School: Cody
Nickname: Broncs
Colors: blue and yellow
Stadium: Spike Vannoy Field
State championships: 1958, 1976 and 1991
Times worth remembering: The back-to-back runs of the 1976 and 1977 teams represented Cody’s best. Both teams went 9-1; the 1976 squad won the state championship, while the 1977 squad finished as the state runners-up.
Times worth forgetting: Cody’s rich tradition hasn’t left much room for struggling, but for one seven-year stretch from 1969-75, the Broncs never had a winning season. However, all of those squads won at least three games, except the 2-7 team of 1971, and the core of the 1974 and 1975 teams helped set up the championship-game runs in ’76 and ’77.
Best team: With apologies to the dominant 1991 squad and the plucky 1976 champions, Cody’s best team was probably built in 1958. That year, Cody went 10-0-1 and knocked off Torrington to win the school’s first state football championship. The Broncs never really won big — their largest margin of victory all season was a 26-0 win over Lander — but they always found a way to win.
Biggest win: Cody fans still remember the 1976 Class AA championship game against Laramie, a 41-40 triple overtime thriller. The Broncs were decidedly the underdogs against the Plainsmen, a traditional powerhouse trying to give legendary coach John Deti a victory in his final game on the sidelines. But Cody, playing on its home field, had different plans. The Broncs rallied from a 20-8 halftime deficit and sealed the win in the third overtime on a successful extra point from Rob Russell.
Heartbreaker: After struggling through the first three quarters of the 1985 4A title game, Cody put itself in perfect position to beat Natrona in Casper for the championship. But the Broncs turned the ball over on downs inside the Mustangs’ 20-yard line and missed a field goal in the fourth quarter, key turning points in Cody’s eventual 14-13 loss to Natrona. The 1985 season was Cody’s last best chance at a big-school title; the Broncs went on to win the 3A title in 1991 but never again came close to winning it all in Wyoming’s big-school division.

Cody team page.

My recent run of success with the microfilm hasn’t been limited to just games. I’ve also added significantly to my all-state listings.

The Newcastle News Letter Journal came through with the 1997 Class 2A all-state team.

The 1982 Class A all-state team was kind of weird, as it was released by region and not as a whole. The Star Valley Independent ran the west side representatives and the Torrington Telegram ran the east side. Whatever; they’re together here, maybe for the first time ever.

I also came across the 1971 and 1972 Class A all-state teams in the Torrington Telegram.

The 1995 Class 1A Division II all-state team was the toughest of all the updates I put up. I had to piece it together from several sources, and it’s still not complete. I’m confident I have all the players from all the schools, but I don’t have the players’ names from Cokeville. So check out the listing and see of you can help me!

I’m still missing a few all-state teams, including the 1994 Class 1A nine-man team, the 1973 Class A team and the 1971 and 1970 Class AA and Class B teams. Oh, and a bunch from the 1960s. Darn hippies.

–patrick

One of the toughest aspects of this project has been securing scores played against out-of-state opponents. The number of missing games to the number of out-of-state games is ridiculously out of proportion. Fortunately, today, I made a couple big steps in rectifying this.

Using the interlibrary loan capabilities at Coe Library, I secured four microfilm rolls of the Rapid City Journal. Those four rolls helped me take six games off my missing games list — a significant dent in an ever-shrinking project.

I’m also in the process of obtaining some more microfilm from Rapid City (you can only get four at a time) and from Scottsbluff (that costs money). Anyway, I’m making a big dent in this part of the missing games project.

The six games KOed today:

Hulett had four games knocked off the missing games list, all from the early 1960s. I found the score for Hulett’s 25-6 victory over Hill City on Sept. 7, 1963, the score for Hulett’s 42-12 victory over New Underwood on Oct. 9, 1963, the score for Hulett’s 12-8 loss to Buffalo, S.D., on Sept. 14, 1962, and the score for Hulett’s 25-13 loss to Newell on Oct. 28, 1960.

I also found the scores for two Moorcroft games in 1989: a 49-6 loss to Lead on Sept. 8 and a 28-0 victory over Rapid City St. Martins on Sept. 16. The win over St. Martins was actually Moorcroft’s only victory that season.

That inspired me to look for some more stuff with a fresh attitude, and conversely I found some info that had been missing for a long time. This is what I found:

Byes Project

Added two games for Pine Bluffs in 1952 — a 19-12 victory over the Laramie JV on Sept. 20 and a 12-0 victory over the Scottsbluff, Neb., JV on Sept. 24.

Added Basin’s 13-13 tie with the Worland Institute on Sept. 10, 1954.

Missing games

Found the date and location of Midwest’s 34-6 victory over the Upton JV on Aug. 30, 2002. (This is part of Midwest’s sub-varsity 2002 season, which has been a tough season for me to pin down exact dates… but this game, at least, is done.)

Found the location for Rocky Mountain’s 26-0 victory over the Cody JV on Oct. 15, 1994 (it was in Cody).

Found the location for Hulett’s 42-12 loss to St. Thomas More, S.D., on Sept. 29, 1992 (it was in Hulett).

Found the score for Wheatland’s 6-0 loss to the Cheyenne East JV on Aug. 29, 1969.

Found the location of Huntley’s 41-12 victory over Harrison, Neb., on Oct. 12, 1962 (it was in Huntley).

Found the missing score for Meeteetse’s 40-20 loss to the Cody JV on Oct. 22, 1959.

Found the missing date for Huntley’s 46-6 victory over Albin in 1951 — Oct. 26.

Also, thanks to coach Ted Holmstrom down in Lyman, I have the score of the Eagles’ loss to Mountain View on Oct. 12, 1963 — 43-0. Coach Holmstrom has been a big help to me on locating some missing info for the Eagles and his help is really appreciated!

Coaches Project: New listings for Arvada-Clearmont.

All the updates have been made on all the relevant pages.

Also, research continues backward in time. Years through 1935 are complete, and 1934 has been started…. Hey, who knew Gebo High School had a team? Yep, the Gebo Miners. Oh, and Fort Laramie High School also played football for a couple years? Hooray for finding out cool new stuff!

–patrick

School: Lyman
Nickname: Eagles
Colors: blue and white
Stadium: Eagle Stadium
State championships: 1976, 1982 and 1999
Times worth remembering: The two best seasons in Lyman’s history were put together back-to-back in 1999 and 2000, when the Eagles went 9-1 and 7-1. The 1999 team won a state title, beating Mountain View in the 2A championship game to avenge a regular-season loss; the 2000 team went undefeated until the semifinals, when Mountain View reversed the previous year’s outcome and avenged its regular-season loss to Lyman.
Times worth forgetting: Back-to-back winless seasons in 1959 and 1960 were part of a larger stretch of eight consecutive losing seasons for the Eagles. The Eagles lost 17 in a row at one point over the course of four seasons (1958-61).
Best team: Of Lyman’s three championship-winning clubs, the 1999 team had the best sustained success. That season, the Eagles relied on defense, holding eight of 10 opponents to single digits. The offense was as good as it needed to be, with a powerful rushing attack setting the pace — especially in the championship game, a 16-6 win over Mountain View, in which the Eagles didn’t complete a pass but still won the 2A title.
Biggest win: Every fan in the Bridger Valley remembers Nov. 6, 1999. That’s when valley rivals Mountain View and Lyman met up with the state championship on the line. About 3,000 fans packed into Mountain View’s stadium to watch; about half, the Lyman half, went home happy, thanks to a solid Eagle defense that rose up at key times. The 16-6 win avenged Mountain View’s 15-13 win in the regular season — and, years later, became a key example in the argument against a neutral-site championship setup in Wyoming.
Heartbreaker: After winning it all in 1999, the Eagles appeared poised to do it again in 2000 — but rival Mountain View derailed those ideas in the 2A semifinals. Even though Lyman beat Mountain View 20-7 in the regular-season finale just two weeks prior on the same field, the Buffalos changed up their plans and shut out the Eagles 14-0 to advance to the championship. Big Piney — a team Lyman beat 35-19 in the regular season — went on to beat Mountain View in the championship game.

Lyman team page.

I finished researching the 1924 state basketball tournament, and posted it here, and now you can check out every score from every state basketball tournament, boys and girls. Well, almost every one — I’m still missing the score of the 1953 Class A consolation semifinal game between Rawlins and Reliance. Rawlins won it, but for the life of me I can’t find the score. Help!

Updates will be slower throughout the summer, as I will be concentrating my efforts on researching backward through time. I have researched through 1937, with the eventual (self-imposed) goals of reaching 1920 by the end of the summer and the 19th century by Christmas. And then I’ll be putting together that book thingy…. Keep checking this blog for more details on that project.

Newsbreak: Shrine Bowl recaps from the Cody Enterprise, Douglas Budget and Kemmerer Gazette.

–patrick

School: Encampment
Nickname: Tigers
Colors: red and black
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: The 1990 season — Encampment’s last — was the only season in which the Tigers won more than one game. However, both wins came over Farson, one a 14-12 win early in the season, the other a forfeit win at the end of the season after the Pronghorns had disbanded.
Times worth forgetting: The close to the 1990 season wasn’t pleasant. After the win over Farson, Encampment was shut out four consecutive times and ended its program at the end of the season.

Encampment team page.

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School: Manville
Nickname: Panthers
Colors: blue and white
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: Manville’s best effort came in its undefeated 6-0 season of 1947, a season in which the Panthers beat Guernsey, Glenrock and Sunrise twice each. What set the Panthers apart was their defense, which gave up just two points in its first three games and gave up fewer than 11 points per game – a stellar defensive effort in the six-man football world. However, the victories might have come one year too early, as statewide six-man playoffs didn’t start until 1948.
Times worth forgetting: The Panthers’ final two seasons weren’t exactly encouraging. The team went 1-3-1 in 1952, Manville’s last full season, before canceling most of the 1953 season, save a 31-2 loss to Glendo.

Manville team page.

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School: Normative Services
Nickname: Wolves
Colors: maroon and silver
Stadium: Wolves Stadium
State championships: none
Times worth remembering: The Wolves’ two best seasons came in their first two years in pads. The 2000 team posted a 6-1 record in the regular season before bowing out to Southeast in the first round of the playoffs; the 2001 team went 6-2, then posted playoff road wins over both Burlington and Riverside before bowing to Cokeville in the state championship game.
Times worth forgetting: After its championship-game run in 2001, NSI had a disastrous 2002 season, finishing officially at 0-6. However, the Wolves only played three games, losing all three by wide margins, then forfeited three more after a case of food poisoning broke out at the Sheridan institution.

Normative Services team page.

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School: Worland Institute
Nickname: Unknown
Colors: Unknown
Stadium: Unknown
State championships: none
Times worth remembering: Only four victories by the Worland Institute, also known as Colter High, have been accounted for. Two came in 1957 — 19-13 over the Worland JV and 31-0 over the Lander JV. Worland Institute also knocked off Burlington 6-0 in 1959 and Meeteetse 7-0 in 1960.
Times worth forgetting: Pretty much every other game was tough for the Institute. The boys’ school squad had its toughest season in its final season, 1961, going 0-6 and losing every game by double digits.

Worland Institute team page.

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