Wyoming high school football playoff scenarios entering Week 8, 2024

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Here are the playoff scenarios for all classifications of Wyoming high school football entering Week 8 of the 2024 season:

Class 4A
Week 8 games affecting playoff seeding: Cheyenne Central at Natrona; Cheyenne East at Campbell County; Cheyenne South at Thunder Basin; Rock Springs at Kelly Walsh; Sheridan at Laramie.
Sheridan: In. No. 1 seed.
Campbell County, Cheyenne East: In. No. 2 seed with victory. No. 3 seed with loss.
Natrona: In. No. 4 seed.
Rock Springs: In. Between the No. 5 and No. 7 seed.
Thunder Basin: In. Between the No. 5 and No. 8 seed.
Kelly Walsh: Neither in nor out. Between the No. 5 seed and out.
Cheyenne Central: Neither in nor out. Between the No. 6 seed and out.
Laramie: Neither in nor out. Between the No. 7 seed and out.
Cheyenne South: Out.

Get ready… here are the Class 4A scenarios for seeds 5-8:

If Thunder Basin beats SouthKWRSTBLarCC 
Central, Rock Springs, Sheridan win865out7 
Central, Rock Springs, Laramie winout6578*scenario 1
Central, Kelly Walsh, Sheridan win576out8 
Central, Kelly Walsh, Laramie win5768out*scenario 2
Natrona, Rock Springs win (Sheridan-Laramie is moot)7658out 
Natrona, Kelly Walsh win (Sheridan-Laramie is moot)5768out
If South beats Thunder BasinKWRSTBLarCC 
Central, Rock Springs, Sheridan win758out6*scenario 3
Central, Rock Springs, Laramie win6578out*scenario 4
Central, Kelly Walsh, Sheridan win576out8*scenario 5
Central, Kelly Walsh, Laramie win5768out*scenario 6
Natrona, Rock Springs, Sheridan win6578out 
Natrona, Rock Springs, Laramie win6578out*scenario 7
Natrona, Kelly Walsh, Sheridan win5768out 
Natrona, Kelly Walsh, Laramie win5768out*scenario 8

Tiebreaker scenario 1: If Central, Kelly Walsh and Laramie tie for the 7-8-out seeds, Laramie would have the victory against the highest-ranked non-tied team (Sheridan) for the No. 7 seed, and Central would beat Kelly Walsh for the head-to-head tiebreaker for the No. 8 seed.
Tiebreaker scenario 2: If Central, Rock Springs and Laramie tie for the 7-8-out seeds, Rock Springs would have two head-to-head victories against the other teams, earning the No. 7 seed. Laramie would have the No. 8 seed with the head-to-head tiebreaker over Central.
Tiebreaker scenario 3: If Central, Thunder Basin and Kelly Walsh tie for the 6-7-8 seeds, Central would have the victory against the highest-ranked non-tied team (Natrona) for the No. 6 seed, and Kelly Walsh would have the head-to-head tiebreaker to decide the No. 7 and 8 seeds.
Tiebreaker scenario 4: If Thunder Basin, Kelly Walsh, Laramie and Central tie for the 6-7-8-out seeds… it gets messy. Wyoming has never had a four-way tie in conference standings, so this would be unprecedented. WHSAA guidelines state in a four-way tie, the highest-ranking non-tied victory rule isn’t used, with head-to-head records among the four teams the first step in the tiebreaker. KW and Thunder Basin would each be 2-1 in the head-to-head, with KW earning the No. 6 seed with the head-to-head win against Thunder Basin. Then we revert to a three-way tiebreaker between the three remaining schools. Thunder Basin would be the No. 7 seed with victories over the remaining two teams. Laramie would then be No. 8 with the head-to-head victory against Central.
Tiebreaker scenario 5: If Thunder Basin, Rock Springs and Central tie for the 6-7-8 seeds, Thunder Basin would have head-to-head tiebreakers against both to earn the No. 6 seed. Rock Springs would have the No. 7 seed with the head-to-head tiebreaker against Central.
Tiebreaker scenario 6: If Thunder Basin, Rock Springs, Laramie and Central tie for the 6-7-8-out seeds… again, an unprecedented four-way tie. Thunder Basin, with a 3-0 mark against all the others, would be the No. 6 seed. Rock Springs would be No. 7 with victories against the remaining two teams, and Laramie would be the No. 8 seed with a head-to-head victory against Central.
Tiebreaker scenario 7: If Thunder Basin, Kelly Walsh and Laramie tie for the 6-7-8 seeds, Kelly Walsh would be the No. 6 seed due to victories over both of the other teams. Thunder Basin would be No. 7 due to its head-to-head victory against Laramie, which would be seeded No. 8.
Tiebreaker scenario 8: If Thunder Basin, Rock Springs and Laramie tie for the 6-7-8 seeds, Thunder Basin would be the No. 6 seed due to victories over both of the other teams. Rock Springs would be No. 7 due to its head-to-head victory against Laramie, which would be seeded No. 8.

Class 3A East
Week 8 games affecting playoff seeding: Buffalo at Lander; Riverton at Rawlins; Torrington at Douglas.
Douglas: In. No. 1 seed with victory. Tie for 1-2-3 seeds (score differential to break, seeded either 1 or 3) with loss and Riverton victory. No. 2 seed with loss and Rawlins victory.
Torrington: In. No. 1 seed with victory and Rawlins victory. Tie for 1-2-3 seeds (score differential to break, seeded either 2 or 3) with victory and Riverton victory. No. 3 seed with loss.
Riverton: In. Tie for 1-2-3 seeds (score differential to break, seeded either 1 or 2) with victory and Torrington victory. No. 2 seed with Douglas victory, win or lose. No. 3 seed with loss and Torrington victory.
Buffalo, Lander: Neither in nor out. No. 4 seed with victory. Out with loss.
Rawlins: Out.
In case of a Douglas-Torrington-Riverton tie for the 1-2-3 seeds, score differential will be used to break the tie. Current differential is Douglas +7, Riverton +5, Torrington -12. If Torrington wins by one or two points, Douglas would win the tiebreaker and the No. 1 seed, with Riverton earning the No. 2 seed with a head-to-head victory against Torrington, which would be seeded No. 3. If Torrington wins by three or more points, Riverton would earn the No. 1 seed, and then Torrington would be seeded No. 2 with a head-to-head victory over Douglas, which would be seeded No. 3.

Class 3A West
Week 8 games affecting playoff seeding: Powell at Evanston.
Star Valley: In. No. 1 seed.
Cody: In. No. 2 seed.
Evanston, Powell: In. No. 3 seed with victory. No. 4 seed with loss.
Green River, Jackson: Out.
In a scenario where Jackson ties either Evanston or Powell, or both, Jackson loses all head-to-head tiebreakers. Similarly, if Cody ties with Evanston or Powell, Cody wins all head-to-head tiebreakers.

Class 2A East
Week 8 games affecting playoff seeding: Moorcroft at Burns; Newcastle at Wheatland.
Big Horn: In. No. 1 seed.
Newcastle: In. No. 2 seed with victory. Tie for 2-3-4 seeds (score differential to break) with loss and Burns victory. No. 3 seed with loss and Moorcroft victory.
Burns: In. Tie for 2-3-4 seeds (score differential to break) with victory and Wheatland victory. No. 3 seed with Newcastle victory, win or lose. No. 4 seed with loss and Wheatland victory.
Wheatland: In. No. 2 seed with victory and Moorcroft victory. Tie for 2-3-4 seeds (score differential to break) with victory and Burns victory. No. 4 seed with Newcastle victory, win or lose.
Upton-Sundance, Moorcroft, Tongue River, Glenrock: Out.
In the scenario where Newcastle, Burns and Wheatland tie for the 2-3-4 seeds, score differential will be used as the tiebreaker. Current differentials are Newcastle +12, Burns -4, Wheatland -8. In this scenario, if Wheatland wins by nine or fewer, Newcastle wins the differential tiebreaker and earns the No. 2 seed, with Burns No. 3 and Wheatland No. 4 due to Burns’ head-to-head victory. If Wheatland wins by 10, Wheatland and Newcastle tie in the score differential, with Wheatland (I believe) winning the head-to-head tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed, and then Newcastle winning the No. 3 seed due to head-to-head over Burns. If Wheatland wins by 11 or more, Wheatland wins the score tiebreaker outright, with Newcastle No. 3 and Burns No. 4 in the head-to-head.
Upton-Sundance loses all potential tiebreakers with either Burns or Wheatland.

Class 2A West
Week 8 games affecting playoff seeding: Cokeville at Lovell; Kemmerer at Worland; Lyman at Mountain View; Thermopolis at Pinedale.
Mountain View: In. No. 1 seed with victory. No. 2 seed with loss.
Cokeville: In. No. 1 seed with victory and Lyman victory. No. 2 seed with victory and Mountain View victory. No. 3 seed with loss.
Lovell: In. No. 1 seed with victory and Lyman victory. No. 2 seed with victory and Mountain View victory. No. 3 seed with loss.
Worland: Neither in nor out. No. 4 seed with victory. Out with loss.
Thermopolis: Neither in nor out. No. 4 seed with Kemmerer victory. Out with Worland victory.
Kemmerer, Lyman, Pinedale: Out.
This gets a bit confusing, as Thermopolis (3-3), Worland (3-3) and Kemmerer (2-4) attempt to secure the No. 4 seed. By winning, Worland eliminates the possibility of a three-way tiebreaker and is the No. 4 seed regardless of whether Thermopolis wins or loses due to having the tiebreaker head-to-head victory. If Worland loses, though, Thermopolis is the No. 4 seed regardless of whether it wins or loses. In this scenario, one of two things happens — Thermopolis wins and earns the No. 4 seed outright, or Thermopolis loses and the teams (Worland, Thermopolis and Kemmerer) tie 4-out-out. In all situations where Thermopolis, Worland and Kemmerer tie for the No. 4 seed, Thermopolis wins the tiebreaker by having the victory over the highest-ranked non-tied team, which would be Mountain View. Kemmerer could tie both Worland and Thermopolis, but Kemmerer would lose all three-way ties with those two teams for the No. 4 seed.

Class 1A nine-man East
Week 8 games affecting playoff seeding: Lusk at Wright; Saratoga at Lingle; Southeast at Pine Bluffs.
Lingle: In. No. 1 seed.
Pine Bluffs: In. No. 2 seed with victory. No. 3 seed with loss.
Saratoga: In. No. 3 seed with victory and Pine Bluffs victory. No. 4 seed with Southeast victory, win or lose. No. 4 seed with loss.
Southeast: Neither in nor out. No. 2 seed with victory. No. 3 seed with loss and Lingle victory. No. 4 seed with loss, Saratoga victory and Wright victory. Out with loss, Saratoga victory and Lusk victory.
Lusk: Neither in nor out. No. 4 seed with victory, Saratoga victory and Pine Bluffs victory. Out in all other scenarios, win or lose.
Wright, Guernsey: Out.
In scenarios where Saratoga, Southeast and Pine Bluffs tie for the No. 2-3-4 seeds, Southeast wins the tiebreaker with a 2-0 record head-to-head against the others. Pine Bluffs is the No. 3 seed with a head-to-head victory over Saratoga, which would be No. 4.
In scenarios where Lusk, Saratoga and Southeast tie for the 3-4-out seeds, Southeast wins the tiebreaker via score differential (Southeast +8, Lusk +1, Saratoga -9). Saratoga then earns the No. 4 seed with the head-to-head victory against Lusk.
Lusk only gets into the playoffs by tying Southeast alone for the No. 4 seed.

Class 1A nine-man West
Week 8 games affecting playoff seeding: Rocky Mountain at Wind River; Greybull at Wyoming Indian; Shoshoni at Big Piney.
Big Piney: In. No. 1 seed with victory. No. 2 seed with loss and Wyoming Indian victory. Tie for 1-2-3 seeds (score differential to break) with loss and Greybull victory.
Shoshoni: In. No. 1 seed with victory and Wyoming Indian victory. Tie for 1-2-3 seeds (score differential to break) with victory and Greybull victory. No. 3 seed with loss.
Greybull: In. Tie for 1-2-3 seeds (score differential to break) with victory and Shoshoni victory. No. 2 seed with Big Piney victory, win or lose. No. 3 seed with loss and Shoshoni victory.
Rocky Mountain, Wind River: Neither in nor out. No. 4 seed with victory. Out with loss.
Wyoming Indian: Out.
In the scenario where Big Piney, Shoshoni and Greybull tie for the 1-2-3 seeds, score differential will be used to break the tie. Current differentials are Big Piney +10, Greybull -5 and Shoshoni -5. If Shoshoni wins by seven or fewer points, Big Piney wins the scoring differential and will be the No. 1 seed, with Greybull the No. 2 due to the head-to-head victory against Shoshoni, which would be seeded No. 3. If Shoshoni wins by eight or more, Shoshoni wins the tiebreaker and the No. 1 seed by winning the scoring differential. Big Piney would be the No. 2 seed due to head-to-head against Greybull, which would be No. 3.

Class 1A six-man North
Week 8 games affecting playoff seeding: Burlington at Midwest; Meeteetse at Riverside; Kaycee at Ten Sleep.
Burlington: In. No. 1 seed.
Riverside: In. Either No. 2 or No. 3 seed.
Midwest, Meeteetse, Kaycee: Neither in nor out. Seeding TBD in scenarios below.
Hulett, Ten Sleep: Out.

WinnersRiversideMidwestMeeteetseKaycee 
Burlington, Meeteetse, Kaycee342out 
Burlington, Meeteetse, Ten Sleep342out 
Burlington, Riverside, Kaycee2out43*scenario 1
Burlington, Riverside, Ten Sleep243out 
Midwest, Meeteetse, Kaycee342out*scenario 2
Midwest, Meeteetse, Ten Sleep342out*scenario 2
Midwest, Riverside, Kaycee23out4 
Midwest, Riverside, Ten Sleep234out

Tiebreaker scenario 1: In the scenario where Kaycee, Meeteetse and Midwest tie for the 3-4-out seeds, score differential would be used to break the tie. Differentials are Kaycee +9, Meeteetse 0, Midwest -9. Kaycee would be the No. 3 seed in winning the differential, and Meeteetse would be No. 4 with the head-to-head victory against Midwest.
Tiebreaker scenario 2: In the scenario where Meeteetse, Riverside and Midwest tie for the 2-3-4 seeds, Meeteetse would be the No. 2 seed by having a 2-0 record against the other two tied teams head-to-head. Riverside would be the No. 3 seed with a head-to-head victory against Midwest, which would be the No. 4 seed.

Class 1A six-man South
Week 8 games affecting playoff seeding: Snake River at Encampment.
Encampment, Snake River: In. No. 1 seed with victory. No. 2 seed with loss.
Dubois: In. No. 3 seed.
Farson: In. No. 4 seed.
Hanna, Casper Christian: Out.
Dubois wins its potential tiebreaker with Farson due to head-to-head victory.

If anything looks weird or incorrect, please let me know. Leave a comment here or email me at pschmiedt@yahoo.com. I’m indisposed on Saturday (the job that pays me…), but I’ll still have email access.

–patrick

Updated 11:30 p.m. MDT Saturday, Oct. 19, with 2A East and 1A nine-man West scenarios. Updated 11:49 p.m. MDT Saturday, Oct. 19, with Class 1A six-man scenarios for both conferences.

Week 7 picks: Why Al Michaels should call a couple Wyoming high school football games this week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

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

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

No unnecessary buildup, no superfluous adjectives.

Four undefeated teams, two games.

Let’s see what miracles unfold.

+++

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

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

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

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

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

–patrick

Week 6 picks: The 3A mantra that no one can escape

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

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

–patrick

Week 5 picks: Saratoga’s opportunity in the undefeated spotlight, 20-plus (and 40-plus) years in the making

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

+++

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

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

+++

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

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

–patrick

Week 4 picks: Three Wyoming coaches chase school records for victories

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+++

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

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

+++

Picks in bold. Efficiency.

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

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

+++

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

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

+++

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

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

–patrick

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

Week 3 picks: As Sheridan approaches a 61-year-old record, a comparison of Wyoming’s two longest football winning streaks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And before that? Well, East.

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

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

No team would love it more.

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

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

+++

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

+++

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

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

+++

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

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

–patrick

Natrona’s 1976 golf team set the closest thing Wyoming has to an unbeatable high school sports record

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Not many state records last for the better part of five decades.

That’s especially true in a sport like golf where technological advances have consistently improved such records for years. That will be on display this weekend in Afton, Rawlins and Big Horn, where the Class 4A, 3A and 2A state golf championships will take place, respectively.

But Wyoming’s best high school golf may have happened at a state meet nearly 50 years ago, where one team set a record that has been not only unbroken, it stands alone as a paragon of the sport.

No team has even come close to challenging what happened at the 1976 state Class AA golf tournament in Casper, where for two days at the Casper Golf Club, four students at Natrona formed the greatest golf team to ever play in the state.

As a team, the Mustangs tallied 582 strokes, a number encompassing the total strokes for the team’s top four golfers over the two-day tournament. That number of 582 continues to stand as the closest thing Wyoming high school sports has to an unbreakable record.

Despite improvements to clubs, golf balls, courses, and more, the 1976 Mustangs’ two-day total has never seriously been challenged. Only four boys teams in state golf tournament history have broken the 600-stroke barrier, and only one other team has come within 12 strokes of the 1976 Mustangs’ 582. The second-best mark came from Cheyenne Central’s 2005 team, which tallied 594 strokes over two days (293-301). The teams from 2015 Riverton (286-311=597) and 2010 Sheridan (297-300=597) are the only others that have ever broken 600 strokes.

So what made these Mustangs unique? Well, having two state champions on the roster sure helped, but even individual talent can’t solely explain what happened at the 1976 Class AA state golf meet.

+++

What’s unusual about Natrona’s state record score is that it seemingly came out of nowhere, both for the team and for the sport.

The previous year, Campbell County and Cheyenne East had tied for the Class AA championship (with the Camels winning in a playoff) with team totals of 662. Natrona finished sixth at 685; do the math, and the Mustangs improved by a whopping 97 strokes just one year later.

Prior to Natrona’s 582, the best two-day total for a state championship meet was Kelly Walsh’s 634-stroke total in 1972, which tied Natrona’s 634 in 1968. The ’76 Mustangs beat that record by 52 strokes.

Moreover, the ’76 Mustangs had not played their best golf prior to state. The Natrona yearbook said the Mustangs played in seven tournaments before state, winning just two — the Casper meet and the Laramie meet. The week before state, Campbell County had won the Douglas Invitational single-day tournament with a 306; Natrona shot a 311 and finished second. The Mustangs also finished second in a meet in Riverton, third in Sheridan, fourth in Gillette, fifth in Cheyenne.

Sure, the Mustangs were contenders for a title. However, nothing indicated the Mustangs were on track to turn in a record-setting performance.

Photos of the four golfers.

But on day one, the Mustangs shot a 294 — the first time ever a boys team had finished with a team total under 300 strokes on a single day of state golf tournament play — and the record chase was on for coach Don Weishaar’s bunch.

Senior Rob Bennett, the defending state individual champion, led the Mustangs and took individual honors for the day with a 68, a score noted by the Casper Star-Tribune as even par. But it was the depth that paced the Mustangs to such a low team finish: junior Max Gutz and sophomore Scott Puzey added a 74 apiece and senior Eric Sherer shot a 78 to round out the day.

The score was good enough to give Natrona a 14-stroke lead on defending team champion Campbell County, which itself had shot a 308 and was still on pace for one of the best scores in state golf meet history.

Somehow, the Mustangs were even better the second day. Bennett shot a 72 to win the individual championship for the second consecutive year at 140 total strokes. But again, the depth was the story. Puzey hit a one-under 67 to finish second to Bennett in the individual chase; Sherer shot a 72; Gutz a 77. Together, they combined for a total of 288 strokes on day two, six strokes better than the already-record pace they set the day before, and 582 for the meet.

Puzey, reached via email this summer at his home in Thailand, said he remembered the tournament well. Several factors played into the Mustangs’ favor that day, including the pressure he felt as an underclassmen to perform well after winning the spot on the team over several seniors.

He also said the Casper Golf Club was an advantage to the hosts. “It was our home track so we all knew the course well,” he said.

Natrona won the team title by 27 strokes. In doing so, the Mustangs beat a team in Campbell County that would have obliterated the state record for two-round score with its 609, which would have beat the old record of 634 by 25 strokes in and of itself. The Camels’ 609 still stands as the 15th-best team round at state and is one of just three such rounds to have been shot in the 20th century.

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The records didn’t last.

The next year, Natrona finished fifth at state with a two-day total of 641, with Gutz and Puzey shooting in the 80s.

Natrona did return to the top of the podium in 1978, with Puzey winning the individual title at 151 strokes and the Mustangs the team title (by more than 20 strokes) at 627. Puzey said NC’s title that year came in Cody, with snow dotting the course during the tournament, and “that was a better team.” Both Don Bader and Mike Quarve finished in the top five for Natrona, and teammate Mike Hauffe wasn’t far behind.

After Campbell County’s 612 to win the state meet in 1977, it would be another 15 years before any Wyoming team broke 620 strokes at state; in 1993, three teams (Natrona at 605, Cheyenne Central at 610 and Kelly Walsh at 618) did so. It would be almost 30 years before another Wyoming team broke 600 strokes at state, with Central’s 594 in 2005.

For Weishaar, who died in 2004 with 12 state golf championship teams to his name (nine for the Natrona boys, one for the Kelly Walsh boys and two for the Natrona girls), the 1976 team represented the pinnacle of what was possible in a fickle sport.

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Don’t read this part if you don’t want this good story spoiled… (because here’s where the story unravels a bit, and people reading this story carefully and familiar with golf may have already identified it. If, indeed, the par for the course was 68, instead of 72 as it normally is on a typical 18-hole course, Natrona’s record may need to come with an asterisk. A team of four players shooting even par over a par-68 will shoot 32 fewer strokes in a two-day tournament than a team shooting even par on a par-72. If NC’s ’76 team had been on a par 72, a score of 614 (582+32) is more likely. That said, state tournaments have been played on courses of varying par totals; I’m still digging into what they might have been, because the record-keeping on that has been incredibly inconsistent.)

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The four players of Natrona’s record-setting team all went their own ways.

Puzey played professionally around the United States for much of the 1980s and 1990s and later moved overseas, playing professionally as part of the senior tour in Asia. Bennett played golf collegiately at the University of Wyoming and now lives in Casper, working as an engineer. Sherer moved to Texas and has been a lawyer in the San Antonio area for the better part of four decades. Gutz, now Max Guetz, attended UW as well — he and Puzey were fraternity brothers before Puzey transferred to SMU.

Together for two days, though, they set a record that still stands — and may stand forever.

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Here are the top 10 two-day scores from boys’ teams at the Wyoming high school state golf championships:

TeamScoreClassYear
Natrona294-288=582AA1976
Cheyenne Central293-301=5944A2005
Riverton286-311=5974A2015
Sheridan297-300=5974A2010
Cody298-302=6004A2005
Lander295-306=6013A2019
Cheyenne Central302-299=6014A2006
Riverton296-306=6024A2014
Kelly Walsh304-300=6044A2018
Natrona293-312=6054A1993

–patrick

(Photos courtesy of the 1977 NCHS yearbook.)

Week 2 picks: Worland and Thermopolis renew one of the state’s best rivalries

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

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

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

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

A rivalry was born.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For a full schedule including kickoff times, click here.

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

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

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

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

–patrick

Unhinged Google reviews of Wyoming high school football stadiums

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Which Wyoming high school football stadium was called “beyond loud”? Which stadium had someone recommending closed-toed shoes? And which stadium was called, well… “It is a high school football place. No big deal.”

The answers are all waiting on Google Maps.

Believe it or not, a big chunk of people have left reviews about Wyoming high school football stadiums on Google. Ratings — out of five stars — and text comments drive the interaction. And, how to put this nicely? Some of the comments are exactly what you’d expect from an open-source reviews project.

Go here to take a quiz on those comments, everything from the really nice to the nostalgic to the neutral to the bitter. Don’t worry, no one’s keeping score. Correctly matched pairs disappear when you match them.

As for the ratings? As of Aug. 29, the seven top-rated fields, all with a maxed-out 5.0 rating, are Cody, Evanston, Guernsey, Lyman, Riverside, Rock Springs and Wheatland.

Other rated fields were Green River and Lusk (4.8), Cheyenne East, Cheyenne South and Thermopolis (4.7), Douglas and Rawlins (4.6), Cheyenne Central, Lander and Natrona (4.5), Midwest and Saratoga (4.3), Laramie (4.1), Burns, Hulett and Pine Bluffs (4.0) and Jackson (3.5).

Meanwhile, Campbell County, Kaycee, Kelly Walsh, Lingle, Lovell, Pinedale, Riverton, Sheridan, Thunder Basin, Tongue River, Torrington and Worland have their fields acknowledged on Google Maps, but so far no one has left a review.

And apologies to Big Horn, Big Piney, Buffalo, Burlington, Casper Christian, Cokeville, Dubois, Encampment, Farson, Glenrock, Greybull, Hanna, Kemmerer, Meeteetse, Moorcroft, Mountain View, Newcastle, Powell, Rocky Mountain, St. Stephens, Shoshoni, Snake River, Southeast, Star Valley, Sundance, Ten Sleep, Upton, Wind River, Wright and Wyoming Indian. Your fields aren’t marked on Google Maps, so no one can leave a review. At least not yet. Maybe that’s a blessing in disguise.

By the way, don’t like your stadium’s rating? Leave your own review on Google. Maybe someday, someone like me will add it to a silly online quiz.

–patrick

2024 Wyoming high school football preview magazine — out now!

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Hi everyone,

The 2024 Wyoming high school football preview magazine is finally out, done, ready for you to read!

The 13th edition of the magazine includes full previews on every high school football team in Wyoming and interviews with every coach. You can pick up physical copies for FREE at the locations of any one of the advertisers in the magazine — but give it a few days, as the magazines are in shipping this week.

By the way, thank and patronize the sponsors. They make this possible every year. We appreciate them supporting the work we do, as well as supporting the teams, coaches, players and everyone else who actually does the thing of making the sport possible.

For the most comprehensive coverage you’ll see anywhere… it’s right here.

–patrick

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