Thanks to Shawn Burkart down in Goshen County, I’ve now got almost every coach listed for Goshen Hole High School. This has been a big gray area for me (coaches of programs/schools that are no longer in existence), so this was a big help. Thanks Shawn!

–patrick

I’ll be updating the site with 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950 and 2009 throughout the next week or two. Bear with me as I do these updates; some pages will have them quicker than others. If you see any discrepancies between pages for the next week or two, this is likely why. Thanks.

–patrick

As you can tell by the title, I’ve added and/or corrected several games to the database, thanks to continued work on the Byes Project and the missing games list. In all, 20 games were either added or corrected….

New additions:

Added Lyman’s 27-6 loss to Park City, Utah in 1968 (but also added it to the missing games list because of the unknown date (Sept. 5 or 6) and the unknown location)

Added Newcastle’s 13-12 loss to the Rapid City, S.D., JV on Oct. 21, 1966

Added Guernsey-Sunrise’s 13-6 victory over the Torrington JV on Sept. 4, 1965 (but also added it to the missing games list because of the unknown location)

Added Huntley’s 26-20 victory over the Natrona JV on Oct. 16, 1965

Added Saratoga’s 33-14 loss to the Laramie JV on Sept. 28, 1963

Added Ten Sleep’s 38-0 victory over Manderson on Oct. 10, 1961

Correction:

I corrected Cokeville’s opponent on Oct. 24, 1969 — it was Montpelier, Idaho, NOT Nampa, Idaho.

Missing games:

I made significant progress for Pine Bluffs’ 1962 season. I found scores for two games — Pine Bluffs beat Sterling St. Anthony’s (CO) 39-25 on Oct. 6 and Sunrise 19-12 on Oct. 26 — and found the location for the Sept. 14 game against Lingle (in Pine Bluffs).

Found the date for the Oct. 3, 2000, game between Normative Services and the Buffalo JV

Found the location for the Sept. 12, 1980, game between Burns and St. Mary’s (in Burns)

Found both the date and location for the Sept. 1, 1978, game between Star Valley and Logan, Utah (in Logan)

Found the date and corrected the location for the Oct. 1, 1976, game between Moorcroft and Edgemont, S.D. (it was in Moorcroft — the Wolves’ homecoming, in fact)

Found the score and corrected the date for the Oct. 17, 1968 game between Upton and the Rapid City sophomores; Upton won 6-0

Found a score for the Oct. 21, 1966, game between Pine Bluffs and Lyman, Neb.; Lyman, Neb., won 36-13

Found out that Huntley won its Sept. 15, 1965, game with the Gering, Neb., JV (but it remains on the missing games list because I didn’t find a final score)

Found out four games — an Oct. 27, 1969, game between Cokeville and Big Piney, a Sept. 2, 1966, game between Lyman and South Rich, Utah, a Oct. 14, 1966, game between Saratoga and Lingle, and a Oct. 11, 1963, game between Ten Sleep and Arvada-Clearmont — were canceled

Misc/future:

Thanks to coach Tim Gonzales in Mountain View, I now have a complete list of the Buffalos’ head coaches from the start of the program to the present. Thanks a ton, coach!

As for forthcoming updates, well, they’re forthcoming. The 2009 season will be up on the site soon, and will be accompanied by the 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950 seasons… that’s why this update is taking a little bit longer than usual.

As always, if you see any incorrect, missing or misplaced information on this site, let me know at pschmiedt@yahoo.com.

–patrick

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

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

—————————————————————-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Naahhh. 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–patrick

School: Pinedale
Nickname: Wranglers
Colors: green and white
Stadium: Korfanta Field
State championship: 1975
Times worth remembering: Some of the Wranglers’ best seasons came in the eight-year span from 1968-75. Six of those eight seasons were winning seasons, including 9-0-1 and a mythical state title in 1970 and 10-0 and a Class A title in the return year of playoffs in 1975. Pinedale was also 8-1 in 1972 and tied for fourth in the final statewide poll.
Times worth forgetting: From 1992-95, the Wranglers had what can kindly be called a tough stretch. Pinedale won just twice in those four seasons and lost 26 times, at one point losing 19 consecutive games. Eleven of those losses were shutout losses, including five shutout losses in the 1994 season in which Pinedale scored just 20 points.
Best team: The return of playoffs in 1975 gave the overlooked Southwest teams a chance to show what they could do on a statewide stage. And that season, the Wranglers proved just how tough those Southwest teams could be. Pinedale rolled to a 10-0 record, including a 6-0 overtime victory over Basin in the semifinals and a 10-8 nail-biting win over Saratoga in the Class A title game. The 1975 Wranglers had six first-team all-state selections; no other team had more than two.
Biggest win: The Wranglers’ last state championship victory was one for the ages. Danner Boone’s 25-yard field goal with 1:03 remaining in the 1975 Class B championship gave Pinedale a 10-8 victory over Saratoga in Rawlins. The winning kick was set up by a Saratoga fumble deep in Pinedale territory; Neil Reed scored the Wranglers’ lone touchdown in the defensive struggle.
Heartbreaker: The 1987 Class 2A semifinals pitted two steamrollers — 7-0 Lovell vs. 8-0 Pinedale. And in a case where somebody’s dreams had to be squashed, the Wranglers were on the wrong side of the ‘roller. The Bulldogs beat the Wranglers 20-7 — it was the most points Pinedale gave up in any game all season, and the fewest they scored — and one of the Wranglers’ best teams had to watch as Lovell went on to win it all. For some consolation, five Wranglers made the all-state first team, second only to the Bulldogs’ six.

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