Late July top 5s

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With practices less than a month away (20 days for 4A schools, 27 for everyone else), the chatter about football season is already starting across the state. Reclassification and graduation have shifted the favorites’ roles to some new teams, although no one looks like a runaway lock for any state championships.

Yet.

It’s a year of change for Wyoming high school football, but the basic tenets of success remain the same. Here are some of the teams I think have the best chances for capitalizing on what they already have.

Feel free to add your thoughts with a comment; I’d love to hear who you think has the best chances at winning state titles.

Class 4A
1. Sheridan: Austin Woodward, maybe the best player in the state this year, is back. So is his favorite target, T.J. Stender. The Broncs proved they can play with anyone last year and if they find some role players to step up, they’ll not only play with anyone, they’ll beat anyone.
2. Green River: The Wolves lost some talented players, true. But they also have a few back — namely a savvy, athletic quarterback in Drew Martinez.
3. Gillette: Because it’s Gillette, that’s why. The Camels simply reload. And they’ve got a starting QB in Alan Sisel that’s been under varsity center since his sophomore year.
4. Cheyenne Central: Lots of youth on last year’s team, which was a big reason the Indians never really threatened the top teams in the state. But lots of guys are back — namely WR Kyle Grott, DE Hayden Jones and QB Conner Long — and they’ll be big reasons why no one will overlook Central this fall.
5. Cheyenne East: We’ll see. The top four in 4A seem pretty clear-cut, but East under coach Chad Goff has been one of the most consistently successful programs in Wyoming’s big-school football the last few years.
On the rise: Laramie. No, I don’t say that just because I moved here. 🙂 I say that because there’s nowhere else to go for the Plainsmen, and this year they’ve got some talented athletes and a chance to at least make the playoffs — if not do some damage once they make it.
On the fall: Natrona County. No, I don’t say that just because I don’t live there anymore. 🙂 I say that because last year’s team was brimming with seniors and couldn’t make it past the first round of the playoffs. It’ll be a tall order for NC to climb into the championship chase. But NC always seems to do best when it’s underestimated, so watch out.

Class 3A
1. Douglas: A couple of key cogs from last year’s championship run are back — like CST Super 25er Pierre Etchemendy and wideout Ryan Adams — and although there are key roles that need to be filled, the Bearcats have the talent, and now the confidence, to fill them.
2. Lander: The Tiger could be a scary team out West thanks to how much experience is back. Lots of young players have been filling key roles for Lander the past two years.
3. Buffalo: It’s hard to count out the Bison at any stage of the season, as tradition has proven they know how to get the job done year in and year out.
4. Cody: Just like seemingly every other team in 3A, the Broncs lost lots of seniors, so it’s last year’s success that this choice is based on.
5. Pick ’em: Riverton, Jackson, Torrington, Powell….. Wheatland, Rawlins, Star Valley, Worland…. Bueller? Bueller? Class 3A looks as open as it has ever been.
On the rise: Lander. A lot of the Tigers’ studs are back this fall, and this could be Lander’s breakthrough year to the top after a few at the bottom.
On the fall: Buffalo. I’ve still got them ranked third out of respect for coach Pat Lynch and his ability to make lemonade. But the Bison lost a ton of great players from last year’s team and have a ton of work to do before they can think about another championship run.

Class 2A
1. Kemmerer: Several juniors were important parts of last year’s run to the championship game, including CST Super 25 lineman Eric Robinson, so the talent is there for another conference title and playoff push.
2. Glenrock: Don’t be shocked if the Herders throw a bit more on offense this year — their quarterback, Kyle Farley, is back, as is their top receiver, the underused but dangerous Dustin Worthington. Worthington caught nine passes last year and six went for touchdowns.
3. Burns: Although the Broncs don’t have the athleticism that helped them win the 2A championship last year (i.e. Duell Petsch is gone), there are still several important players back from last year, like Frankie Vossler and Shane McDonald, that’ll make the transition to 2009 a little bit smoother.
4. Lovell: The Bulldogs, like every team, have some big positions to fill, but a load of experienced seniors should help make Ken Boatwright’s second year with the Bulldogs easier, and maybe more successful, than the first.
5. Moorcroft: I don’t think last year was a fluke, and having guys like Shane Hadley and Dee Jay Hacklin back to help shoulder the load in their senior seasons should help the Wolves stay in contention.
On the rise: Mountain View. Last year was an abnormally tough one for the Buffalos, who should be right back in the mix this fall.
On the fall: Big Horn. Moving up to play some bigger schools will be tough for the Rams, especially in their first year, and with every week so important to the conference race and playoff seeding, they can’t wait long to adjust. I still think Big Horn makes the playoffs, though — having a returning QB in an option-based offense is a huge advantage, and the Rams have that in junior Colby Wollenman.

Class 1A 11-man
1. Southeast: It’s more than just three consecutive championships that puts the Cyclones here. They also have three all-staters back this season, including last year’s 1A offensive player of the year, Tanner May.
2. Wind River: The Jordans, Doug and Trent, will be a handful for any team to stop this fall — especially if the Cougars can build off the confidence created by last year’s trip to the semifinals.
3. Hulett: The Red Devils had five all-state selections last year. Four were juniors. In the first year of remixed, reclassed 1A 11-man, the Red Devils could be a big surprise.
4. Burlington: The Huskies weren’t far away from a state championship last year, and with three all-state players coming back, Burlington should be right back in the thick of things again this fall.
5. Lusk: The Tigers were oh-so-close to making the title game last year, and although they have some big shoes to fill, they return all-state QB Lance Hladky for his junior season and should be able to build around him.
On the rise: Dubois. The Rams were a young team last year. They’ll definitely be better this year, but in an expanded conference, making the playoffs will still be a tall order.
On the fall: Cokeville. When’s the last time you didn’t see Cokeville in a preseason top five? Like 1947? The Panthers will probably be good enough to make the playoffs again, but they’re definitely not among the preseason favorites because of a lack of experience.

Class 1A 6-man
1. Guernsey: It’s pretty simple here — the team that’s had the most success at 11-man, one that ran lots of six-man style passing and misdirection rushing plays the past few years, gets the early preseason nod in six-man’s first year. Guernsey’s JV team also got some six-man in under its belt last season, so it’s not like the Vikings are coming in blind.
2. Meeteetse: The Longhorns have more experience in the six-man game than anyone else, and in the first full-fledged season of Wyoming six-man, that will pay off huge, especially early in the season.
3. Ten Sleep: The basketball season proved the Pioneers have the athletes to compete with anyone, and Scott Erdahl and Tony Villareal, both juniors, will make for a nice 1-2 combo. As usual, though, the only question for Ten Sleep is if they’ll have enough players to fill out a complete team.
4. Hanna: The bulk of the Miners’ squad was juniors last year, including their only all-stater in QB Jon Borah. With a ton of playing time returning, the big question is how quick Hanna will adapt to the new style of play with a new coach.
5. Midwest: The Oilers have dabbled in six-man for several years now and will have a better grasp of the game early in the season than most of their opponents — something that will help lead to success in the win column.
On the rise: The remaining four six-man schools — Kaycee, Snake River, Farson and Fort Washakie. When building programs from scratch, there’s nowhere to go but up. (Of these, I think Snake River has the best chance to make a run. Basketball and track helped prove they have the type of athleticism needed to make up for their inexperience.)

Now’s your chance — post a comment and let me know if you think I hit the nail on the head or if I mis-swung and hit my thumb instead.

–patrick

The reason for the quiet

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It’s been quiet on wyoming-football.com lately, and for that I’m sorry. It’s been a busy time for me personally, but now I’m back and ready to take this blog and site to another level.

As some of you know, I’m undergoing a career change. I quit my position as the high school sports coordinator at the Casper Star-Tribune and I’ve moved to Laramie to begin attending grad school at UW. I’ll be pursuing my master’s degree in journalism, and from there, who knows?

Anyway, a lot of what I used to do at the Star-Tribune will now be carrying over to here. I’ll still be doing weekly picks — I’ll pick a winner for each high school game in the state each week — and my weekly “Humble Pie,” where I try to make sense of where my picks went wrong. In addition, I hope to add several other weekly features that I’ll hope you enjoy, as well…. and I’ve got big, big plans for the future, but someone with deeper than pockets than me will need to help me with it.

Now that I’m in Laramie, I’ll also be adding to the core of this site — the game-by-game scores. Preliminary research for the years 1940-50 has been completed, and now I’ll be tying up all my loose ends for those years. I hope to have game-by-game results from those years posted by Christmas. Wish me luck….

And it’s 46 days and counting until the opening kickoff for 2009.

–patrick

A book?

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I’ve been kicking around the idea of a Wyoming high school football history book pretty seriously the last few weeks, but I’m not sure if it’d be worth the effort.

First of all, would anyone buy it? Would YOU buy a copy?

Second, if so, what would you want to see? Obviously, all of the game-by-game information would be in there, as would pretty much everything else on the Web site now, and I’ve got some ideas for some other cool stuff, but I’m interested to hear what you’d like to see in a book, too.

So, what do you say? Any interest?

–patrick

2009 Shrine Bowl — an unfortunate problem

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The 2009 Shrine Bowl ended with 10:32 remaining in the second quarter — a 3-3 tie that will allways remain a game of what could have been.

Severe weather forced the game’s premature ending. Tornado warnings were issued for Natrona County during the game, as were severe thunderstorm warnings.

The decision to take the teams off the field and clear the stands proved to be the right move about a half-hour after the game ended. The game was called off at 8:09 p.m.; by 8:30, lightning was popping all around Cheney Alumni Field, and by 8:50 lightning and hail made any outdoor activity potentially life-threatening.

The shame is that by 10 p.m., the storm had moved east and the game could have continued.

The game was called by the Casper Police Department, who had to make a decisive choice. They went with safety, and by 9 p.m. that looked like the right move.

By 10 p.m., it looked like they could have waited.

The problem came not with the players finding safety on the field — it came with the fans finding safety off of it. Getting more than 2,000 people organized and safe is a problem, especially when you consider that most of these fans had no place to hide when the storm approached. During one first-quarter delay, which ate up about 25 minutes before play resumed, about 1/4 of the fans remained in the bleachers because there was nowhere for them to go — the bowels of Cheney Alumni Field, as well as the halls of Natrona County High School, were already filled with fans waiting out the delay.

It’s unfortunate that if the game had been less popular, it might have been able to be finished.

That said, the Shriners will still come out ahead — the crowd, and therefore the gate and the donation to the Shriners Hospital, was outstanding.

Those that will suffer are those who win only if the game rolls on — the booster clubs from NC and KW running the concession stands, the t-shirt and sweatshirt salespeople and the advertisers who missed out on their in-game promotions.

Everyone who was a part of this game deserved to see it finished. But everyone who was a part of this game also deserved to be safe. And I think I’d rather be disappointed than unsafe.

–patrick

Shedding some light on the field situation

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I’ve slowly been collecting football schedules for 2009 (REAL ones, with kickoff times and dates, not just the WHSAA listing) and it looks like at least two schools have added lights for next season.

According to the start times, at least, both Upton and Pinedale will have lights on their fields this fall.

I found this Youtube video of some of the dirt work on the Upton field, but that, plus the start times, is all the proof I can muster for Upton. One thing looks for certain — the new field will certainly be much more accessible to the school than the old field.

Meanwhile, aside from a May school budget item, I can’t find anything about Pinedale’s lights. Can anyone let me know what’s going on up there?

Also, according  to the start times, Wind River has its lighting situation rectified and will be taking to night games again this fall. Wind knocked down some of the poles last season, poles that were installed in 2006….

Anyway, can anyone out there fill me in on what’s new in Upton, Pinedale or Pavillion?

–patrick

The 1955 Class A championship game — maybe Wyoming’s best ever

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More than 16,000 football games have been played by Wyoming high school teams in the past 60 years.

Everyone has their favorite — the one that sticks out for either the stakes, the circumstances or the personal investment.

For pure drama, though, no Wyoming title game stacks up to the one Worland and Torrington played for the 1955 Class A title.

After Torrington rallied from a 14-0 deficit to force overtime, the two teams abided by the rules then in place — the ball was spotted on the 50-yard line and each team was given five plays, alternating. The team that had the ball on its opponents side of the 50 after those 10 plays was declared the winner.

Here’s the account of overtime from Ray Griffin’s story in the Casper Tribune-Herald:

Torrington’s first play: 3-yard run by Bobby Hankins (ball on Worland’s 47)

Worland’s first play: 2-yard run by Terry Smothermon (ball on Worland’s 49)

Torrington’s second play: 1-yard run by Hankins (ball on Worland’s 48)

Worland’s second play: 1-yard run by Smothermon (ball on Worland’s 49)

Torrington’s third play: incomplete pass (ball on Worland’s 49)

Worland’s third play: Offsides penalty on Worland, followed by a 1-yard loss by Cote (first name unavailable) on a reverse (ball on Worland’s 43)

Torrington’s fourth play: No gain on a run by Ron Wood (ball on Worland’s 43)

Worland’s fourth play: 6-yard run by Smothermon (ball on Worland’s 49)

Torrington’s fifth play: No gain on a run by Hankins (ball on Worland’s 49)

Worland’s fifth play: 3-yard run by Smothermon (ball on Torrington’s 48)

In the end, as Griffin put it, “The ball was perhaps five feet inside Torrington territory when the game ended.”

Frankly, the 1955 method was a pretty cruddy way to decide a championship. Alternating plays is the worst way to gain any type of offensive or defensive consistency and it’s tough to establish any kind of set-up for a trick play (although both teams tried in 1955, with Torrington running one of those tricky passing plays and Worland trying a reverse, neither of which worked).

However, you can’t argue the drama that hung over that final play, with one yard standing between two teams and a championship. No matter the system, you can’t argue that there wasn’t a more exciting way to end a game — and a season.

Just for perspective, the other four championship games to go into overtime were the 2002 Class 4A title game (Worland over Star Valley 17-14); the 1990 Class 2A title game (Thermopolis over Lovell 21-20); the 1983 Class 3A title game (Buffalo over Evanston 13-12); and the 1976 Class AA title game (Cody over Laramie 41-40 in triple overtime).

I wrote about this a while back on my old Sports Goulash blog at the Star-Tribune. I listed the 1955 Class A title game as the No. 1 game in Wyoming’s history. Here were the other four I posted at the time, although I think some of my list has changed:

So here they are, “The Top Five Games in Wyoming High School Football History, or At Least the Ones I Can Remember”:

5. Natrona County 7, Sheridan 0, 1996 Class 4A championship: Sheridan was the juggernaut, having won four of the previous five big-school titles. Despite beating Sheridan 16-0 earlier in the season, NC was still the underdog, still rising from the ashes of some rough years. The Mustangs won on a second-quarter pass play from Jacque Finn to Josh Daniels. It was Steve Harshman’s first championship with NC, and he still has the paper clipping on his bulletin board at NCHS.

4. Riverton 33, Lander 27, 1994 Class 3A championship: At the time, then-Riverton coach Don Julian (now at UW) called it “the greatest high school football game I’ve ever been associated with.” Corte McGuffey, who later starred at Northern Colorado and in the XFL, threw for 419 yards and led the Wolverines’ comeback victory in front of 4,000 fans at Tonkin Stadium. The winning TD by Kevin DeVries came with 1:15 to go.

3. Cokeville 14, Southeast 13, 2003 Class 1A championship: Give Southeast coach Mark Bullington credit. He went for the win. However, the Panthers’ Nathan Fiscus stopped Cyclones’ QB Alan Moore on a two-point conversion attempt with 2:14 remaining, and Cokeville won its third consecutive small-school championship.

2. Big Horn 45, Riverside 45, 3OT, tie, 1987: Ties were abolished after the 1974 season. Somehow, this 1987 season opener between the Rams and Rebels finished in a tie — the only deadlock in Wyoming before or since the rule change. All I remember about this one is that it ended in a tie because the officials thought three overtimes was the limit. I could be wrong, though. … Anyone?

Here are a couple comments from that list:

“I can remember one other important OT game played during the 1960 regular season when Tommy Wilkinson’s Greybull crew beat Lander in the same OT format but the game was disputed and Greybull and Lander had to play again at the conclusion of the season with Greybull winning 33-7. Greybull went on to beat Evanston and Gary McLean, 14-7 for the title.”

–

“Just found this. Interesting that the 1976 Cody victory over Laramie doesn’t show up in your top 5 list. I was there, all of 11 years old. Game decided 41-40 in Cody in triple overtime. Laramie under John Deti, Sr., was heavily favored, but Cody, led by Rob Russell, Clark Fuller, Mike Mees and many others, fought back from being down 20-8 at halftime to force overtime. 41-40 triple overtime. David beats Goliath. John McDougall’s first state championship as coach. A great moment in a small town. I was proud to be there, standing alongside my dad, who in 1958, played on the Torrington team that traveled to Cody the day after a snowstorm and lost the state title by a touchdown. … The game was amazing. Laramie was bigger, stronger, faster. Cody’s only score of the first half was on a kickoff return for a touchdown by Rob Russell. The game was tied 28-28, I believe, at the end of regulation. The California playoff was the mode of settling the winner. I do remember that Laramie scored in the second overtime and missed the extra point (I think it was on a two-point try by their huge fullback). Cody scored and then had the opportunity to kick the extra point for the win. From the stands Russell’s kick looked good, but it was ruled no good. Laramie scored again, rather quickly, but again failed on the two-point try. Cody scored, and Russell’s kick was true and there was chaos. There must have been at least 5,000 fans in attendance rooting on the Broncs. The next year, Mike Mees, who went on to BYU and then later punted in the USFL for the Arizona Outlaws, and Clark Fuller passed their way to another improbable appearance in the state championship game against Cheyenne Central. That game was a shootout, and the Indians prevailed. It was an exciting time to be a youngster growing up in Cody. Many years later, Mees ended up coaching basketball in Worland.”

–

“I can understand why their are no Guernsey games on the list, it must have been hard enough to choose as it was. But, if you had a top ten list at least three of Guernsey’s recent playoff games deserve a shot at that list. There’s already been mention of this past year’s state championship game in Cokeville. The game their two years before, however, saw Guernsey drive I think 97 yards, eating up almost all of the fourth quarter, to score the go ahead touchdown. To put together that kind of a drive on Cokeville defense, with no long plays on the drive either, and just pounding it down the field, was pretty impressive. Also, the week before that game Guernsey beat Burlington in the semis in overtime with a field goal. The game was back and forth throughout regulation and ended 21-21 (could’ve been more but each team had goal line stops). Burlington got the ball first in overtime but Guernsey stopped them. Thus, Guernsey scores and they win. On the first play they get the ball to the 2, then get stuffed twice and decide to kick a field goal. The only field goal ever attempted by the Vikings during Matt Calvert’s tenure turned out to make the season. Just thought I’d throw those out there.”

–

“The best game I ever played in was Cokeville vs. Southeast in 1993 in a state semi-final game in Yoder. Both teams scored 14 points early in the first half. From there on it was a defensive struggle. The game went to overtime where Southeast had the ball first. They scored quickly and added the pat to go ahead 21-14. We answered with a touchdown to pull with in a point. We called time out and coach Todd Dayton came out onto the field and into our huddle. He took the field goal kicking tee and threw it to the sidelines, making sure the Southeast side knew we were planning on going the 2 pt conversion and the win. Coach Dayton called no play in the huddle…we were going to try and get Southeast to jump offside and move the ball closer to the goal line. If they did not jump, we were going to call time out and kick the pat and head to the second overtime. Southeast did in fact jump offside and on the next play our running back Ricky Himmerich scored on a dive to the right from a yard and a half out.”

–

“The 1955 AA Championship game between Laramie and Cheyenne should rank up there. Laramie won 18-14 and the game ended in an on field riot.. This was the first year Laramie beat Cheyenne twice in the same season. The #1 game you have listed (Torrington)…the Torrington quarterback was John Korhonen and that team included several guys who went on to play at U of W. Actually, Torrington beat Laramie early in the season for Laramies only loss of the year.”

–

So there it is, the starting point for debate. Toss out your suggestions for Wyoming’s best high school football game ever with a comment below.

–patrick

Hard at work

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I wrote three stories this week at work relating to the upcoming changes in Wyoming high school football.

Sunday’s story was about how the gate at the state football championships in November is the WHSAA’s big unknown.

Monday’s story was about Laramie’s preparation for the title games.

Tuesday’s story was a progress report on the new six-man division.

I also wrote a short story about the Shrine Bowl and its commitment to stay in Casper.

Check them out.

–patrick

Set up for disappointment — Wyoming’s football reclassification proposal

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Are you ready for the death of SEWAC football? For all but ending of out-of-state football games? For absolutely crazy travel?

Wyoming’s football landscape could be changing big time as the WHSAA board of directors meets this week in Casper. And all of the above could come true — because no one will want to be known as the guy who voted against sanctioning six-man football.

By all accounts, the return of state-sanctioned six-man football — something that hasn’t existed in Wyoming since 1956 — is exactly what the state needs. With two teams already playing in Montana anyway, three current 11-man programs ready to drop and four more new programs already approved by their respective school boards, six-man football makes way too much sense for Wyoming not to have it.

But at what expense?

With the rearrangement, conferences for Wyoming’s other four classifications have been expanded (granted, proposed to expand, but still…) to fill the change.

Here are how the conferences would shape up if passed on Tuesday, courtesy of my other blog, the one I get paid to write:

Class 4A: Gillette, Kelly Walsh, Natrona County, Cheyenne Central, Cheyenne East, Evanston, Green River, Laramie, Rock Springs, Sheridan.
3A West: Cody, Jackson, Lander, Powell, Star Valley, Worland.
3A East: Buffalo, Douglas, Rawlins, Riverton, Torrington, Wheatland.
2A West: Big Piney, Greybull, Kemmerer, Lovell, Lyman, Mountain View, Pinedale, Wyoming Indian.
2A East: Burns, Big Horn, Glenrock, Moorcroft, Newcastle, Thermopolis, Tongue River, Wright.
1A 11-man West: Burlington, Cokeville, Dubois, Riverside, Rocky Mountain, Saratoga, Shoshoni, Wind River.
1A 11-man East: Hulett, Lingle, Lusk, Normative Services, Pine Bluffs, Southeast, Sundance, Upton.
1A six-man: Fort Washakie, Guernsey, Hanna, Kaycee, Snake River, Meeteetse, Midwest, Rock River, Ten Sleep.

Look at that closely. One Class 4A conference with 10 teams. Two Class 2A and two Class 1A 11-man conferences with eight teams apiece. One six-man conference with nine teams.

When did big conferences become vogue? And why?

Dig deeper and more problems become apparent.

The proposal calls for the 10 Class 4A teams to play each other in a nine-game round-robin regular season, with the top eight teams advancing to the playoffs. That means absolutely ZERO non-conference games. One of the ideas behind eliminating the WHSAA power ratings as a way to decide playoff qualifiers was to put more emphasis on conference play. But if EVERY game is a conference game, then it’s sort of like power ratings never went away.

Also, it’s the WHSAA’s plan to use Zero Week for the first 4A games. Um…. have you ever watched one of those games/scrimmages? About 15-20 percent of the kids can’t play because they don’t have the minimum number of practices. And what about schools that start school the same day of practice (like the two Casper schools, among a few others)? They would be at a huge disadvantage that first game simply because they’ve had about half the practice time that their opponents have had.

As for the Class 2A and 1A 11-man levels, conference games are way, way too prevalent, as well. With eight teams per conference, the WHSAA’s plan is for Week 1 to be a non-conference game against somebody from the other conference (i.e. the eight teams from the 2A East would play someone from the 2A West) and the remaining seven games would be conference games. Once again, conference play dominates the schedule — and that creates huge ramifications and fallout that I don’t think anyone truly understands.

Take, for example, Burns. The Broncs are a Class 2A East team in the proposed alignment, and their closest conference game is with Glenrock, more than 180 miles one-way. And with only one non-conference game — which will be against a 2A West team — Burns is looking at six hour round-trips, minimum, for each of their road games.

Burns already has several schools of similar size within 130 miles — namely, traditional SEWAC rivals Pine Bluffs, Southeast, Lingle and Lusk in Wyoming; Kimball, Mitchell, Morrill, Bayard and Bridgeport in Nebraska; and Julesburg and Merino in Colorado. But the Broncs won’t be playing any of them in this new alignment.

Speaking of 2A, take a look at Greybull and Lovell. Those two schools are in the same conference as the old-school Southwest with Pinedale, Big Piney, Kemmerer, Lyman and Mountain View, as well as conference throw-in Wyoming Indian. So instead of playing the likes of nearby Burlington, Riverside, Powell or Thermopolis, Greybull and Lovell will be playing teams that are in some cases more than 300 miles away.

Basically, interclass games will cease to exist, while out-of-state games will be eliminated for all but the 3A classification.

Re-read that sentence and then think about it. Hard.

Several of the games that make the most sense logistically and competitively will be eliminated. No more Douglas-Glenrock, or Riverside-Greybull, or Shoshoni-Wyoming Indian or Wind River-Wyoming Indian, or Evanston-Star Valley…. instead, teams — and their fans — will be forced to travel two or three times further for a game that will likely provide the same amount of competition. Where’s the sense in that?

I think the clear answer is to break up some of those conferences. Why have an eight-team conference when two four-team conferences will work just as well, reducing travel and keeping competitive games closer to home? Just take the top two from each conference to qualify for the playoffs. What’s wrong with interclass games and small conferences?

(By the way, what happens when Wyoming Indian decides it wants to play down in Class 1A, as it’s opting to do now? Will the WHSAA deny WI what it’s granted for the past several years for the sake of even conferences and easy scheduling? If so, will the 1A West become a nine-team conference? Eight conference games and then the postseason? Wow.)

Not that I’m in charge, but here’s how I’d set it up:

4A North: Gillette, Kelly Walsh, Natrona County, Sheridan, and one of the Cheyenne schools.
4A South: Evanston, Green River, Rock Springs, Laramie, and the other Cheyenne school.
3A East: As is: Buffalo, Douglas, Rawlins, Riverton, Torrington, Wheatland.
3A West: As is: Cody, Jackson, Lander, Powell, Star Valley, Worland.
2A Northeast: Big Horn, Moorcroft, Newcastle, Tongue River.
2A Southeast: Burns, Glenrock, Wright.
2A Northwest: Greybull, Thermopolis, Lovell, Wyoming Indian.
2A Southwest: Big Piney, Kemmerer, Lyman, Mountain View, Pinedale.
(Quick 2A explanation: I’d have the second-place team from the SE play the third-place team from the SW in, like, Rawlins, the Monday before the first round of the playoffs to qualify. If WI dropped to 1A, the play-in would rotate annually between the second-place team from the NW and the second-place team from the SE against the third-place team from the SW…. the other second-place team would qualify automatically….)
1A Northeast: Hulett, Normative Services, Sundance, Upton.
1A Southeast: Lingle, Lusk, Pine Bluffs, Southeast.
1A Northwest: Burlington, Riverside, Rocky Mountain, Shoshoni.
1A Southwest: Cokeville, Dubois, Saratoga, Wind River.

As for 1A six-man, the round-robin schedule and a nine-team conference makes sense. It’s not like they have a whole lot of options for non-conference games anyway, and the nine-team set-up works perfectly for an eight-game schedule.

But for 4A, 2A and 1A 11-man, splitting the conference works better. There are more options for non-conference scheduling — and building up the team chemistry and fundamentals that coaches know are essential to their teams’ success before conference games — and it would reduce travel for a good number of the schools involved. And it CAN be done without sacrificing the sanctioning of six-man football.

Here’s the rub: The vote is scheduled to go down Tuesday afternoon. Changing the conference alignments — as we saw last time around — can be done in November if need be. But football schedules usually come out before that November meeting.

If no one on the WHSAA board is willing to speak up on Tuesday, there will be more than a little bit of hell to pay once the coaches, players and parents actually see an alignment like this in action. And right now, no one wants to speak up because they don’t want to be the one that’s remembered as the one that killed six-man.

Even though, if they do it right, they can have both.

–patrick

In-depth look at the 2009 football schedule

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With all the changes coming to Wyoming’s high school football make-up, there are several new first-time meetings in the works for 2009. (Counting games from 1951 to the present.)

In the 11-man schedule, there are 15 games that will be the first meeting between the two schools: Riverton-Buffalo; Big Horn-Thermopolis; Big Horn-Newcastle; Big Piney-Burlington; Burns-Newcastle; Burns-Thermopolis; Newcastle-Southeast; Burlington-Saratoga; Hulett-Lusk; Hulett-Pine Bluffs; Lusk-Normative Services; Normative Services-Rocky Mountain; Normative Services-Pine Bluffs; Normative Services-Sundance; and Pine Bluffs-Shoshoni.

Most of these games come out of the new Class 1A 11-man East Conference — Normative Services has four new opponents in 2009, Pine Bluffs three, Hulett and Lusk two apiece. Newcastle is also playing three new opponents next fall, while Thermopolis, Big Horn and Burlington have two new opponents apiece.

And most of the games involve the smaller half of Wyoming’s schools. That’s not really surprising, as a lack of big schools usually causes the big guys to run into each other at least once over a 50-plus year period. The only new game among the 4A and 3A ranks is the Buffalo-Riverton meeting.

In addition, six more games are the first regular-season meetings between two schools: Sheridan-Evanston, Douglas-Jackson, Powell-Wheatland, Big Horn-Burns, Burns-Tongue River and Pine Bluffs-Upton. These schools have played each other at least once in the playoffs in their history (in fact, Douglas and Jackson played each other in both the 2006 and 2007 postseasons, and Big Horn and Burns have played each other in the playoffs each of the past three years) but never in the regular season.

And, of course, there’s six-man, where five new programs will start in 2009 and a dearth of new first-time games will take place. Only one of the Week 1 games in 2009, though, will pit two new programs against each other in their inaugural game (Snake River at Kaycee). Of the currently existing programs, Guernsey will be playing two new foes this fall — Meeteetse and Ten Sleep — in addition to all the new schools.

Many other games are resurrections of series that only lasted one or two years, or resurrections of series that have deep histories but that have waned in recent years.

All in all, there’s a ton of change coming in 2009. The new set-up makes the season unpredictable — and a whole lot of fun.

–patrick

Zero Week…. and silence

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So, yeah, I haven’t done anything for the official start of the 2008 Wyoming high school football season.

Know why?

Because Zero Week is a waste.

Not a waste in the sense that players and coaches don’t get anything out of it. They do. Be it in a scrimmage, a jamboree or an actual real game, Zero Week does give players a chance to feel real hits from players they don’t know, coaches a chance to see what works and what doesn’t.

The thing is, nobody really cares about it. Even in the real, four-quarter, officiated games, teams don’t take stats. They can barely remember who scored the touchdowns. And if they lose, they just chalk it up as a scrimmage game that doesn’t mean anything anyway.

I say, if you’re going to scrimmage, then scrimmage. Keep your practice jerseys on, let the officials stay home and scrimmage. None of this hairy “let’s play three quarters and then do situational drills” waste.

And if you’re going to play a game, play a game. Play to win. Keep stats. Put your best players on the field and try to outscore the other guys’ best players. Don’t hold back simply because it doesn’t count for your playoff seeding.

Rant over. For now.

–patrick