My family destiny

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This was a post I orginally wrote back in March for my old TribTown blog, from back when I worked at the Casper Star-Tribune.

My grandfather died last night, and in his memory I want to repost it here:

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With five high school football programs starting from scratch this fall, I’m working on a story that will touch on all the schools, a “progress report” for the six-man schools waiting to join the fray come August.

So far, I’ve reached six of the 10 ADs in charge of the programs that will make up Wyoming’s new six-man division (watch for the story next week, part of a series of stories relating to Wyoming’s changing football landscape). All six, unanimously, are thrilled for the chance they have this fall.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently — how to start a football program from scratch. I already know someone who did so and someone else who tried.

My grandfather, Jacque, started the Huntley High School football program way back in 1951. Even though his high school in South Dakota was too small to field a team, he excelled on the gridiron in college, even making the all-conference team at Augustana in 1947 and playing for a while at Bowling Green.

When he came to Huntley, though, the Cardinals didn’t have a football team. So he drummed up support however he could, earned the school board’s approval and, in 1951, put the Cards on the field.

Grandpa must have seen something good in the boys in Huntley to go to all that effort…. and in his first two games, his players proved him right. The Cards thumped Albin 50-0 and Lingle 48-0 in their first two games. From there, Huntley beat Glenrock, Manville and Albin again to set up a date with Hanna for the right to play in the state’s Class B six-man state championship.

After staking a 20-0 lead, though, the Cards stumbled. Hanna came roaring back to win, 27-20, and earned the right to play in the state title game. (For what it’s worth, Hanna lost that title game 47-0 to Byron.)

The Huntley program survived until 1969; the school until 1980. Today, the Huntley boys play at Southeast — the three-time defending state champions. Even though he’s long since removed from Goshen County’s sports scene, I’d like to think Grandpa has a little something to do with the Cyclones’ run.

Flip forward to 1973, my dad’s first year in Rock River. Just like my grandpa, my dad never played high school football (he was a golfer), but in Rock River he wanted to try something different.

But the Longhorns weren’t quite ready to take on that task. With anywhere from 12-15 boys in the high school at any time — and with no growth spurts coming in the foreseeable future — any idealistic plans for Rock River football were crushed by reality.

Flip forward to 2009. Rock River will have football for the first time this fall. Kaycee and Fort Washakie, too, are building programs from nothing, while Farson and Snake River are resurrecting long-dormant programs as part of the state’s new six-man league.

This fall, only four Wyoming high schools — Arapaho Charter, Arvada-Clearmont, Chugwater and Glendo — will have no football whatsoever.

And for some reason, I keep having this dream. I’m moving… maybe to Clearmont or Platte County…. and I’m trying to start a football program…. like somebody before me has tried it…. like it’s my destiny….

Naahhh. 🙂

In defense of Guernsey

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When the 2009 season is viewed in retrospect, the Guernsey Vikings’ season will stick out as the epitome of domination.

In Wyoming’s first year of organized six-man football in more than half a century, the Vikings were clearly the best team. They won all but one game by at least 40 points and finished with a 614-144 scoring advantage in a 9-0 season.

Guernsey’s dominating season had some folks wondering why the Vikings opted to play 11-man in the first place. The Vikings clearly had enough speed and strength in the backfield to compete with most teams in the 11-man division; in fact, several times during the state championship game, the radio broadcaster from Buffalo (who sat right behind me, and the reason I’m writing this) suggested the WHSAA get involved and move the Vikings up to 11-man where they belonged.

Here is the best I can do to mount Guernsey’s defense:

Point 1: The Vikings only had 12 players suited up for the championship game, a 76-16 whitewash of Kaycee. Guernsey didn’t have any more players come out than that; the numbers really were that low all season long.

Point 2: The championship game blowout was due in part to the Vikings’ experience. Kaycee was in its first year of football; the football legacy in both Guernsey and Sunrise stretches back nearly a century. It’s not surprising that, for the most part, the teams that did best in the six-man division in 2009 were the teams that had established programs in place.

Point 3: Despite its dominating success, Guernsey won’t be the six-man favorite in 2010. More than half of the Vikings’ players were seniors, and only one starter returns.

Point 4: Few people know this one, but it speaks to the parity you’ll see in coming years. Farson, which finished last in the six-man West Conference and didn’t come within 42 points of any varsity program it played this fall, will be competing with Guernsey by as soon as next year. How do I know this? The Pronghorns’ junior high team beat Guernsey this season.

Guernsey made the right choice, and no one should question it for the reasons pointed out above. And the way they won games shouldn’t call into question that decision.

Rather, the 2009 Guernsey Vikings should instead just be celebrated for what they were: an incredibly dominating six-man football team, the likes of which the state may not see again for a long time.

It just so happened the Vikings put together this domination in the first go-round. Just don’t let that freak you out — either about the Vikings or about six-man football.

–patrick

One week later: Thoughts on Laramie’s first chance at five championship games

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Laramie’s first chance at hosting all five state football championship games went about as well as it could have.

Except for the weather.

There wasn’t much the University of Wyoming or the Wyoming High School Activities Association could do about the weather, which, right on cue, struck a mid-November tone. Snow covered the field, and it was deep. Really deep. Remnants from that snow are still hanging around War Memorial Stadium more than a week after the first kickoff.

Given the conditions, the two groups with the most influence (UW and the WHSAA) put on a pretty good show.

Although I haven’t heard a final count on the attendance, crowds were pretty good all weekend. Even if 4,000 or 5,000 people doesn’t look like many in a 30,000-seat stadium, it’s still a good crowd for a high school game. In fact, after the 1A 11-man championship — where the crowd was not very large considering the size of the stadium but huge considering it was a Class 1A game — Southeast coach Mark Bullington said he and his coaches weren’t ready for the noise in the stadium. Never mind what the crowd looked liked and accept it for what it was in all five cases: really good for a neutral-site high school game.

Across the board, players and coaches enjoyed the experience. I covered all five championship games and didn’t hear a single complaint from anyone on the field, even despite the weather. Players and coaches understood that there was only so much that could be done with the weather. It was unrealistic to expect those fields to be clear on Friday, not with how fast the snow was falling.

Of course, home-field advantage was one of the most cited reasons for not moving the games to Laramie. And since last Saturday, the most vocal complaints about the weekend came in two forms — about the weather and about the idea in and of itself.

Weather? OK, I understand the complaint. Laramie in November ain’t Honolulu. Nowhere in Wyoming is. Any of the games in the southeastern corner would have been struck with the same problems that Laramie was last week. Look at today’s weather: low 30s, clouds, but no snow. If you can predict the weather, go work for DayWeather and put your skills to better use.

As for the idea itself… I think it proved itself on Friday and Saturday. This is a good idea. There were no complaints — at least no public complaints — from any of the participants. The only complaints came from people on the fringes of this event, from people that don’t like driving, from people that don’t like brushing the snow off their own seats in the stadium, from people who don’t understand how cool it is for those players to step on the turf at War Memorial Stadium for a surreal experience.

Those who are still against it are nostalgic. And I understand that. I even empathize with it. State football championships are a special event, and it’s hard to let go of that.

The championships at the War do take away the opportunity for a special event at five other Wyoming towns. But those towns’ losses will be the state’s gain. Rather than being five small and separate events for those towns, the War provides a chance for one large event for the entire state.

Wyoming has been described as one small town with long streets. Let’s give the town of Wyoming something to make its own. In time, it will be more special than anything any one community could do.

–patrick

2009 WHSAA football power ratings: Glad or sad they’re gone?

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The Wyoming High School Activities Association’s eight-year experiment with power ratings came to a merciful close last fall. The 2009 season was a return to the past — using conference records to determine playoff qualifiers — but did it make any change?

Actually, if last year’s system was in place this year, only one of the playoff qualifiers would have changed: Powell would have made it in Class 3A and Riverton would have been bumped.

That’s the only change, but it’s interesting and important to note that the more common opponents teams have, the less relevant power ratings become. Such was the case this year — with nothing but common opponents in 4A and all but one week of common opponents in 2A and 1A 11-man.

For argument, though, here are this year’s WHSAA power ratings, class by class, with a little breakdown of how playoff qualifying would have broken down:

In Class 4A, it wouldn’t have mattered, since the power ratings can’t really influence anything if the teams only play each other round-robin style. The playoff pairings are exactly the same. For argument’s sake, though, here they are:
1. Sheridan 32.39
2. Cheyenne Central 31.28
3. Gillette 31.28
4. Green River 30.27
5. Kelly Walsh 29.06
6. Rock Springs 27.94
7. Laramie 26.83
8. Natrona 25.72
9. Cheyenne East 25.72
10. Evanston 24.03

In Class 3A…. There is the most room for change, because there are fewer common opponents in this division than in any other. With the East (Douglas) hosting the title game last year, the West top seed would have been No. 1 overall. (Note: All that’s missing is the result from Hardin, Mont., from Friday, which would bump Cody’s PR up or down a few decimals, but wouldn’t have affected playoff seeding anyway.)
1. Douglas 32.82
2. Buffalo 30.88
3. Star Valley 30.50
4. Cody 30.30
5. Worland 29.88
6. Torrington 29.07
7. Powell 28.50
8. Lander 28.38
9. Riverton 27.13
10. Jackson 25.75
11. Wheatland 24.44
12. Rawlins 23.25
Playoff Pairings: (8) Lander at (1W) Cody; (5) Star Valley at (2E) Buffalo; (6) Torrington at (2W) Worland; (7) Powell at (1E) Douglas

In both 2A and 1A 11-man, little would have changed because the systems, like the one in 4A, relies a ton on conference games….

In Class 2A… With both of last year’s hosts, Burns and Glenrock, in the East, the top seed would have gone to the West Conference champ… but little matter. Playoff pairings would have been exactly the same.
1. Glenrock 33.75
2. Kemmerer 32.63
3. Greybull 32.25
4. Thermopolis 31.88
5. Big Piney 30.88
6. Big Horn 30.00
7. Lovell 29.63
8. Wright 28.38
9. Burns 27.00
10. Moorcroft 26.88
11. Lyman 26.25
12. Pinedale 26.00
13. Mountain View 25.13
14. Wyoming Indian 25.00
15. Tongue River 24.63
16. Newcastle 23.75
Playoff  pairings: (8) Wright at (1W) Kemmerer; (5) Big Piney at (2E) Thermopolis; (6) Big Horn at (2W) Greybull; (7) Lovell at (1E) Glenrock.

In 1A 11-man… A couple first-round matchups would have been flipped around, with Riverside and Pine Bluffs cutting their travel down to play teams closer to home in the first round. With Burlington hosting last year, the top seed would have gone to the East Conference winner… The Dubois-Shoshoni game scheduled for Tuesday is omitted here; neither one was in the playoff hunt, and the result of that game would have had a negligible effect on the power ratings and wouldn’t have changed the playoff pairings.
1. Cokeville 33.11
2. Lingle 32.25
3. Southeast 32.00
4. Wind River 31.86
5. Lusk 31.13
6. Pine Bluffs 29.56
7. Riverside 29.49
8. Rocky Mountain 29.36
9. Burlington 28.76
10. Hulett 28.38
11. Saratoga 26.39
12. Sundance 26.13
13. Upton 25.81
14. Normative Services 25.13
Dubois, Shoshoni NA
Playoff pairings: (8) Rocky Mountain at (1E) Southeast; (5) Lusk at (2W) Wind River; (6) Pine Bluffs at (2E) Lingle; (7) Riverside at (1W) Cokeville.

In 1A six-man… without a defending state champion, the conference that earned hosting duties would have been assigned by the WHSAA. I’ve presented both options below. Oddly enough, the four East Conference teams went 1-4 in the power ratings… In either case, the first-round pairings would have been different in both options.
1. Guernsey 33.97
2. Midwest 31.95
3. Hanna 30.17
4. Kaycee 29.34
5. Ten Sleep 28.25
6. Snake River 27.03
7. Meeteetse 24.56
8. Farson 23.50
Playoff pairings with East winner as top seed: (8) Farson at (1E) Guernsey; (5) Hanna at (2W) Snake River; (6) Kaycee at (2E) Midwest; (7) Meeteetse at (1W) Ten Sleep.
Playoff pairings with West winner as top seed: (8) Farson at (1W) Ten Sleep; (5) Hanna at (2E) Midwest; (6) Kaycee at (2W) Snake River; (7) Meeteetse at (1E) Guernsey.

Like I said earlier today, I haven’t heard anyone whining about the loss of power ratings. After seeing this, though, what do you think? Still glad to see it gone, or do you think there were instances this year that give it cause for coming back? Let me know your opinion; post a comment below.

–patrick

Kaycee, Ten Sleep establish new record

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Kaycee’s 71-67 over Ten Sleep set a new unofficial state record — most combined points in a game.

The 138 total points the Buckaroos and Pioneers tallied on Saturday broke the old record of 132, set in Meeteetse’s 84-48 loss to Reedpoint, Mont., in 2003. It’s the most points scored by two Wyoming teams since Lingle and Huntley combined for 123 points in Lingle’s 89-34 victory in 1962.

Ten Sleep’s 67 points also sets a record for most points scored by a losing team.

As always, these records come with a qualifier — these records are built from the records that are on this site from 1951 to the present. Any game between 1951 and now that somehow escaped being found wouldn’t be listed among the records….hence the record being technically unofficial.

Anyway, it must have been a lot of fun (or a lot of stress) being in Kaycee on Saturday. Congratulations to both sides on what looks like, at least from the final score, a great game. Don’t forget, these two teams will meet in the first round of the playoffs in two weeks in Ten Sleep.

You can click here to see all the unofficial state scoring records. I’ll update the page at the end of the season.

–patrick

Before we move on….

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I wanted to recognize both Farson and Snake River for posting victories last week.

On Thursday, Farson beat the Big Piney freshmen and sophomores 26-25 in Farson. Don’t know the details, only that the Pronghorns won…. the school’s first football victory since 1989.

Then, on Saturday, Snake River beat the Natrona frosh-soph team 38-26 in Casper. According to the research I have available so far, it’s the Rattlers’ first victory since 1953.

Those are big victories for resurrected programs. And they’re victories that the team — and the communities — will remember for a long time.

–patrick

Another one down in six-man

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Wyopreps.com is reporting that Fort Washakie won’t field its football program this fall. The school had about a dozen players show interest last spring but only one showed up for the first practice.

That leaves eight teams playing six-man. And never mind the eight open dates that For Washakie leaves for the eight remaining participating schools. This is not a good sign for the sport, period.

Originally, six-man was the solution. Remember that? Five existing teams and five new teams joining together to form something new, unique and exciting. Now, after Rock River scrapped its plans in April and Fort Washakie joining the Longhorns this week, Snake River, Kaycee and Farson are the lone remaining schools starting up their programs this fall.

And now, the onus is on the eight remaining schools — and especially the three newbies — to keep six-man alive for at least the next two years.

It’s disheartening to see two programs die before they could even play one game. And it’s certainly unprecedented.

But for six-man to thrive, some other small schools are going to have to join them.

None of the other football-less schools (Arapaho Charter, Arvada-Clearmont, Chugwater, Encampment, Glendo and St. Stephens) have even hinted interest at starting a program. That means some of the other schools now playing 11-man will have to go down to six-man.

We could speculate all day as to what schools might benefit from six-man, but right now that does little to help. Unfortunately, until at least the next reclassification cycle, the eight survivors have the responsibility to see the sport through. If this sport is destined to grow in this state, it not only has to survive these first two years — it has to prove to other schools that it’s worth the effort.

And in 10 years, when we look back on the 2009 season, what will we see? The beginning of something fun, unique and special or the impetus of frustration, alienation and eventual disintegration?

That’s up to the remaining eight schools to decide.

It’s a position Rock River and Fort Washakie have forced upon them.

–patrick

What you can expect from wyoming-football.com

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The 2009 season is less than 48 hours from kicking off. And I’m thrilled.

It’s that time of year.

Football season…. finally!

I’ve been watching football in this state since 1993 and covering it as a media professional for the past five years, but this will be my first attempt at maintaining this particular blog. Hopefully, with your help, we can let people know about the memorable moments, top performers and awesome plays from every game, week to week, all the way up to November 13-14 in Laramie.

Here’s what you can expect from me here this season:

My weekly picks. I’ll be posting these every Thursday — sometimes early in the morning, sometimes just before midnight, but every Thursday. I’ve been doing this for four years now, entering my fifth, and I’ve been right just about 75 percent of the time. That means 25 percent of the time I’m wrong… so take solace in the fact that a quarter of the time I’m full of it. 🙂

My weekly recap. As usual, it’ll be chock full of odd insights, weird links and big slices of Humble Pie. Clearly, I’m not as plugged into the high school football scene as I was the past five years (although I WILL be attending at least one game a week), but I’ll be making every effort to post this sometime on Saturday. That said, if you went to a game, feel free to comment on this blog site and let me know how things played out — no matter what game you saw. I’m always interested — as are the folks who read and visit this site — to hear what happened around the state. In short: “Won’t you please, please help me?”

Newsbreaks. I’m trying to sort through the news so you don’t have to. Come here first for links to stories from media outlets statewide. If you know of a posted story that I might have missed, feel free to post the link in the comments section, or e-mail it to me (pschmiedt@yahoo.com) and I’ll post it.

Rants. Because, like you, I’m a fan. I love watching this sport, and I love writing about it. Sometimes I’m insightful. Sometimes I veer off course and end up posting Youtube links to Sesame Street videos…. But I’m passionate about Wyoming high school football, and I don’t mind sharing my thoughts with you.

And don’t forget about a couple other things you can do. You can become a fan of wyoming-football.com on Facebook, and you can also join the wyoming-football.com Flickr group and upload pictures and videos from the games you attend. All are welcome!

However, I will not be posting live scores or game recaps. You the fan can decide to do so through the comments section, but I’m leaving the live scores and recaps to the good folks who can get PAID to do this! 🙂 I will be posting scores weekly on the 2009 season page, which now has kickoff times for every game in weeks 1-8 and a nearly complete Week 0 schedule.

Anyway, the ride is almost set to begin. So strap in, hold on and don’t let go until we’re all together at The War in November.

–patrick

WHSFB HQ debate, circa 2011 — What about South?

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Welcome, Cheyenne South.

And good luck, Wyoming High School Activities Association.

Although Wyoming’s newest high school on Cheyenne’s south side won’t be opening until next fall, freshman will begin participating for South at the sub-varsity level in team sports and at the varsity level in individual sports this fall.

The South football team, meanwhile, will not be heading for varsity play until 2011. It’s perfect timing, since that’s when the WHSAA will reclassify its schools again and align them into new divisions.

The question with realigning football to fit Cheyenne South into the scheme boils down to one simple question: Will the WHSAA choose to keep Class 4A at 10 teams, or expand it to 11 or 12?

10 Teams

If the WHSAA elects to stay at 10 for 4A — and, by default, stick with the 10-12-16 split it has now in football for 4A, 3A and 2A — South will bump out the smallest 4A football school (right now Green River) into 3A. And Green River will bump the smallest 3A football school, right now Wheatland, into 2A. And Wheatland will bump the smallest 2A football school, right now Wyoming Indian, into 1A.

The other option is to go to a 10-14-14 split, where Green River will still be bumped down to 3A but the largest 2A school, right now Pinedale, will be bumped up from 2A into 3A. With that set-up, the smallest 2A (now Wyoming Indian) heads to 1A.

Another question that comes out of this: Would Green River ACCEPT a “demotion” to 3A? It’s possible the Wolves could just opt up to 4A, rendering the whole 10-team league idea moot.

11 Teams

The possibility is there that the WHSAA could just expand 4A to 11 teams, much like it had before the most recent reclassification cycle. Of course, that means the division would need to be split into two conferences and the round-robin schedule in place now would be gone. It sounds like a disaster situation for scheduling, especially if the other divisions remain with limited out-of-conference play, and I think the WHSAA would do everything it could to avoid this situation. I think the only way this happens is if Green River and Star Valley both push hard — Green River to stay 4A and Star Valley to stay 3A.

12 Teams

If the WHSAA expands to 12 for 4A, South and the No. 12 school, right now Star Valley, would join the 4A football ranks. From there, the question becomes: How many in 3A? A 12-12 split makes the most sense, as the largest 2A football school, right now Pinedale, jumps in to take Star Valley’s spot in 3A. And then the largest 1A football school, right now Pine Bluffs, jumps to take Pinedale’s spot in 2A.

Given its past history, I don’t see the WHSAA putting more than 24 schools into 4A and 3A combined for football.

Of course, enrollment changes and school shifts could help dictate the alignment of the classifications and conferences much more than the addition of one school.

Even so, there will be change in 2011. And there will plenty of possibilities.

And I’m sure the WHSAA leadership has already jumped on some ideas — and the phone — to see what might be coming down the pipe during reclassification debates when it comes up for vote next fall.

Also….

I made a couple quick updates to the site today. I posted an updated list of missing games to reflect what games still need updates. Check it out and see if you can add some information into the scores database that I don’t have.

I also corrected Upton’s record for 2004. The Bobcats were 8-3; I had them listed at 7-4. The correction has been made on all the relevant pages.

–patrick

Six-man updates, plus some summer news

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I’ve added pages for Kaycee and Fort Washakie, even though those programs have yet to put an official game in. I also added details for Kaycee, Fort Washakie, Snake River and Farson to the fields page.

Personally, I’m glad to see that the WHSAA is giving six-man a chance. It’ll be interesting to see if it grows over the next couple years or if it slowly dwindles and dies like nine-man did about 15 years ago…

A couple news items to pass along:

Kaycee’s facilities are still under construction, but will be ready for the season opener (Buffalo Bulletin)…. Pinedale has preliminary funding for a new turf field (read the bottom of the story, Pinedale Roundup)…. and Evanston has already begun thinking about opening day (Uinta County Herald).

–patrick