

That said, 2015 had some pretty remarkable, unique or crazy things come from it:

  • Wyoming did not have any undefeated state champions this year, as all five state champs finished with one loss apiece. The last time Wyoming didn’t have any undefeated teams was 2006.
  • 2015 is the first year since Wyoming moved to five classes for football in 1990 that all five champs had the same number of losses (1). The last time all state champs finished with same number of losses was 1975; all three state champs (Natrona, Douglas, Pinedale) went unbeaten that year.
  • Sheridan won its 24th state title, extending its existing state record.
  • Despite losing the 4A state title game, Gillette did set single-season record for points in an 11-man season (539). The Camels beat Natrona’s record from 2012 by three points.
  • Likewise, Meeteetse set the all-class state record for average points per game (68.27), beating the 2009 Guernsey team by .05 ppg.
  • Four of the top 10 combined scoring games in state history were played in 2015, including the record game in which Dubois (102) and Ten Sleep (60) combined for 162 points.
  • St. Stephens’ average of 80.14 points allowed per game this season topped the not-so-good record list of most points allowed per game in a season. Their average was about 10 points per game worse than the old record, also set by St. Stephens, from 2013. Dubois, meanwhile, gave up 569 points total this year, second-most all time in one season, just below the record Midwest set last year of 573.
  • Cokeville’s streak of 175 games with at least one point ended in 2015; it’s a state record. However, spots No. 2 and 3 on the list are active streaks entering 2016 — Gillette hasn’t been shut out in 125 straight games, while Natrona has scored in 120 consecutive games.

Finally, here’s a peek at the final picks tallies for the year. It finally happened — Tad and Homer saved their best for last, and they both beat me on the title game picks.

Last week’s records: Patrick, 3-2 (60 percent); Tad, 4-1 (80 percent); Homer, 4-1 (80 percent).

Season records: Patrick, 232-64 (78 percent); Tad, 187-109 (63 percent); Homer, 171-125 (58 percent).

Patrick’s 11-year total: 2,583-668 (79 percent)

All-state and Super 25 will be uploaded when distributed publicly; individual season records will be posted once official season statistics are made public later this week.

Of course, just because the season is done does not mean we’re done here. This blog will be full of interesting tidbits throughout the year. If you want to suggest a blog post for me to write — or if you’d like to contribute a post of your own — let me know. Of course, I make no guarantees that I’ll write about your idea, or that I’ll publish any contributed posts, but I’m open to ideas.

Don’t forget about wyoming-basketball.com.

Thanks for making the trip with me all season long.

–patrick

State champs who played each other during the regular season

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Sometimes, it’s only in retrospect that we can fully grasp the significance of a particular football game.

Take Week 1 of last season, when Cokeville beat Mountain View. While we knew both the Panthers and the Buffalos would be pretty good in 2014, we had no way of knowing that both teams on the field that day would eventually win state championships. Yet just 10 weeks later, both teams did just that in Laramie, with Cokeville beating Lusk for the 1A 11-man championship and Mountain View topping Big Horn for the 2A title.

*The Cokeville-Mountain View game from 2014 was one of 16 times in state history in which two eventual state champions played each other during the regular season.

*Of those 16 games, 14 have come since 1984 and 10 have come since 1998.

And two happened on Sept. 5, 2008. That day, eventual 3A champ Glenrock beat eventual 4A champ Douglas, while eventual 2A champ Burns beat eventual 1A champ Southeast.

Cokeville has been involved in five such contests — and the Panthers have won all five. Three times, Cokeville and Big Piney played each other in the regular season when both schools won state titles, and three times Cokeville won by one point (14-13 in 2001, 7-6 in 1998 and 8-7 in 1988).

Southeast and Lusk both won back-to-back titles in 1999 and 2000, and they played each other both years. Lusk came out on top both times. Southeast got its revenge in 2001, when the Cyclones beat Lusk in the state title game after moving into the Tigers’ classification.

The first meetings of eventual state champions came in 1952 and 1953, when eventual Class AA champion Sheridan and eventual Class A winner Worland played each other to open the season. Both times, Sheridan got the better of Worland.

Twice, eventual state champs have met four seasons in a row: from 1998-2001 and from 2005-08.

*Class 3A champion Kemmerer played two state champions in 2007, beating 2A champ Riverside but losing to 4A champ Jackson.

No games will be added to this list in 2015; none of the teams in the championship games played any of the other title-game participants from other classifications during the regular season.

*Here are the results of the 16 eventual state champ vs. eventual state champ matchups:

2014: Cokeville 30, at Mountain View 12 (Sept. 6)
2008: at Glenrock 27, Douglas 14 (Sept. 5)
2008: Burns 27, at Southeast 18 (Sept. 5)
2007: at Kemmerer 21, Riverside 0 (Sept. 29)
2007: at Jackson 24 Kemmerer 12 (Oct. 12)
2006: at Southeast 32, Guernsey-Sunrise 0 (Sept. 15)
2005: at Sundance 26, Upton 19 (Sept. 16)
2001: Cokeville 14, at Big Piney 13 (Sept. 7)
2000: Lusk 40, at Southeast 0 (Sept. 8)
1999: at Lusk 43, Southeast 14 (Sept. 10)
1998: at Cokeville 7, Big Piney 6 (Sept. 18)
1991: at Sheridan 34, Cody 14 (Sept. 13)
1988: Cokeville 8, at Big Piney 7 (Oct. 13)
1984: at Cokeville 44, Mountain View 13 (Sept. 7)
1953: Sheridan 18, at Worland 0 (Sept. 4)
1952: at Sheridan 43, Worland 14 (Sept. 5)  

This list does not count times when co-champions of a class played each other during the regular season.

–patrick

Post updated 1:27 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11, to add the 2007 game between Kemmerer and Riverside, which was omitted from the original list. * indicates paragraphs with updated information from original post.

When the road to a state championship is a literal road: Postseason success on the road

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Powell’s 2011 playoff run was, simply put, inspired.

Few teams have done what Powell did that season — win three road playoff games to win a state championship.

In fact, since Wyoming expanded to five classifications in 1990, 212 teams have played in state championship games after making their way through eight-team playoff brackets (through the end of the 2014 season). Of those 212 teams:

  • 18 teams (8.5 percent) played in the title game after playing their first playoff game on the road.
  • 3 teams (1.4 percent) won the state championship after opening the playoffs on the road.
  • 2 teams (0.9 percent) won the state championship after playing all three of their playoff games on the road (or by playing in a neutral-site championship).

Only a small handful of teams reach the title game after starting the playoffs on the road. Even when such teams make it to the title game, those road-first squads are just 3-15 in the championship. Only Powell in 2011 and Glenrock in 2003 won titles by playing three straight road games in the playoffs; in addition, Big Piney won a title in 2006 after winning its quarterfinal game on the road, its semifinal game at home and its title game on the road.

Between 1990 and 2008, after which state title games moved to Laramie, only one team that started the playoffs in an eight-team bracket on the road hosted the state title game: Lovell in 2003. Oddly enough, Lovell lost that championship game to the aforementioned Glenrock squad. Yeah, the 3A playoffs in 2003 were crazy. I blame power ratings.

I have rambled about this before, back when I used to work for the Casper Star-Tribune and produced the blog “Sports Goulash.” Unfortunately, that blog post (along with every other one I wrote there) has been eliminated from the CST site.

When I first wrote about this idea, I used it as a call to reduce the playoff brackets from eight to four teams, and to extend the regular season a week. More games for all teams, fewer first-round playoff blowouts, an emphasis on the regular season…. After all, I reasoned at the time, it hardly seems worth it to have the playoffs at three rounds when less than 2 percent of teams that don’t host in the first round win a state championship anyway. Sounded good at the time.

I’m not so sure I agree with that assessment now, especially after the first two rounds of the playoffs this year.

The 2015 postseason showed us two more reasons to keep the playoffs at eight teams per classification, as both Green River and Tongue River reached this week’s championship games after starting the postseason on the road. Tongue River made a pair of long road trips to reach Laramie, beating defending champion Cokeville in Cokeville in the quarterfinals and topping East Conference top seed Lingle in Lingle in the semis. Green River, meanwhile, beat Buffalo in Buffalo in the 3A quarterfinals before beating West top seed Jackson in Jackson in the semifinal round.

In four-team brackets, neither the Wolves nor the Eagles would have even had the chance to make it this far. Now they’re playing in Laramie.

The more I think about it, the more I like the fact that a lot of teams make the playoffs — it makes almost every regular-season game important. That makes the regular season, especially Weeks 6-8, quite fun.

A longer regular season doesn’t necessarily mean a better regular season. If only four schools per classification qualified for the playoffs, some teams could be eliminated from postseason consideration halfway through the season. That’s not much fun.

And the upsets are, in part, what makes the postseason fun and memorable. Eight-team brackets expand the chances for those upsets, even if they don’t happen that often, and even if the 50 percent of the teams in the playoffs who start with a road game win titles 1.4 percent of the time.

If you’re unsure where you stand, just ask anyone playing for Green River or Tongue River this weekend. They’ll help you figure it out.

For reference, here are the 18 teams that played in the state championship game after starting their playoff run on the road (eight-team brackets only, from 1990-2014):

The three state champions
Powell, 2011 (quarterfinals and semifinals on the road; championship at neutral site in Laramie as “road” team)
Big Piney, 2006 (quarterfinals on the road, semifinals at home, title game on the road)
Glenrock, 2003 (all three games on the road)
The 15 other state runners-up
Kaycee, 2009; Evanston, 1993 and 2007 (’07 semis at home); Cheyenne East, 2006; Gillette, 2003 (semis at home); Lovell, 2003 (hosted title game) and 1990; Lusk, 2003 (semis at home); Normative Services, 2001; Mountain View, 2000; Sheridan, 1996 and 1997; Pine Bluffs, 1991 and 1994; Wind River, 1992 (semis at home).

–patrick

DNF: Seasons canceled

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The news that Burlington is all but abandoning its 11-man schedule for a series of six-man games this year isn’t all that surprising. The Huskies struggled with participation numbers both last year and this year and are scheduled to move to six-man officially in 2016.

However, Burlington’s move appears to be the first time in at least 50 years that a team has started a season, canceled it, and scheduled what amounts to an entirely new series of games in its place.

Canceling a season once it has started? That’s not new. I found seven instances in the past 50 years in Wyoming where a team canceled or forfeited at least two games at the end of its season:

  • In 2002, NSI played three games but forfeited its final three contests after the school’s students suffered food poisoning brought on by some bad chow in the institution’s cafeteria.
  • In 1994, dwindling participation numbers at Ten Sleep forced the Pioneers to cancel two games, although the program held out long enough to play its scheduled season finale against Meeteetse.
  • Something similar happened to Ten Sleep in 1992; the Pioneers forfeited their final two games, both nonconference games, after going winless in their conference games.
  • Farson played three games in 1990 before forfeiting one; the Pronghorns came back for one more game and then forfeited their final three. The season was Farson’s last until 2009.
  • The 1975 season in Dubois was also stopped short as the Rams forfeited their final two games of the season.
  • Meeteetse started its 1971 season 5-1 but had to forfeit its final three games of the season.
  • And in 1965, Pavillion started 2-2 but canceled its final two games.

Other programs have scheduled sub-varsity seasons — for example, Hulett in 2010, Midwest in 2008 and 2002, Ten Sleep in 2008 and 2007, Meeteetse in 2002 and Dubois in 1998 — against either sub-varsity teams or generous-feeling varsity squads. However, those plans came together before the start of a season.

Meanwhile, some teams have scheduled a season only to have it end before the first snap: Tongue River in 2011, for example. (I outlined canceled seasons and sub-varsity seasons on this blog in 2011.)

And, meanwhile, some teams have successfully petitioned the WHSAA to “play down” and play teams in a different classification, but with the loss of playoff opportunities as a consequence (like Wyoming Indian did in 2007-08, or Lusk in 1990-92).

But a team has never had the chance to do what Burlington is doing this season — start a season with the intention of finishing it, but then cancel the season in time to build what basically amounts to a new schedule.

Good for Burlington. Playing is better than not playing. And I’m glad to see that Burlington’s future opponents now have chances to schedule new games in place of the Burlington game. Three already have.

The mess for wyoming-football.com is figuring out how to record something unprecedented.

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Here’s where the record-keeper in me gets into this.

As the unelected, self-appointed documenter of Wyoming high school football history (a title that carries as much weight as the pope of Chilitown), I have to decide what counts here and what doesn’t. I feel a responsibility to fully reflect a season in its entirety. That’s why I fight back so hard during Zero Week, when I say if it looks like a game and gets timed like a game and gets played like a game and gets officiated like a game, it’s a game, regardless of what the WHSAA says.

As noted, Burlington’s case is unique. Its forfeit losses will count — after all, it started the season and then, unlike mass cancellations of seasons past, played it week by week.

Usually, occasional weekly forfeits are just recorded as a loss; everyone plays again next week and we move on. It happens. But when a team forfeits, and then forfeits again, and then forfeits again, and THEN decides to schedule a bunch of new games, that makes things a bit trickier.

In situations where teams have canceled seasons or moved to JV schedules prior to the start of a season, I’ve simply wiped the slate clean. For example, the 2011 Tongue River season isn’t a bunch of forfeit losses. It just doesn’t exist. I feel that’s a more accurate reflection of Tongue River’s 2011 season than to have the Eagles listed at 0-8 that season, which is what the Wyoming High School Activities Association did that season.

And in situations where a team cancels or forfeits to end a year, I just note that. Generally, when that’s been done, any scheduled games other teams play to take the place of those missed games are tallied, as well, and counted toward that team’s final record — but, generally, teams haven’t scheduled new games to make up for the ones they miss via forfeit.

This situation is unique both for Burlington and for its opponents who were fortunate enough to schedule new games in place of playing the Huskies. That’s what Cokeville, Shoshoni and Rocky Mountain have already done. My conundrum: Count ONLY the forfeited game? Or count BOTH the forfeited game AND the new game?

Like I said, I feel part of my responsibility, not only to this season but to every season, is to record and reflect the season as a whole. That’s why the first option — counting only the forfeited game but not the game played in its stead — feels fraudulent. In doing so, I’d be counting something that didn’t happen on the field (a forfeit) but not counting something that did (the make-up game). That just doesn’t feel right.

And that says nothing about the six-man games Burlington will play. Do I count those alongside the forfeits in Burlington’s season record? Ignore the nomenclature for a second, that Burlington itself is calling these games “exhibitions,” and look at the reality: Best players on the field. Score kept. Feels like a game; should be counted like one, right?

What do you think? Let me know what you think would be most appropriate. Leave me a comment and help me reason this through.

Just don’t bring up Zero Week. 🙂

–patrick