Class 1A six-man preview: Parity? Perfection? Both?

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Since six-man’s restart in 2009, every season has started with a clear favorite. Even though that preseason favorite didn’t always win the state title, at least there was consistency when coaches tried to answer the question of who was the team most likely to win it all.

This year, though, the predictions vary widely. That lack of certainty means a variety of teams have real chances to win it all this year. Talent, experience and past successes are evenly distributed across several teams.

In short: Six-man will be really tight at the top this fall.

Four questions to answer

Can Guernsey repeat as state champion? Maybe, but six-man’s trends suggest otherwise. Repetition has proven challenging in the classification, as six-man hasn’t had a repeat champion since Snake River in 2011. Dubois won it all in 2012, Meeteetse in 2013 and Guernsey in 2014.

Will the classification have another undefeated champ? Probably. Since six-man was reinstated in 2009, every single state champion has been undefeated against in-state competition. Those regular-season losses have all proven fatal to a team’s title hopes.

You’re dancing around the obvious question: Who’s the favorite? Right now, Meeteetse, Kaycee and Guernsey have the coach’s votes. Six-man only has six returning all-state players coming back this year, and five of the six are on these three teams.

What program is the darkhorse in all of this? Farson. The Pronghorns could be one of the surprise teams in six-man this year if everything goes right. They lost some key players to graduation and to transfers, but if they can overcome or recoup those losses, they might host a playoff game for the first time in program history.

Four (OK, five) players to watch

Taylor Rouse, Kaycee. Rouse is the only two-time all-state selection playing in six-man this year, and by the time this season is done, he’ll likely have three. He ran for 1,584 yards and 24 touchdowns last year and scored a whopping 205 points (22.8 points per game). He’s the keystone in Kaycee’s state title hopes this year.

Braden Duncan, Snake River. Duncan’s rushing totals last year — 2,129 yards, 25 touchdowns, 13.9 yards per attempt — were gaudy, even for six-man. And despite leading six-man in rushing, he still couldn’t crack the all-state team. But opposing coaches know about him, and his presence makes the Rattlers an automatic contender.

Zac Rose, Dubois. If the Rams want to make it to their fourth championship game in five years, it’ll be on Rose’s back. The all-state selection is Dubois’ leading returner in rushing, tackling, scoring and kick returning. His role is critical on a team that lost four all-state selections to graduation.

Dalton Abarr and Carter Johnson, Meeteetse. Abarr, a junior quarterback, and Johnson, a senior receiver/running back, make up six-man’s most dynamic aerial threat. They combined for 640 yards and 12 TDs a year ago, nearly half of Abarr’s 1,328 passing yards. Oh, and they’re the Longhorns’ top two returning tacklers, too.

Four key games

Kaycee at Guernsey, Sept. 11. The Buckaroos’ first East Conference game of the season is on the grass of the defending state champions. The trajectory of the East race will be set right here; the loser will play catch-up all season long.

Snake River at Meeteetse, Sept. 11. Similarly, the West Conference’s pace will be set in the conference opener between the Rattlers and Longhorns, two teams that each want to prove they’re the favorite.

Farson at Meeteetse, Sept. 25. The Pronghorns nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback last year against the Longhorns, eventually coming up one point short. Both teams will have that game in mind this time around in a game that will have huge playoff implications.

Hanna at Kaycee, Oct. 23. This Week 8 game could be huge. The Miners are eager to prove they’ve got what it takes to hang with the state’s best teams, and a victory here could go a long way toward a deep playoff push.

Predicted order of finish

East: Kaycee, Guernsey, Hanna, Midwest, Hulett, NSI, Rock River. West: Meeteetse, Snake River, Farson, Dubois, Ten Sleep, St. Stephens.

Preseason top five: Kaycee, Meeteetse, Snake River, Guernsey, Farson.

Way-too-early title game score prediction

Kaycee 54, Meeteetse 52. The state’s six-man coaches are split — about a third say Kaycee is the team to beat, about a third say Meeteetse and about a third think someone else could come in and surprise everyone. Expect a tight one in Laramie. But expect the road to Laramie to be full of parity and problems, and don’t be surprised if one of those dark-horse teams pulls off something six-man doesn’t see too much: a playoff upset.

Six-man’s wide-open nature this fall should provide some excitement and may lead to another thing that Wyoming has yet to see: a six-man title game that’s actually close late in the fourth quarter. Do you think it’ll actually finish that way? Post a comment and let’s talk about the 80×40 version of the game.

Next week: Class 1A 11-man.

(Updated 4:58 p.m. Aug. 7 to fix the dates of the Sept. 11 games.)

–patrick

Five years, six head coaches: How unique is Worland’s situation?

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When the Worland Warriors take the field this fall, they’ll do so with their sixth head coach in five seasons.

With Wade Sanford in 2011, Curt Mayer in 2012, Josh Garcia and Bryan Bailey co-coaching in 2013, Thor Ware in 2014 and Todd Weber in 2015, the Warriors’ head coaching post has seen more than its fair share of change.

Worland is the first Wyoming high school football program to face this problem in more than a quarter century. However, the Warriors certainly aren’t the first team to face this conundrum, and Worland has actually been through this already.

And other programs have had it worse.

The last program to go through what Worland is facing this season was Rocky Mountain, which went through a stretch of six coaches in its first six seasons as a program from 1983-88.

Two other programs — Sunrise in 1956-61 and Lander in 1922-27 — went through six head coaches in six years. And going through at least five coaches in five years has happened 13 other times.

Kemmerer was the only school to go through the five-coach carousel twice, once in 1942-46 and again in 1960-64. Worland will join that club this year; the Warrior program also went through five different head coaches between 1938 and 1942.

Most of the coaching changes listed here came early in programs’ existence. Lander’s six-in-six span came in its first six years as an established program, while Cody’s five-in-five span from 1921-25 was in the program’s first five years.

Of the situations listed below, University Prep’s is the least surprising: Prep used UW students as its head football coaches and changed those responsibilities annually. In fact, the six-in-five situation Prep faced came in the only five consecutive years in which Prep had an active football team.

An honorable mention goes to Meeteetse, which used five different men as head in a span of seven years from 1996-2002 in which the head coach was different each year: Steven Bailey in 1996, John Fernandez in 1997, Paul Blanford in 1998, Fernandez again in 1999, Curtis Cramp in 2000, Mark Hamilton in 2001, and Fernandez again in 2002.

Below, I’ve listed instances since 1920 where a Wyoming high school cycled through at least five head coaches in five consecutive years. The lists below do NOT include stretches like Meeteetse’s where the same person left and was hired back later, and it also does not include stretches where a coach was unknown.

Six years, six coaches
Rocky Mountain, 1983-88 (John Rogers, Mike Mees, Dave Beemer, Doug Higley, Mike Maughan, Ben Smith)
Sunrise, 1956-61 (Tony Balzan, Walter Koenig, Ted Nichols, Paul Muratore, Jim Mather, Jack Rafferty)
Lander, 1922-27 (Roy Larsen, Joe McDowell, Joseph McClure, George Armitage, Clyde Guschewsky, George Tucker)

Five years, six coaches
Worland, 2011-15 (Wade Sanford, Curt Mayer, Josh Garcia and Bryan Bailey, Thor Ware, Todd Weber)
University Prep, 1926-30 (George Bright, Eldon Boyd, Burton Clammer, Don Harkins and John Engstrom, Ray Thompson)

Five years, five coaches
Riverton, 1977-81 (Brent Engleright, Neil Mellilo, Ken Boatwright, Bob Miller, Leland Smith)
Manderson, 1971-75 (Gary Sutherland, Rick Case, Ken Keil, William Diercks, John Tate)
Greybull, 1968-72 (Jim Crawford, Skip Anderson, Ed Rohloff, Tom Bernatis, Earl Jensen)
Kemmerer, 1960-64 (Duane Workman, Herb Taylor, Jim Martin, Bill Marsh, Bob Tatum)
Cowley, 1954-58 (Therrill Averett, Grant Smith, Willard Hirschi, C.R. Vannoy, Ed Bunch)
St. Mary’s, 1947-51 (Walter Estes, Bill Quinlan, Brad Erzinger, Bill Hoskovec, Austin Jordan)
Superior, 1944-48 (Norman Mikkelson, Grant Rhiner, Norman Kirby, Dean Jackson, Tony Katana)
Kemmerer, 1942-46 (Jim Jiacoletti, Dean Pomeroy, James Burke, Charles Scott, Roland Caranci)
Worland, 1938-42 (LaVern Jung, Kenneth Boles, Ralph Cottrell, Ralph Crowton, Carl Dir)
Sundance, 1933-37 (K.W. Noddings, M.L. Rickerd, Walter Tracy, Woody Sampson, Frank Supon)
Cody, 1921-25 (Phillips, E.V. Harlow, O.P. Roberts, H.F. Grossman, Paul Sweitzer)
Laramie, 1920-24 (Ed Hitchcock, O.A. Libby, Orion Neff, S.M. Clark, Les Crawford)

–patrick

“They haven’t played?” Part 2: Distance

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In part 1 of this two-part series, we looked at schools close in enrollment that haven’t played each other before.

Some of the differences we found there made sense, like Pinedale and Wheatland — right next to each other in enrollment statewide but 364 miles apart on the map. So, despite their nearness in enrollment, it makes sense they haven’t played each other.

Sometimes, though, distance doesn’t make much of a difference. Fifteen schools (Big Horn, Buffalo, Farson, Glenrock, Lander, Laramie, Meeteetse, Normative Services, Riverton, St. Stephens, Sheridan, Southeast, Tongue River, Wright and Wyoming Indian) haven’t played the Wyoming high school that’s closest to them geographically.

Meanwhile, a few schools have done a pretty good job of wearing out their nearby options. Ten programs (Big Piney, Greybull, Hanna, Kemmerer, Lusk, Moorcroft, Pinedale, Star Valley, Sundance and Upton) have played every other varsity program in the state within 100 miles at least once; Kemmerer has played every Wyoming varsity program within 177 miles, the biggest range in the state.

Here’s a glance at the closest opponent that each Wyoming school has yet to play, with distances calculated by Google Maps using state highways (no county or dirt roads, from high school to high school):

Big Horn: Sheridan (11 miles)*
Big Piney: Green River (106 miles)
Buffalo: Big Horn (33 miles)*
Burlington: Powell (34 miles)
Burns: Cheyenne East (25 miles)
Cheyenne Central: Burns (28 miles)
Cheyenne East: Burns (25 miles)
Cheyenne South: Burns (28 miles)
Cody: Meeteetse (32 miles)
Cokeville: Evanston (71 miles)
Douglas: Kelly Walsh (50 miles)
Dubois: Lander (74 miles)
Evanston: Cokeville (71 miles)
Farson: Rock Springs (43 miles)*
Gillette: Wright (39 miles)
Glenrock: Kelly Walsh (24 miles)*
Green River: Lyman (55 miles)
Greybull: Kaycee (174 miles)
Guernsey-Sunrise: Torrington (33 miles)
Hanna: Kelly Walsh (114 miles)
Hulett: Gillette (70 miles)
Jackson: Dubois (89 miles)
Kaycee: Buffalo (45 miles)
Kelly Walsh: Glenrock (24 miles)
Kemmerer: Riverton (177 miles)
Lander: Wyoming Indian (14 miles)*
Laramie: Rock River (38 miles)*
Lingle: Cheyenne East (95 miles)
Lovell: Burlington (36 miles)
Lusk: Kelly Walsh (103 miles)
Lyman: Green River (55 miles)
Meeteetse: Cody (32 miles)*
Midwest: Kelly Walsh (44 miles)
Moorcroft: Buffalo (102 miles)
Mountain View: Green River (61 miles)
Natrona: Kaycee (69 miles)
Newcastle: Hulett (83 miles)
Normative Services: Sheridan (4 miles)*
Pine Bluffs: Cheyenne East (41 miles)
Pinedale: Rock Springs (102 miles)
Powell: Rocky Mountain (22 miles)
Rawlins: Snake River (78 miles)
Riverside: Worland (31 miles) (Riverside including Basin and Manderson records: Buffalo (121 miles))
Riverton: St. Stephens (6 miles)*
Rock River: Laramie (38 miles)
Rock Springs: Farson (43 miles)
Rocky Mountain: Powell (22 miles) (Rocky Mountain including Byron, Cowley and Deaver records: Riverton (164 miles))
St. Stephens: Riverton (6 miles)*
Sheridan: Normative Services (4 miles)*
Shoshoni: Worland (66 miles)
Snake River: Rawlins (78 miles)
Southeast: Torrington (14 miles)*
Star Valley: Pinedale (120 miles)
Sundance: Kaycee (170 miles)
Ten Sleep: Lovell (95 miles)
Thermopolis: Meeteetse (53 miles)
Tongue River: Sheridan (23 miles)*
Torrington: Southeast (14 miles)
Upton: Kaycee (146 miles)
Wheatland: Southeast (48 miles)
Wind River: Riverton (25 miles)
Worland: Riverside (31 miles)
Wright: Gillette (39 miles)*
Wyoming Indian: Lander (14 miles)*

*-indicates that this is the closest football-playing high school to this school

Does it surprise you that any of these pairings, despite being the closest to each other, haven’t been played yet? Any matchups on this list that are actually feasible? Post a comment and we can chat football and geography.

–patrick

“They haven’t played?” Part 1: Enrollment

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When two teams are close to each other in total enrollment, it makes sense that, eventually, those schools will play each other on a football field.

Wyoming, after all, went to great lengths to pool together schools with close enrollments into far-flung conferences (or, in the case of Class 4A, just one classification). Those schools will see each other often in both regular season and postseason play. Schools close to a classification cutoff will sometimes bounce back and forth between classifications, giving them chances to play numerous schools both above and below their enrollment.

Sometimes, though, schools with similar enrollments end up missing each other every season.

For example: Pinedale and Wheatland occupy spots 23 and 24, respectively, in the WHSAA’s enrollment tallies. They’re both in Class 2A for football, but the two schools have yet to play each other. Ever.

Distance — and a history of being in separate classifications — have prevented the Wranglers and Bulldogs from facing each other, even though they’re right next to each other in enrollment.

In other cases, time has been the biggest obstacle. For example, Rock River hasn’t played EITHER school right above (Meeteetse) and right below it (Ten Sleep) on the gridiron. But Rock River has only been a varsity football program for one season.

Something similar is happening for Cokeville and St. Stephens; the two programs are right next to each other in enrollment but play in different classifications (1A 11-man for Cokeville and 1A six-man for St. Stephens) and, obviously, haven’t faced off since St. Stephens resurrected its varsity program two years ago.

Other schools, meanwhile, have pretty much run out of close-enrollment schools to play. Gillette, Rock Springs and Guernsey-Sunrise have played every single available school both above and below their enrollments, with the closest school being 13 places away. (Gillette and Rock Springs don’t have a ton of schools above their enrollment, and Guernsey-Sunrise doesn’t have a ton below, contributing to the wide berths for each school.)

But that’s just the closest. The title for widest range range — the number of total schools, both above and below combined — goes to Thermopolis at 29 schools. The Bobcats have played every current 3A and 2A school, the bottom three schools in 4A and the largest 1A 11-man school.

Ten Sleep and Rock River, at a range of 0, have the smallest. Ten Sleep and Rock River limit each other pretty effectively, as Ten Sleep is the smallest football-playing school in the state and hasn’t played the second-smallest in Rock River.

Pinedale’s one-place range is the next smallest, as the No. 23 Wranglers haven’t played No. 24 Wheatland or No. 21 Torrington.

Here’s a quick glance to see which Wyoming high schools closest to each other in enrollment haven’t faced each other — yet — and how far apart they are in the WHSAA’s enrollment “standings.” (Note: Upton and Sundance are considered separately here.)

Class 4A
Gillette: Jackson (13 spots)
Natrona: Star Valley (11 spots)
Rock Springs: Douglas (13 spots)
Cheyenne East: Star Valley (9 spots)
Kelly Walsh: Star Valley (8 spots)
Cheyenne Central: Star Valley (7 spots)
Cheyenne South: Green River (4 spots)
Sheridan: Jackson (6 spots)
Laramie: Star Valley (4 spots)
Evanston: Douglas (6 spots)

Class 3A
Green River: Cheyenne South (4 spots)
Riverton: Cheyenne South (5 spots)
Star Valley: Laramie (4 spots)
Jackson: Laramie (5 spots)
Cody: Cheyenne South AND Pinedale (8 spots each)
Douglas: Evanston (6 spots)
Rawlins: Cheyenne South (7 spots)
Lander: Pinedale (5 spots)
Powell: Pinedale (4 spots)
Worland: Pinedale (3 spots)
Torrington: Pinedale (2 spots)
Buffalo: Laramie (11 spots)

Class 2A
Pinedale: Wheatland (1 spot)
Wheatland: Pinedale (1 spot)
Newcastle: Pinedale (2 spots)
Mountain View: Torrington (5 spots)
Glenrock: Worland (7 spots)
Lovell: Torrington (7 spots)
Thermopolis: Wyoming Indian (9 spots)
Lyman: Burns (4 spots)
Big Piney: Burns (3 spots)
Kemmerer: Burns (2 spots)
Greybull: Pine Bluffs (11 spots)
Burns: Kemmerer (2 spots)
Big Horn: Shoshoni (8 spots)
Wright: Wyoming Indian (2 spots)

Class 1A 11-man
Moorcroft: Shoshoni (6 spots)
Wyoming Indian: Wright (2 spots)
Wind River: Pine Bluffs (5 spots)
Rocky Mountain: Kemmerer (8 spots)
Tongue River: Shoshoni (2 spots)
Lusk: Wyoming Indian (4 spots)
Shoshoni: Tongue River AND Sundance (2 spots each)
Pine Bluffs: Wind River AND Burlington (5 spots each)
Sundance: Shoshoni (2 spots)
Southeast: St. Stephens (7 spots)
Saratoga: St. Stephens (6 spots)
Riverside: Lingle (3 spots)
Burlington: Moorcroft (12 spots)
Upton: Rocky Mountain (10 spots)
Lingle: St. Stephens (2 spots)
Cokeville: St. Stephens (1 spot)

Class 1A six-man
St. Stephens: Cokeville (1 spot)
Hanna: Sundance (9 spots)
Guernsey-Sunrise: Wyoming Indian (13 spots)
Normative Services: Snake River (6 spots)
Midwest: Riverside (9 spots)
Dubois: Rock River (6 spots)
Hulett: St. Stephens (6 spots)
Farson: Rock River (4 spots)
Kaycee: St. Stephens (8 spots)
Snake River: Rock River (2 spots)
Meeteetse: Rock River (1 spot)
Rock River: Meeteetse AND Ten Sleep (1 spot each)
Ten Sleep: Rock River (1 spot)

++++++

And here are the ranges for each program (not counting the school itself or the schools on the edge of the bounds):

Class 4A
Gillette: 12 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Jackson (14))
Natrona: 10 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Star Valley (13))
Rock Springs: 12 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Star Valley (13))
Cheyenne East: 11 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Star Valley (13))
Kelly Walsh: 11 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Star Valley (13))
Cheyenne Central: 11 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Star Valley (13))
Cheyenne South: 9 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Green River (11))
Sheridan: 12 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Jackson (14))
Laramie: 11 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Star Valley (13))
Evanston: 14 (upper bound: none; lower bound: Douglas (16))

Class 3A
Green River: 15 (upper bound: Cheyenne South (7); lower bound, Newcastle (25))
Riverton: 14 (upper bound: Cheyenne South (7); lower bound, Pinedale (23))
Star Valley: 10 (upper bound: Laramie (9); lower bound: Pinedale (23))
Jackson: 23 (upper bound: Laramie (9); lower bound: Burns (34))
Cody: 14 (upper bound: South (7); lower bound: Pinedale (23))
Douglas: 11 (upper bound: Evanston (10); lower bound: Pinedale (23))
Rawlins: 21 (upper bound: South (7); lower bound: Lyman (30))
Lander: 14 (upper bound: South (7); lower bound: Pinedale (23))
Powell: 14 (upper bound: South (7); lower bound: Pinedale (23))
Worland: 14 (upper bound: South (7); lower bound: Pinedale (23))
Torrington: 14 (upper bound: South (7); lower bound: Pinedale (23))
Buffalo: 21 (upper bound: Laramie (9); lower bound: Burns (34))

Class 2A
Pinedale: 1 (upper bound: Torrington (21); lower bound: Wheatland (24))
Wheatland: 13 (upper bound: Pinedale (23); lower bound: Wyoming Indian (38))
Newcastle: 13 (upper bound: Pinedale (23); lower bound: Wyoming Indian (38))
Mountain View: 14 (upper bound: Torrington (21); lower bound: Moorcroft (37))
Glenrock: 21 (upper bound: Worland (20); lower bound: Shoshoni (43))
Lovell: 19 (upper bound: Torrington (21); lower bound: Lusk (42))
Thermopolis: 29 (upper bound: South (7); lower bound: Wyoming Indian (38))
Lyman: 11 (upper bound: Torrington (21); lower bound: Burns (34))
Big Piney: 11 (upper bound: Torrington (21); lower bound: Burns (34))
Kemmerer: 11 (upper bound: Torrington (21); lower bound: Burns (34))
Greybull: 25 (upper bound: Rawlins (17); lower bound: Pine Bluffs (44))
Burns: 9 (upper bound: Kemmerer (32); lower bound: Shoshoni (43))
Big Horn: 18 (upper bound: Pinedale (23); lower bound: Shoshoni (43))
Wright: 15 (upper bound: Torrington (21); lower bound: Wyoming Indian (38))

Class 1A 11-man
Moorcroft: 11 (upper bound: Lyman (30); lower bound: Shoshoni (43))
Wyoming Indian: 3 (upper bound: Wright (36); lower bound: Tongue River (41))
Wind River: 13 (upper bound: Thermopolis (29); lower bound: Pine Bluffs (44))
Rocky Mountain: 16 (upper bound: Kemmerer (32); lower bound: Upton (50))
Tongue River: 3 (upper bound: Wyoming Indian (38); lower bound: Shoshoni (43))
Lusk: 13 (upper bound: Wyoming Indian (38); lower bound: St. Stephens (53))
Shoshoni: 2 (upper bound: Tongue River (41); lower bound: Sundance (45))
Pine Bluffs: 8 (upper bound: Wind River (39); lower bound: Burlington (49))
Sundance: 4 (upper bound: Shoshoni (43); lower bound: Burlington (49))
Southeast: 13 (upper bound: Wyoming Indian (38); lower bound: St. Stephens (53))
Saratoga: 22 (upper bound: Thermopolis (29); lower bound: St. Stephens (53))
Riverside: 13 (upper bound: Wright (36); lower bound: Lingle (51))
Burlington: 22 (upper bound: Moorcroft (37); lower bound: Kaycee (61))
Upton: 18 (upper bound: Rocky Mountain (40); lower bound: Farson (60))
Lingle: 3 (upper bound: Riverside (48); lower bound: St. Stephens (53))
Cokeville: 14 (upper bound: Moorcroft (37); lower bound: St. Stephens (53))

Class 1A six-man
St. Stephens: 5 (upper bound: Cokeville (52); lower bound: Hulett (59))
Hanna: 19 (upper bound: Sundance (45); lower bound: none)
Guernsey-Sunrise: 22 (upper bound: Wyoming Indian (38); lower bound: none)
Normative Services: 19 (upper bound: Tongue River (41); lower bound: Snake River (62))
Midwest: 16 (upper bound: Riverside (48); lower bound: none)
Dubois: 17 (upper bound: Sundance (45); lower bound: Rock River (64))
Hulett: 11 (upper bound: St. Stephens (53); lower bound: none)
Farson: 12 (upper bound: Upton (50); lower bound: Rock River (64))
Kaycee: 11 (upper bound: St. Stephens (53); lower bound: none)
Snake River: 5 (upper bound: Normative Services (57); lower bound: Rock River (64))
Meeteetse: 15 (upper bound: Saratoga (47); lower bound: Rock River (64))
Rock River: 0 (upper bound: Meeteetse (63); lower bound: Ten Sleep (65))
Ten Sleep: 0 (upper bound: Rock River (64); lower bound: none)

Later this week: Part 2, distance.

–patrick

UPDATE: Why scheduling for competitive equity has failed Wyoming high school football

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Last summer, I wrote a series of blog posts outlining the problems with Wyoming’s high school football scheduling, conference alignment and travel.

Part 1 addresses one of Wyoming’s longest road trips, the one from Evanston to Gillette; part 2 looks at the ever-increasing distances Wyoming football teams have to travel; part 3 looks at how the distance problems manifest themselves on the field; and part 4 looks at how smaller conferences might be a part of the solution.

The third post in that series addressed margins of victory, which have been steadily increasing in the regular season since the WHSAA took over scheduling and took a huge jump after 2009.

The numbers from the 2014 season continued to show that Wyoming’s regular-season football games are not nearly as competitive as they once were. Last year’s regular-season 11-man games had an average margin of victory of 27 points, tied with the 2012 season for the highest on record.

The median MOV was 24 points — tied for second highest in the past two and a half decades — with a standard deviation of 16.1.

As the WHSAA addresses reclassification and conference alignment this fall, I genuinely hope the board considers smaller conferences. As I mentioned last year, smaller conferences won’t solve every problem tied to distance and competitiveness, and they create some problems, as well. But the numbers show that smaller conferences sure could help address the regular season’s two biggest problems.

–patrick

 

Coaching milestones: Cokeville’s Todd Dayton approaches 300 victories

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For the first time in 2015, Wyoming may have a high school football coach reach 300 career victories.

Cokeville’s Todd Dayton, who has been the Panthers’ head coach since 1980, enters this season with 294 career victories, six short of the 300-victory milestone.

Only 27 active coaches nationwide enter 2015 with at least 300 victories, the NFHS Record Book says. Only 115 coaches nationwide have ever reached 300 victories, and only 60 have ever reached 300 at one school like Dayton is poised to do at Cokeville.

Dayton is one of only two coaches in the state to crack 200 victories; John E. Deti, the older of the two Detis and a longtime coach in Laramie, had 205 in his Wyoming career, records here show.

After Dayton, Wyoming’s other active members of the 100-victory club are Natrona’s Steve Harshman (166), Sheridan’s Don Julian (131), Southeast’s Mark Bullington (123) and Glenrock’s Ray Kumpula (101).

Kumpula, who has led Glenrock’s football team for 20 seasons, entered the 100-victory club last season, becoming the 24th coach in state history to do so.

This year, only one coach — Gillette’s Vic Wilkerson — has the chance to crack the in-state 100-victory barrier. Wilkerson, Gillette’s coach since 2004, has 90 victories entering the 2015 season. The next-highest active victory total in the state belongs to Douglas’ Jay Rhoades with 78, although Dubois’ David Trembly (76), Tongue River’s John Scott (75) and Wright’s Larry Yeradi (73) are close behind.

Here’s a look at Wyoming’s 100-victory club entering 2015:

Wyoming's all-time football coaching leaders

CoachWLTWin %Games
Todd Dayton, Cokeville294520.850346
John E. Deti, Meeteetse/Shoshoni/Laramie205948.681307
John R. Deti, Cody/Sheridan/Laramie1881022.647292
Jerry Fullmer, Lusk174820.680256
Steve Harshman, Natrona166700.703236
John McDougall, Dubois/Cody1561152.575273
Okie Blanchard, Glenrock/Cokeville/Rock Springs/Natrona/Cheyenne Central148568.717212
Joel Eskelsen, Big Piney148810.646229
Dallas Hoff, Superior/Midwest1461016.589253
Walter Gray, Tongue River140870.617227
Mike Moon, Buffalo136791.632216
Rick Scherry, Big Horn133841.612218
Art Hill, Glenrock/Riverton/Natrona132923.588227
Don Julian, Riverton/Sheridan131420.757173
Harold Bailey, Shoshoni128920.582220
Carl Mirich, Goshen Hole/Moorcroft1241011.551226
Mark Bullington, Southeast123380.764161
Bruce Keith, Sheridan/Kelly Walsh117820.588199
Pete Petronovich, Douglas1141025.527221
Kay Fackrell, Goshen Hole/Lyman/Evanston111790.584190
Don Dinnel, Mountain View/Rawlins/Evanston109650.626174
Doug Bartlett, Torrington102730.583175
Ben Smith, Rocky Mountain101330.754134
Ray Kumpula, Glenrock101790.561180

+++

Top winning percentages

With a winning percentage of .850 (294-52), Dayton is the only coach in state history with more than 100 games coached to have a winning percentage above .800. But Douglas’ Rhoades has a winning percentage of .813 in his 96 games in Wyoming and could join Dayton in the exclusive club this season.

Bullington (.764) and Julian (.762) are the active coaches with 100-plus games coached closest to Dayton; former Star Valley coach Robert Linford (.776) is the closest retired coach with 100-plus games coached to Dayton’s .850 mark.

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The 100-loss club

No active coaches have the chance to enter the even somewhat more “exclusive” 100-loss club in 2015. While 24 Wyoming coaches have reached 100 victories in the Equality State, only seven coaches have ever reached triple-digit losses (John R. Deti (John Jr.), John McDougall, Dallas Hoff, Carl Mirich, Pete Petronovich, Rich Steege and Yeradi). Yeradi enters the season with exactly 100 losses in his career at Wright. Of course, to coach long enough to get 100 losses, you have to be a pretty dang good coach; the bad coaches are discovered long before they have the chance to reach 100.

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Longevity milestones in 2015

Several coaches have the chance to reach longevity milestones in 2015. Only two active head coaches in Wyoming — Dayton and Harshman — have more than 200 total in-state games to their credit; Dayton is the state’s all-time leader with 346 and is one of only two past 300 games. Eight others (Kumpula, Julian, Yeradi, Bullington, Trembly, Wilkerson, Scott and Upton-Sundance’s Andy Garland) have cracked 100 games coached in Wyoming. Cheyenne East’s Chad Goff (98) and Rhoades (96) are on pace to top 100 Wyoming games coached in 2015.

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The unbreakable coaching record

One record that’s guaranteed never to be broken is career ties. That honor rests with Wheatland’s Glenn Rogers, who coincidentally finished his Wyoming coaching career almost perfectly even — 35 victories, 34 losses and 10 ties. No other coach has double-digit ties to his credit, although three coaches (Fran Gillette, who coached at Jackson, Green River and Powell from 1960-73; Glenn Burgess, who was at Riverton from 1959-69; and Bert Melchar, who coached at Green River and Rock Springs off and on from 1930-47) have nine ties on their Wyoming records.

Rogers coached Wheatland from 1927 to 1937; he had tie games in eight of his 10 seasons with the Bulldogs (no team in 1933) and twice had two ties in a season.

No active Wyoming coach has a tie on his in-state record. The last coach to have a tie on his record was Big Horn’s Rick Scherry, who retired in 2000. His tie came from the infamous Big Horn-Riverside triple-overtime tie in 1987, the state’s only tie game since 1975.

–patrick

Wyoming football programs that have never played an out-of-state foe

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Posted without comment: The 12 active Wyoming high school football programs that have never played another out-of-state varsity opponent.

Cheyenne South, Farson, Kaycee, Lander, Riverside, Rock River, St. Stephens, Shoshoni, Snake River, Wind River, Wright, Wyoming Indian.

–patrick

Gillette plans second high school: A reading list and some initial thoughts

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Campbell County School District board members voted Tuesday to add a second high school in Gillette.

Sound familiar? It should.

I’ve written about this issue before: How the logic doesn’t outweigh the emotion of such a decision (December 2014); how reclassification might fall out if Gillette adds a second school (March 2011); and the ties between a third school in Casper and a second in Gillette (October 2010).

Like I wrote in 2011, the decision to add a second high school in Gillette affects much more than what happens on the playing fields and courts. From a reclassification standpoint, though, the decision could create ripples that will be felt throughout the state.

If the new school opened in Gillette today, for all sports except football Riverton would go to Class 3A, Lovell to Class 2A and Riverside to Class 1A to accommodate the new school. And for football, Evanston would go to 3A, Buffalo to 2A, Wright to 1A 11-man and Upton to 1A six-man. (Remember, right now Lingle and Cokeville fall below the 11-man/six-man cutline but opt up to 11-man.)

The moves for four-class sports (basketball, volleyball, track, etc.), three-class sports (wrestling, cross country, etc.) and two-class sports (soccer, swimming, etc.) are less of a struggle than the moves for football. Remember in 2007 when Riverton debated opting down to 3A? The Wolverines could make that switch pretty seamlessly for most sports.

Football, though, could present a challenge. If Evanston grows a little bit, the 11th school in the WHSAA listings will likely be Sheridan. Neither Evanston nor Sheridan will likely want to move down a classification. Wyoming could go back to an 11-school 4A and an 11-school 3A to accommodate, which complicates scheduling among other concerns.

The new school is tentatively scheduled to open in fall 2017 — right in the middle of a two-year reclassification cycle for the WHSAA. That will further complicate matters….

Like I said in 2011, we could see a completely new high school classification system develop, with the new school in Gillette as the impetus.

–patrick

School colors and mascots: Eight alternatives for Wyoming’s newest high school

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Eventually, Wyoming will have a new high school.

Maybe in Gillette. Maybe in Casper. Maybe in Wamsutter, LaBarge or Linch.

And when that happens, the school will have to choose a mascot and colors for itself.

When Wyoming’s most recent new high school, Cheyenne South, opened in 2011, it went with a color scheme and nickname that surprised some people — the black and gold Bison. The surprise came not from the selection (Bison and Cheyenne are a good fit for a mascot) but from the fact that South used a color scheme and mascot already in use in Wyoming.

The black and gold on a Bison uniform? Yep, Buffalo High had been doing that for decades.

The repetitiveness of South’s choice is unique in the Equality State. Only four other pairs of schools repeat color schemes and mascots: Sheridan and Cody (the blue-and-yellow Broncs), Burns and Jackson (the black-and-orange Broncs), Cokeville and Powell (the black-and-orange Panthers), Moorcroft and Green River (the green and white/black Wolves). And one of those is pretty tenuous, as Cody has made a strong move to switch from yellow to gold in recent years.

However, none of these schools is new. They’ve all used their colors and mascots for decades. So when a new school repeated a color scheme and mascot of an existing school — especially when numerous other options were available — it rubbed some people the wrong way.

So what color scheme and mascot options exist for Wyoming’s next new school?

Color schemes

I took a look at existing NFL and major college (FBS) schools to see what unique color schemes aren’t being used in Wyoming right now. Then, using the Ripon Athetic jersey simulator, I made some templates. Some options include:

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Aqua and orange: Like the Miami Dolphins. Aqua would be a unique choice, what with Wyoming’s big blue skies and all, but I’m not sure the pairing with the orange would work. Still could make for a cool base color to pair with something else.

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Silver and black: Like the Oakland Raiders. But Raiders colors in Wyoming? Maybe not.

 

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Red and gold: Like the San Francisco 49ers. Red is a prevalent color in the state, but no Wyoming school has matched it with a true gold. Big Horn, Star Valley and now even Laramie mix maroon and yellow, but the state has no true red/gold combos.

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Light blue and gold: Like UCLA. This, especially accentuated with black, could be a good look. Arvada-Clearmont mixes a light blue and yellow and it looks pretty sharp, but gold would be a unique twist.

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Orange and white: Like Texas or Tennessee. Lots of Wyoming schools have orange, but it’s almost always paired with black. It’d be a bold step to do orange/white with NO black.

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Green and gold: Like South Florida. A bunch of Wyoming schools do green and yellow but, again, true gold is rare.

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Maroon and gold: Like Florida State or Boston College. Again, where’s all the gold uniforms in Wyoming? (Yeah, I know… the simulator I used has its maroon look really purplish.)

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Maroon and orange: Like Virginia Tech. Then again, I can see why no one has done this… blech.

The big takeaway here? Only three Wyoming teams really embrace gold as a GOLD consistently — Buffalo, Wright and Cheyenne South — and all three are black and gold mixes. Other schools dabble in gold on some uniforms and have yellow on others.

Maybe, in retrospect, Cheyenne South wasn’t all that far off in choosing gold. Maybe pairing it with something other than black would have assuaged the doubters and given the school a unique spin untouched by any other school in the state.

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Mascots

The top 20 most common high school mascots in the U.S., in order, per this site, are as follows: Eagles, Tigers, Panthers, Bulldogs, Wildcats, Warriors, Lions, Cougars, Indians, Knights, Mustangs, Falcons, Trojans, Vikings, Rams, Cardinals, Raiders, Spartans, Patriots, Pirates.

Of these, mascots that aren’t active in Wyoming right now are the Wildcats, Lions, Knights, Falcons, Cardinals, Raiders, Spartans and Pirates. Albin used to be the Wildcats, and Huntley used to be the Cardinals, and Goshen Hole used to be the Spartans, and Reliance used to be the Pirates. But they’re all closed now.

Surprisingly, no Wyoming high school has opted for the Cowboys. And “wild” but common mascots like the Falcons, Hawks and Bears make a lot of sense, but no active Wyoming school has opted for one of those, either.

Still, I think the best mascots are the unique ones — the ones that embody a community. A few years ago, I looked at the state’s best and worst mascots, and I noted that some of my favorites were the Punchers (Big Piney), the Miners (Hanna), the Doggers (Lingle) and the Oilers (Midwest) because of how well they embody the community they represent.

Ultimately, the decision for any new color scheme and mascot depends on the community in which the school is built.

In a state as small as Wyoming, though, a unique combination shouldn’t be that hard to find.

–patrick

Neutral-site games in the regular season: A Wyoming tradition unlike any other

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In a rural state like Wyoming, finding suitable opponents for high school sports teams can sometimes be a challenge.

Schools are often stuck with a difficult conundrum — they have to schedule a team that’s significantly worse (or better) but nearby, or schedule a team of nearly equal talent that’s hours and hours away.

Neither option is preferable. In Wyoming, though, they may be the only options available.

But this isn’t anything new to those born and raised in the Equality State. Long road trips are normal. The average this year was 192 miles, one way, per road trip.

For many years, Wyoming schools opted to stay close to home, even if that meant playing in the occasional 50-0 slaughter.

In the mid-1980s, though, a few far-flung but equally talented schools hit on an idea: Why not just meet halfway?

The idea of a neutral-site game wasn’t new. They were a staple of playoff games, either because schools decided to meet halfway or a host team decided to shift to a larger nearby stadium for a the larger crowd anticipated at a postseason game. And some rivalries got moved to neutral sites — like the Thunder Bowl between Big Horn and Tongue River, which was played at Sheridan off and on for years. And every once in a while, a couple of schools that weren’t too far apart just decided to meet in the middle, like Green River and Superior playing in Rock Springs (which happened in 1936).

But two teams deciding to meet “halfway” to fill a hole in both squads’ regular-season schedules? In the 1980s, this was almost completely new.

And in 1986, it took off. Two of the five neutral-site games that season involved Pine Bluffs, which in back-to-back games played Pinedale and Cokeville at Hanna.

The fad peaked in 1990, when seven neutral-site games were played. However, several schools embraced the neutral-site games and made them nearly annual events.

  • Hulett and Ten Sleep played each other in Buffalo seven times between 1988 and 1999 (and they played in 2000 in Big Horn). Ten Sleep, in fact, played four neutral-site games in just two seasons, 1988 and 1989.
  • Wright also hit the neutral-site bandwagon hard, playing four games in 1990 and 1991 and a fifth in 1992.
  • Gillette played some big out-of-state schools via the neutral site in the 1980s and 1990s: Montrose, Colorado; Hastings, Nebraska; and Oakdale Tartan, Minnesota. Sheridan got neutral-site games against Overland, Colorado, and Lincoln Pius X, Nebraska.

Although neutral-site meetings faded a bit when the WHSAA took over varsity scheduling in 2001, a few schools have revived the trend. Last year, six-man schools Hanna and Hulett met in Midwest in the state’s first true neutral-site football game — the first one where both teams traveled more than an hour to play and was pre-scheduled — since 2010.

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The list below is of the neutral-site midpoint games played since the first in 1923; this list does not include conference or state playoff games, including triangular playoffs; games played at temporary home sites (like Burns had this year while its stadium was under construction); neutral-site games in the same city as one of the teams (like Natrona and East had this year playing at South); or traditional rivalry games at neutral sites (like the Thunder Bowl in Sheridan).

S28/1923 Cheyenne Central 21 Chappell (NE) 3 at Pine Bluffs

O14/1925 Rawlins 0 Lander 13 at Casper

S30/1933 Gebo 12 Ten Sleep 21 at Worland

O3/1936 Green River 6 Superior 27 at Rock Springs

O8/1936 Ten Sleep 63 Fort Washakie 0 at Riverton

O14/1938 Lingle 19 Manville 14 at Lusk

N18/1939 Douglas 0 Midwest 46 at Casper

O4/1940 Jackson 6 Reliance 32 at Rock Springs

O16/1940 Manville 26 Upton 13 at Newcastle

O22/1947 Pine Bluffs 8 Harrisburg (NE) 6 at Albin

O13/1955 Huntley 6 Lingle 35 at Torrington

S25/1964 Guernsey-Sunrise 0 Huntley 34 at Torrington

S5/1969 Shoshoni 20 Dubois 8 at Morton

S24/1982 Byron 0 Cokeville 21 at Lander

A29/1986 Pine Bluffs 14 Pinedale 34 at Hanna

S5/1986 Natrona 7 SLC Highland (UT) 24 at Evanston

S5/1986 Pine Bluffs 20 Cokeville 40 at Hanna

S12/1986 Cody 24 Torrington 6 at Casper

S12/1986 Pinedale 13 Rocky Mountain 24 at Lander

S19/1987 Farson 0 Burlington 46 at Riverton

S25/1987 Pinedale 41 Rocky Mountain 0 at Lander

S3/1988 Kelly Walsh 15 Dickinson (ND) 47 at Spearfish (SD)

S3/1988 Hulett 12 Ten Sleep 46 at Buffalo

S10/1988 Burlington 0 Farson 42 at Shoshoni

S17/1988 Douglas 29 Rock Springs JV 12 at Laramie

O22/1988 Ten Sleep 42 Farson 8 at Shoshoni

S2/1989 Kelly Walsh 22 Dickinson (ND) 28 at Spearfish (SD)

S2/1989 Hulett 0 Ten Sleep 46 at Buffalo

S9/1989 Sheridan 0 Overland (CO) 20 at Douglas

S15/1989 Cokeville 49 Riverside 0 at Shoshoni

S16/1989 Gillette 13 Montrose (CO) 12 at Craig (CO)

21/1989 Farson 32 Ten Sleep 20 at Shoshoni

A31/1990 Wright 6 Tongue River 7 at Gillette

S7/1990 Rocky Mountain 0 Pinedale 6 at Riverton

S7/1990 Lingle 50 Hulett 0 at Lusk

S15/1990 Greybull 22 Wright 6 at Buffalo

S29/1990 Encampment 0 Burlington 21 at Shoshoni

O5/1990 Lyman 26 Greybull 7 at Lander

O13/1990 Wheatland 8 Jackson 25 at Shoshoni

S7/1991 Gillette 36 Hastings (NE) 3 at Sidney, NE

S20/1991 Burns 20 Wright 6 at Lusk

O24/1991 Hulett 32 Ten Sleep 6 at Buffalo

O25/1991 Wind River 41 Wright 24 at Casper

S4/1992 Sundance 6 Rocky Mountain 39 at Dayton

S18/1992 Wright 19 Burns 44 at Guernsey-Sunrise

S3/1993 Wheatland 28 Mountain View 12 at Rawlins

S3/1993 Pine Bluffs 24 Sundance 14 at Lusk

S18/1993 Ten Sleep 6 Hulett 54 at Buffalo

O2/1993 Moorcroft 38 Greybull 12 at Buffalo

O14/1993 Lovell 20 Kemmerer 15 at Shoshoni

S2/1994 Big Piney 18 Greybull 6 at Lander

S3/1994 Sundance 12 Pine Bluffs 42 at Lusk

S9/1994 Kelly Walsh 14 Evanston 42 at Rawlins

O1/1994 Moorcroft 0 Greybull 31 at Buffalo

O14/1994 Kemmerer 28 Lovell 6 at Riverton

S8/1995 Kelly Walsh 7 Evanston 21 at Rawlins

S9/1995 Lincoln Pius X (NE) 27 Sheridan 20 at North Platte (NE)

S15/1995 Rocky Mountain 48 Saratoga 19 at Riverton

O6/1995 Hanna 0 Upton 32 at Lingle

S14/1996 Hulett 18 Ten Sleep 32 at Buffalo

S20/1996 Wheatland 13 Kemmerer 54 at Rawlins

S20/1996 Rocky Mountain 43 Saratoga 12 at Riverton

S6/1997 Big Piney 18 Moorcroft 6 at Casper

S26/1997 Burns 6 Wright 38 at Lusk

O9/1997 Wind River 53 Custer JV (SD) 8 at Wright

S5/1998 Big Piney 34 Moorcroft 0 at Kelly Walsh

S12/1998 Gillette 24 Oakdale Tartan (MN) 7 at Mitchell, SD

S12/1998 Hulett 12 Ten Sleep 8 at Buffalo

S25/1998 Wright 20 Burns 13 at Guernsey

S11/1999 Hulett 46 Ten Sleep 0 at Buffalo

S9/2000 Hulett 20 Ten Sleep 6 at Big Horn

A31/2002 Guernsey-Sunrise 41 Riverside 14 at Casper

O20/2006 Dubois 14 Upton 28 At Casper, NCHS

A25/2007 Gillette 6 Logan (UT) 36 At Ogden UT

A25/2007 Mountain View 12 Logan JV (UT) 39 At Ogden UT

A25/2007 Star Valley 0 Park City (UT) 46 At Ogden UT

A31/2007 Upton 13 Dubois 28 At Casper, NCHS

A30/2008 Gillette 21 Sky View (UT) 55 At Green River

A30/2008 Kelly Walsh 17 Rock Springs 13 At Riverton

S19/2008 Hanna 0 Hulett 63 At Casper (NCHS)

O3/2008 Dubois 7 Upton 38 At Casper (NCHS)

O10/2008 Burns 47 Sundance 6 At Newcastle

S4/2009 Dubois 0 Upton 25 at Casper, NCHS

O3/2009 Southeast 67 Normative Services 8 at Casper, NCHS

S3/2010 Dubois 48 Upton 0 at Casper, NCHS

S17/2010 Douglas 40 Star Valley 6 at Riverton

O2/2010 Normative Services 0 Southeast 56 at Casper, NCHS

S7/2013 Wright 18 Lingle 35 at Douglas

O7/2013 Midwest 50 Hulett 40 at Moorcroft

S12/2014 Moorcroft 8 Tongue River 28 at Sheridan

S13/2014 Hulett 18 Hanna 62 at Midwest

Which of these games seems the most bizarre to you? Which ones would you like to see on the schedule again? Or should all regular-season games be played either as true home/road games? Leave a comment and we can chat about it!

–patrick