The game times for the semifinal playoff games have been set by the WHSAA. All games are Friday. Times are as follows:

Class 4A
(4) Cheyenne East at (1) Natrona, 7 p.m.
(3) Sheridan at (2) Gillette, 7 p.m.
Class 3A
(4W) Cody at (2W) Star Valley, 3 p.m.
(3W) Green River at (1W) Powell, 6 p.m.
Class 2A
(2W) Lovell at (1E) Big Horn, 2 p.m.
(2E) Newcastle at (1W) Lyman, 1 p.m.
Class 1A 11-man
(2W) Burlington at (1E) Lusk, 6 p.m.
(2E) Southeast at (1W) Cokeville, 1 p.m.
Class 1A six-man
(2N) Meeteetse at (1S) Snake River, 1 p.m.
(2S) Midwest at (1N) Dubois, 2 p.m.

 

As the 2012 season comes to a close for several teams, I will begin updating the site with the results of the season. The updates will be reflected on some pages and not on others. I will ask for your patience as I work on updating all the pages on the site the next couple weeks.

–patrick

Here are the matchups for next week’s semifinal games. Dates and times will be announced by the WHSAA:

Class 4A
(4) Cheyenne East at (1) Natrona
(3) Sheridan at (2) Gillette

Class 3A
(3W) Green River at (1W) Powell
(4W) Cody at (2W) Star Valley

Class 2A
(2W) Lovell at (1E) Big Horn
(2E) Newcastle at (1W) Lyman

Class 1A 11-man
(2E) Southeast at (1W) Cokeville
(2W) Burlington at (1E) Lusk

Class 1A six-man
(2S) Midwest at (1N) Dubois
(2N) Meeteetse at (1S) Snake River

–patrick

First round playoffs, by the numbers:

5: Number of first-round bus trips longer than 385 miles. Turns out there is one such trip in each classification (Evanston at Gillette, Buffalo at Star Valley, Mountain View at Newcastle, Lingle at Cokeville, Hulett at Snake River).

2: Number of first-round bus trips shorter than 100 miles (Central at East, Kaycee at Midwest).

5: Number of first-round games that are rematches of quarterfinal games from last year (Buffalo at Star Valley, Lander at Powell, Shoshoni at Southeast, Lingle at Cokeville, Hulett at Snake River). Four of those five games are being played at the same location as last year’s quarterfinal game — only the Lander-Powell game is in a different place than last year.

3: Number of games pitting two programs that have never played each other before this week (Kemmerer/Big Horn, Wheatland/Lyman, Upton-Sundance/Burlington (see explanation below)).

9: Number of first-round games that are regular-season rematches. Every single team that won the regular-season game is hosting the rematch this week.

2: Number of road teams that won in the first round last year. Both were 3A teams (Buffalo, Powell).

9: Number of first-round road victories since 2008. Road teams are 9-71 since ’08 in the first round.

1: Number of road teams I am picking to win in the first round this year.

Some picks below, with a little justification to boot. Projected winners in bold:

Friday
Class 4A
Rock Springs at Natrona: Natrona won the regular-season game fairly easily. Expect the undefeated Mustangs to keep rolling. First playoff meeting since 1999.
Cheyenne Central at Cheyenne East: I do like it when intra-city rivals meet in the playoffs; gives them a nice little twist and, as cliche as it sounds, anything can happen. First playoff meeting since playing in the 5A title game in 2005.
Kelly Walsh at Sheridan: KW’s resurgence this year has been a boon for Trojan fans, but the trip to Sheridan is a tough one in the postseason; KW has lost quarterfinal games at Homer Scott Field two of the past three seasons (and if this pick holds up, three of the past four), although those two losses were by a combined nine points.
Evanston at Gillette: Looooong bus ride (450 miles). Angry Camel team coming off its first loss. Not a good mix. First playoff meeting since 2000.
Class 3A
Cody at Riverton: The Wolverines won the regular-season matchup back in September, and although both teams are better now than they were then, Riverton is still the prohibitive favorite. First playoff meeting since 2004, when both teams were in 5A.
Buffalo at Star Valley: Another looooooong bus ride (430 miles through the park). And the Braves’ defense has been among the stingiest in the state this year. They played this game last year, too, third-seeded Buffalo traveling to second-seeded Star Valley, and even though the Bison won that game last year, it was definitely played under some different circumstances. 
Green River
at Douglas: This might be the best game of the week — especially if it’s anything like the regular-season game, one the Bearcats won 20-14. Law of averages (well, that and a coin flip) has me going with the Wolves. First playoff meeting.
Lander at Powell: Powell’s got its eyes on more than just making the playoffs. Remember, the Panthers’ title run last year started with a win over the Tigers….
Class 2A
Kemmerer at Big Horn: The Rams proved last week that they have the goods to go all the way. First meeting ever between these two programs.
Glenrock at Lovell: How different would this season have been if Glenrock had beaten Big Horn back in Week 4, and not fallen 30-26? First playoff meeting since 2009.
Mountain View at Newcastle: Looooong bus ride (460 miles). But… this game might be closer than you think if Newcastle suffers from any sort of post-Big Horn frustration. First playoff meeting since 1999.
Wheatland at Lyman: The Eagles have not-so-quietly been one of the most efficient and consistent teams in the state this fall. First meeting between these two programs. 
Class 1A 11-man
Rocky Mountain at Lusk: The Tigers had some tense moments last week but are still the team to beat from the East. Expect a game from the Griz, though. First meeting since 1997 1A-D1 title game.
Upton-Sundance at Burlington: The Patriots have been a feel-good story all season long, but the Huskies have been scary consistent. First official meeting; Burlington last (and only) played Upton in 1997 and has never played Sundance.
Shoshoni at Southeast: I have legit reasons to pick both teams in this one. Last year’s quarterfinal game, though — won 60-0 by Southeast in Yoder — has me leaning toward the Cyclones, though. Returning to a site of a beating like that only feels good if you’re there to avenge it.
Lingle at Cokeville: Loooooong bus ride (443 miles). Lingle had to make this exact same trip in last year’s playoff quarterfinals. Didn’t go so well. 
Class 1A six-man
Hulett at Snake River: Not a loooooong bus ride, just long (390 miles). And then when you get off the bus, you have to play the Rattlers. Rematch of last year’s quarterfinal, a game LSR won handily.
Guernsey at Meeteetse: This might be your game of the week right here, not only in six-man but in any class. They played just a couple weeks ago and the Longhorns barely eked out a 36-30 victory in Guernsey. First playoff meeting.
Kaycee at Midwest: Repeat of last week’s season finale — same two teams, same place. The only difference is the last game was an afternoon game and this one’s a night game. These two teams are meeting in the playoffs for the third time in four years (missed each other last year).
Hanna at Dubois: Since ending Snake River’s winning streak back in September, the Rams have been the team to beat in six-man. No one’s even been close. First playoff meeting.

Last week: 24-6 (80 percent). This season: 225-41 (85 percent).

Your thoughts? The first round of the playoffs tends to be a pretty predictable week, but every year a couple teams turn yawners into thrillers. Any surprise teams in the postseason brackets this year — teams under the radar that shouldn’t be? Feel free to post some thoughts below as we start talking about the final stretch of the 2012 season.

–patrick

When Wyoming’s high schools moved toward a statewide playoff football system in 1948, they did so with caution.

After all, by then, they had already broken the system once.

A decade earlier, infighting within districts and disagreements among districts had relegated qualifying for the playoff system established by the Wyoming High School Athletic Association (as it was known back then) to a messy system of appeals, challenges and tiebreakers.

But that was 1938. By 1948, the WHSAA and the schools had 10 years of thought behind a new postseason plan. But neither the group nor the schools could have foreseen the troubles that would come along with the new system.

The playoff system worked in theory, but its failure helped prove the system didn’t fit into the needs or desires of the schools participating in it.

Faced with an intense set of circumstances, schools opted to save their regions at the expense of their state. And because of that, one of the most interesting periods in the development of high school football in the state ended 14 years after it was started — and it ended with a thud.

+++++

By 1948, that resentment that had come with the problems of the 1938 playoff dissolution had faded. By 1948, a stronger classification structure had emerged, and six-man football had developed into a viable option for small schools. And, by 1948, a culture of postwar optimism encompassed everything “American,” including high school football.

In that setting, the WHSAA formed three football classifications with two playoff structures. Class AA, the big schools, didn’t have a postseason, but Class A and the six-man football schools in Class B had an option they had never had before — a four-school playoff bracket, complete with a championship game.

The Class A and six-man brackets were similarly simple: two semifinal games between the East (or North) district champions and the West (or South) district champions, with the winners meeting in the title game.

For seven years, the system worked. The lone exception to the smoothness came in 1950, when the Northeast six-man district decided not to send a representative into the playoffs; eventual state champion Cowley avoided playing a semifinal game that year. Otherwise, though, filling the bracket was never a problem.

Then, over the course of two years, the Class B playoff structure fell apart. And it fell apart for two big reasons — the introduction of a new classification and, subsequently, the schools’ adherence to regional loyalties.

+++++

Hints of dissatisfaction with the system first popped up in 1955, when the Southeast District six-man champion, Lingle, elected to stay out of the playoffs. The two Southwest District co-champions, Big Piney and Pinedale, played each other in one semifinal game instead to make up the difference.

Right about this time, the small schools in the Southeast District became more self-contained and dropped out of the state playoffs; these schools also made a shift to eight-man football, which did not have a sanctioned playoff bracket at that time.

By far, though, the most seismic shift occurred in 1956, when the state introduced a Class B 11-man playoff bracket.

With that change, every Class B school in the Northwest District made the move from six-man to 11-man, leaving a hole in the six-man playoff bracket that was never filled. In fact, the 1956 six-man playoff “bracket” was simply one game, as the champions of the Northeast (Tongue River) and Southwest (Cokeville) six-man conferences played each other for the title; the Northwest teams had all moved to 11-man, while all the Southeast teams were playing eight-man.

In part due to the troubles surrounding the playoff brackets, the 1956 season was the last for the six-man bracket. In 1957, the WHSAA made the switch to eight-man. Again, it ran into troubles.

In 1957, as in 1956, the small-school playoff “bracket” was only the championship game; this time around, the Northeast (Tongue River) and Southeast (Glendo) district champs played for the eight-man title. All the Northwest schools were still playing 11-man, while the Southwest schools held out of the playoff bracket. (Whether this was because those schools held onto one more year of six-man or simply didn’t want to send a representative to the eight-man playoff bracket, I’m not sure.)

But it’s not like the Class B 11-man was siphoning off a bunch of six- and eight-man schools; in fact, the Class B 11-man bracket was in may ways struggling to survive, as well.

At this time, the Southeast Class B 11-man district had no teams (remember, they were all making the shift to eight-man). So the Northeast and Northwest district champs played the lone semifinal game for the right to host the Southwest champ for the title.

In 1958, the Class B schools shifted again — this time in a way that crippled the makeup of the brackets forever.

The biggest shift came in the 11-man conferences. Every Southwest Class B school vacated the conference, in part due to some circumstances out of their control. Reliance closed its school, Superior and Saratoga moved to the eight-man game and Kemmerer and Jackson, alone in the class, both jumped to Class A. The Southwest exodus left the 11-man bracket without any representatives from the southern half of the state.

With the infusion of new schools, the Southwest district sent a representative to the eight-man playoffs for the first time in 1958. But that bracket still lacked a Northwest representative as those schools held fast to 11-man.

The same problems existed in 1959 — no southern representatives at all in the 11-man Class B bracket, no Northwest reps in the eight-man bracket.

+++++

By 1960, the brackets were all but dead.

The final year for the statewide eight-man bracket was 1960, and in many ways the final year represented all the problems that had reduced the playoff system to a shell of its former self. The Southwest did not send a representative into the bracket (even though Superior at 7-0 was the undisputed conference champion), and Glenrock (Southeast) played Hulett (Northeast) for the final eight-man title in Wyoming.

Meanwhile, in the Class B 11-man bracket, without southern representation, Northwest champ Byron beat Northeast champ Upton in the title game. And Upton was the conference “champ” in a most tentative fashion; by 1960, only two schools, Upton and Midwest, were left in the 11-man Class B Northeast conference.

And that snaking path was, in part, how Wyoming ended up with the 1961 Upton team, which, at 3-4-1, is the only team to win a state championship in a season in which it had a losing record.

+++++

The 1961 Upton Bobcats only had to win one game to assure itself of a berth in the state title game — the one against its only conference opponent, Midwest. Upton won that one easily, 34-13, manhandling a Midwest squad that was on its way to a winless season. But otherwise, Upton struggled, losing to Class A schools Gillette and Buffalo, tying Newcastle and dropping games to Edgemont, S.D., and the Rapid City, S.D., JV squad. The only other game the Bobcats won in 1961 came against Rapid City (S.D.) Cathedral, an opponent Upton beat 13-0.

Nevertheless, the Bobcats, who entered the title game with a record of 2-4-1, had earned the right to host the title game and the champions of the Northwest District. In 1961, the Northwest champ was 8-0 St. Stephens. The Eagles came to Upton on a 13-game winning streak and had fairly easily dispatched of Cowley, 33-20, the week before the title game to win the Northwest title; the 13-point margin of victory was St. Stephens’ closest game of the season to that point.

But the Bobcats weren’t impressed, and easily beat the Eagles 18-6 to win the 1961 Class B 11-man title — the last such title earned in a championship game in Wyoming until 1975.

++++++

The brackets’ demise came at a complicated time in Wyoming’s high school football history.

Between 1950 and 1962, 13 schools (Manville, Rozet, Albin, Encampment, Farson, Chugwater, Reliance, Snake River, LaGrange, Superior, Worland Institute, Arvada and Clearmont) cut their programs for an extended period of time or for good. Other schools fell victim to consolidation (Dayton and Ranchester to make Tongue River; Guernsey and Sunrise to make Guernsey-Sunrise). And while numerous schools started programs in this time to somewhat offset the march of consolidation, it wasn’t enough.

With the threat of closure or consolidation looming, numerous districts turned to self-preservation — in part, that’s why the small schools in the Northwest District went strictly 11-man in 1956, why their counterparts in the Southeast went strictly eight-man the same year, and why Southwest B schools abandoned 11-man for either eight-man or Class A in 1958. Only the Northeast district maintained a presence in both Class B brackets every year, and that was only accomplished by maintaining a two-school 11-man conference with only Upton and Midwest.

The introduction of a second Class B bracket, too, may have been too much for an already stressed Class B system to handle.

In the six-year existence of the Class B 11-man playoff bracket, a full four teams never competed. The Southeast District never sent a team to participate in the B 11-man bracket; the Southwest, after sending Kemmerer as its representative in 1956 and 1957, did not send a representative into the playoffs for the bracket’s final four years.

The stress on the playoff system was evident, and by 1961, the WHSAA wanted out. And even though the Class A part of the playoffs had been successful despite concerns about cost and competitiveness, the Class A playoffs, too, were eliminated after the ’61 season.

+++++

So why does this matter now?

In part, it’s interesting to note that, despite having about  the same number of schools playing football as it did in the mid-1950s, Wyoming now has five football classifications, all with eight-team playoff brackets. The class-jumping and regionalization problems present 50-plus years ago are no longer a worry, in part because of the greater control the WHSAA now exercises on culminating events, scheduling and classifications.

Classification is much less flexible than it was in 1958; simply opting up to keep regional rivalries in tact is no longer possible. Many times, schools sacrifice longstanding regional games to fit within a WHSAA conference and classification — more so now than ever before as the WHSAA does all the scheduling for Wyoming’s varsity football teams. Schools opt up or down only with severe repercussions, repercussions purposely built into the system to discourage such actions. These repercussions were exacerbated in 2009, when the WHSAA chose to further restrict conference and nonconference play by instituting eight-team conferences in both Class 2A and Class 1A 11-man and installing a round-robin nine-week/10-school schedule for Class 4A.

Each step along the way was approved by the schools involved, in part to preserve competitive statewide playoff brackets.

The system in place now is why a school like Burns has 12 similarly sized schools within 130 miles but only plays one of them — Wheatland — during the football season. It’s why Midwest and Kaycee, 33 miles apart, are in separate six-man conferences, even though Kaycee’s closest conference opponent is 110 miles and a mountain range away and Midwest’s closest conference foe is 150 miles down the road. It’s why Evanston can’t play Star Valley or Green River, why Wheatland can’t play Torrington, why Greybull can’t play Riverside or Burlington. It’s why the words “power ratings” still frustrate fans. It’s why schools that ask to play in one classification are put in another. It’s why the Trona Bowl and the SEWAC, traditional pieces of Wyoming high school football, are both dead.

We can debate all day about whether the control exercised by the WHSAA here is for better or worse. But one thing is clear: to make a football playoff system work, the schools have to cede some control. When regional loyalty trumps preservation of a system, the system crumbles, no matter how well designed; the schools strain the system until the system breaks. We’ve seen that twice already, once in the 1930s and again in the 1950s and early 1960s.

But with the absolute control the WHSAA maintains on football in 2012, the question facing us now is if the system strains the schools — and if the system may eventually strain the schools until they break.

–patrick

First-round playoff times have been set as follows:

Friday
Class 4A
(8) Rock Springs at (1) Natrona, 6 p.m.
(5) Cheyenne Central at (4) Cheyenne East, 5 p.m.
(6) Kelly Walsh at (3) Sheridan, 7 p.m.
(7) Evanston at (2) Gillette, 7 p.m.
Class 3A
(4W) Cody at (1E) Riverton, 7 p.m.
(3E) Buffalo at (2W) Star Valley, 4 p.m.
(3W) Green River at (2E) Douglas, 1 p.m.
(4E) Lander at (1W) Powell, 7 p.m.
Class 2A
(4W) Kemmerer at (1E) Big Horn, 1 p.m.
(3E) Glenrock at (2W) Lovell, 6 p.m.
(3W) Mountain View at (2E) Newcastle, 2 p.m.
(4E) Wheatland at (1W) Lyman, 1 p.m.
Class 1A 11-man
(4W) Rocky Mountain at (1E) Lusk, 6 p.m.
(3E) Upton-Sundance at (2W) Burlington, 1 p.m.
(3W) Shoshoni at (2E) Southeast, 6 p.m.
(4E) Lingle at (1W) Cokeville, 1 p.m.
Class 1A six-man
(4N) Hulett at (1S) Snake River, 1 p.m.
(3S) Guernsey at (2N) Meeteetse, 1 p.m.
(3N) Kaycee at (2S) Midwest, 6 p.m.
(4S) Hanna at (1N) Dubois, 2 p.m.

–patrick

Some more sleuthing on the web (as well as a tip) has turned up more updates for the site. Here is what has added or changed:

Noted that Mountain View later forfeited its 12-0 victory to Thermopolis on Sept. 13, 1991. Thanks to LeRoy Hayes for pointing this omission out!

Noted the Oct. 19, 1951, game between Jackson and Soda Springs, Idaho, was not played — Soda Springs played another Idaho team, Inkom, that week.

Found the score for Star Valley’s 41-12 loss to Montpelier, Idaho, on Sept. 15, 1950.

Found the location for Jackson’s 21-0 victory over Big Piney on Sept. 26, 1947.

Found the location for Pinedale’s 48-31 victory over Big Piney on Sept. 27, 1946.

Found the date and location for Ten Sleep’s 19-12 victory over the Worland JV on Oct. 6, 1926.

Found the score for Lovell’s 56-6 loss to Billings, Mont., on Sept. 27, 1924.

Found the location for Lovell’s 32-7 victory over Basin on Nov. 21, 1922.

Added Laramie’s 27-0 loss to the UW freshmen on Oct. 6, 1921.

Found the location for University Prep’s 0-0 tie with the Cheyenne Central JV on Oct. 30, 1920.

Found the location for Sheridan’s 13-0 victory over Miles City, Mont., on Nov. 3, 1917.

I also knocked off a couple entries on the Coaches Project: I found the first initials for Cheyenne’s E.B. Loughbridge, coach for 1909 and 1910, and also found the name for Newcastle’s coach in 1920, J.A. Greenwood.

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

–patrick

Projected playoff pairings, through Friday’s games. Official pairings, including game times and dates, will be posted by the WHSAA.

Class 4A
(8) Rock Springs at (1) Natrona
(5) Cheyenne Central at (4) Cheyenne East
(6) Kelly Walsh at (3) Sheridan
(7) Evanston at (2) Gillette

Class 3A
(4W) Cody at (1E) Riverton
(3E) Buffalo at (2W) Star Valley
(3W) Green River at (2E) Douglas
(4E) Lander at (1W) Powell

Class 2A
(4W) Kemmerer at (1E) Big Horn
(3E) Glenrock at (2W) Lovell
(3W) Mountain View at (2E) Newcastle
(4E) Wheatland at (1W) Lyman

Class 1A 11-man
(4W) Rocky Mountain at (1E) Lusk
(3E) Upton-Sundance at (2W) Burlington
(3W) Shoshoni at (2E) Southeast
(4E) Lingle at (1W) Cokeville

Class 1A six-man
(4N) Meeteetse/Kaycee/Hulett at (1S) Snake River
(3S) Guernsey at (2N) Meeteetse/Kaycee/Hulett
(3N) Meeteetse/Kaycee/Hulett at (2S) Midwest
(4S) Hanna at (1N) Dubois

Only one playoff seeding question (or triangular playoff possibility) will not be answered by the time games are done Friday night.

The lone exception to that comes in the Class 1A six-man North Conference — and the seeding means everything to the Meeteetse Longhorns.

With a victory over Hulett on Saturday, the Longhorns would secure a first-round home playoff game, a feat the program has not accomplished since 2001.

Even with a loss, the Longhorns tie Hulett and Kaycee for the second, third and fourth seeds from the 1A six-man North Conference and have a one-in-three shot of hosting in the first round anyway.

If the Longhorns get the chance to host in the first round, they’ll break one of the longest such droughts in the state; only seven schools have longer first-round home playoff game droughts than Meeteetse does, and none of those seven schools has a chance this year to break their streak like Meeteetse does on Saturday.

Of the 24 teams still in the running for the 20 first-round host slots, 19 hosted in the first round either last year or in 2010; the five exceptions, in addition Meeteetse, are Riverton, Burlington, Hulett and Upton-Sundance.

Riverton, which has already secured the top seed from the 3A East, will host its first  playoff game since 2004; Burlington, win or lose this week against Cokeville, will host its first playoff game since 2008.

Hulett, Meeteetse’s opponent on Saturday, is trying to backdoor its way into a home playoff game, which would be the school’s first since 2008. And Upton-Sundance, which, technically has never hosted a playoff game as a combined program, is trying to put a home playoff game into the communities for the first time in several years; Upton last hosted in 2006 and Sundance in 2005.

++++++

On the other side, some schools have made hosting in the first round an annual tradition — especially in Class 4A.

For the second consecutive year, the same four schools (Natrona, Gillette, Sheridan and Cheyenne East) will host first-round playoff games. Gillette is hosting in the first round for the sixth consecutive year, while Sheridan will open the postseason at home for the fifth year straight and Natrona for the third year in a row.

Douglas has all those 4A schools topped, as the Bearcats, by virtue of their second-place finish in the 3A East, will host in the opening round for the seventh year in a row.

But none of those schools has a stranglehold on first-round home games like Southeast and Cokeville do.

Although Southeast’s hosting responsibilities are not cemented entering this week — the Cyclones have to beat Upton-Sundance Lingle and hope Upton-Sundance loses to Lusk on Friday to wrap up the 1A 11-man East’s No. 2 seed — the Cyclones, with a win and help, will open up the playoffs at home for the 16th consecutive year.

Cokeville, meanwhile, has already locked up one of the top two seeds in the 1A 11-man West and will host a first-round playoff game for the 20th consecutive year. The last time the Panthers missed out on the first-round hosting duties was 1992, when they failed to qualify for the postseason at all.

In addition, Lovell, Lusk and Dubois have also secured first-round hosting rights for the third consecutive year.

++++++++

However, the seven schools with playoff hosting droughts longer than Meeteetse will all see their streaks extended at least one more year.

Rawlins and Laramie both haven’t hosted a playoff game since 2000, while Torrington hasn’t been at home for a postseason game since 1996. Three schools — Cheyenne South, Farson and Wyoming Indian — have never hosted a playoff game.

The seventh school on that list has the most surprising streak. Despite an overall program winning percentage above .500, 12 all-time playoff qualifications, six postseason victories and three title-game appearances, Pine Bluffs hasn’t played a playoff game at home since 1948.

That’s 64 years, if you’re counting.

The 1948 season for Pine Bluffs was a special one: The Hornets won the Southeast six-man crown and beat Jackson in the state semifinals before hosting Byron for the state title. Byron won that game 44-0 in far eastern Laramie County; Pine Bluffs hasn’t hosted a playoff game since then.

Pine won’t host in the playoffs this year, either. The Hornets have to hope for Lingle to beat Southeast to qualify for the Class 1A 11-man playoffs, and even if they get in, they’ll be the No. 4 seed out of the East Conference, which means no home games no matter what.

Sorry, Hornet faithful. We can hope Year 65 will be the lucky one.

++++++++++

Here are this week’s picks, with the teams I think will win in bold and the teams I think will make every attempt possible to prove me wrong in the regular type:

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

Last week: 28-3 (90 percent). This season: 201-35 (85 percent).

There they are, the final picks of the regular season. How do you see the playoffs shaping up, based on what might happen this week? Anything jump out to you as intriguing or interesting on the Week 8 schedule? Feel free to post your thoughts below.

(And how did I get to this point and NOT mention that two games in Week 8 pit undefeated teams against each other: Gillette-Natrona in 4A and Big Horn-Newcastle in 2A? The Ram-Dogie game starts at 1 p.m. in Big Horn; the Mustang-Camel showdown starts at 7 p.m. in Casper. If I still lived in Wyoming, I’d just call in sick to work and go to both.)

–patrick

A little more specialized web searching gave me a couple more results I had been missing:

Found the score for Lovell’s 20-0 victory over Laurel, Mont., on Sept. 28, 1935

Found the score for Lovell’s 26-0 victory over Columbus, Mont., on Sept. 24, 1937 (I knew Lovell had won the game; this update notes the score)

Found the date and location for Lovell’s 54-0 loss to Billings, Mont., on Oct. 9, 1926 (in Billings)

I also knocked three coach listings off the Coaches Project listings — I got first initials for Lovell coach G.E. Hatfield (1924-25), the name for Lovell’s coach in 1926 (William Ash), first initials for Newcastle coach J.J. Wadsworth (1928) and also found Pinedale’s coach in 1940, W.L. McLoney. (Whether G.E. Hatfield is the same person as George Hatfield, who was the head coach at Worland in 1923, I’m not sure, but my gut tells me it is….)

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

–patrick

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