On Nov. 11, 1921, the Cowley Jaguars blasted the Basin Bobcats 69-0 in a game that was typical of most meetings in the first full season of Wyoming high school football in every way but one — the location.

The two teams played that game in Lovell, making it the first neutral-site game in Wyoming’s football history. Since then, about 200 neutral-site games have been played, including every state football championship game since 2009.

Some schools made an annual habit of playing at a neutral site, most out of geographic convenience — like Hulett and Ten Sleep playing in Buffalo, or Wright and Burns playing in Lusk. Sometimes, schools moved playoff games to bigger venues nearby to accommodate larger crowds. And in the case of tiebreaker playoffs, a neutral site is a necessity. But even close schools made neutral sites habit, like Big Horn and Tongue River often staging the annual Thunder Bowl in Sheridan.

With the neutral-site college football bowl season in full swing, here are 11 of the most memorable neutral-site games in Wyoming high school football’s history, excluding the Laramie title games:

1. Dec. 4, 1926: Worland 10, Cheyenne Central 0, at Casper: This game was the second of a two-game championship series. The game was quickly scheduled after the Warriors and Indians played the first championship game to a 7-7 tie in Cheyenne. One week later, the two schools met again, and this time the Warriors notched the shutout to win the title.

2. Dec. 3, 1927: Worland 19, Cheyenne Central 0, at Douglas: After playing in Cheyenne the previous year, the Warriors wanted the Indians to come to Worland for the state championship the following year when both schools won their semifinal games. The Indians balked at that idea, and after some haggling, the two schools agreed to meet in Douglas. And once again, the Warriors won the state title by shutout.

3. Jan. 1, 1931: Fort Collins, Colo., 69, Sheridan 14, at Denver: For the first — and last — time, the state champions from Wyoming and Colorado met at season’s end to determine the regional champion. The Broncs were blown out in Denver, putting a quick end to a tradition that never had the chance to actually be a tradition.

4. Nov. 20, 1941: Glenrock 22, Big Horn 20, at Sheridan: This game, which pitted the Southeast District champion against the Northeast District champion, was the first six-man “state championship” game. The large crowd helped give legitimacy to the game, and although it took seven more years for Wyoming to develop statewide playoffs, when it did, six-man was in the mix.

5. Nov. 28, 1946: Sheridan 20, Cody 19, at Casper: The first “Turkey Bowl” game went the way of Sheridan, which scored the winning touchdown in the third quarter and then held off Cody in the fourth in a cold day in Casper. The game was one of the most important in state history, helping pave the way for statewide playoffs two years later.

6. Nov. 14, 1953: Dayton 63, Glenrock 38, at Sheridan: This six-man state championship game is still the highest-scoring championship game in state history, 60 years later.

7. Nov. 12, 1957: Glendo 24, Glenrock 13, at Douglas: Glendo and Glenrock tied for the eight-man southeast district championship, prompting this tiebreaker game on the Monday before the state championship game. Glendo won, and then beat Tongue River 20-0 four days later to win its only state football championship

8. Sept. 9, 1972: Bow-Basin 36, Wyoming Indian 0, at Hanna: I’m still not sure if this was coincidence, or if the schedule-makers purposefully scheduled this game. Either way, this game was the first game for both programs. The twist of the neutral site came about because Bow-Basin’s field wasn’t ready; all of the Wranglers’ “home” games their first season were played 20 miles away in Hanna.

9. Oct. 31, 1992: Hulett 23, Dubois 21, at Riverton: Speaking of entire seasons spent on the road, Dubois didn’t have any home games in 1992. (I don’t remember specifically why, but I think the field/track were under construction.) So when the conference champion Rams made the playoffs, they had to find a place to play. Riverton’s field ended up being the place where Dubois’ dream ended; the next week, Hulett lost to Burlington, a team Dubois had beaten in the regular season, in the championship game.

10. Sept. 9, 1995: Lincoln Pius X, Neb., 27, Sheridan 20, at North Platte, Neb.: This was not the first such interstate mid-point game between large, powerful programs, and it wasn’t the last. But this one may have been the most memorable, as it was one of only a handful of losses for the Broncs in the early 1990s. Sheridan later won the 4A title this season.

11. Aug. 31, 2002: Guernsey-Sunrise 41, Riverside 14, at Casper: As a midpoint in the state, Casper has hosted many neutral-site games. This one between the Vikings and Rebels stands out, though, because it was the first time two Wyoming varsity teams played each other on a turf field — they broke in the new surface at Cheney Alumni Field even before the hometown Mustangs had the chance.

What was your favorite neutral-site game? Do you like the regular-season midpoint meetings? Have you ever participated in one? Feel free to add your thoughts below.

–patrick

With the changes coming to the Wyoming high school football setup in 2014, matchups involving new schools were all but inevitable. So to see several new series starting in 2014 is no surprise.

In all, 16 new series will start in 2014: seven involving Rock River and its new varsity program, three involving Tongue River and its move to 1A 11-man, and two new series each for Upton-Sundance, NSI, St. Stephens and Hanna.

Rock River’s first foray into varsity football will bring about seven new series, as the Longhorns will play St. Stephens, NSI, Kaycee, Hanna, Midwest, Guernsey-Sunrise and Hulett in their inaugural season.

Tongue River will play Upton-Sundance, Lingle and Pine Bluffs for the first time in 2014. Tongue River has played both Upton and Sundance numerous times but has yet to play the combined Patriots.

The Class 2A cross-conference scheduling also spawned two new series: Mountain View-Burns and Big Piney-Wheatland.

The new series starting next season include:

Week 1: Upton-Sundance vs. Wind River; Wyoming Indian vs. Moorcroft; Rock River vs. St. Stephens.

Week 2: Rock River vs. NSI.

Week 3: Mountain View vs. Burns; Tongue River vs. Upton-Sundance; Kaycee vs. Rock River; Hanna vs. St. Stephens.

Week 4: Hanna vs. Rock River.

Week 5: Big Piney vs. Wheatland; Farson vs. NSI; Rock River vs. Midwest.

Week 7: Tongue River vs. Lingle; Rock River vs. Guernsey-Sunrise.

Week 8: Pine Bluffs vs. Tongue River; Hulett vs. Rock River.

–patrick

Vic Wilkerson of Gillette and Matt VandeBossche of Lusk will be the head coaches for the 41st Shrine Bowl.

The game will be played June 14, 2014, in Casper.

Wilkerson will coach the North team and VandeBossche the South. Wilkerson was head coach for the North team in 2006, while VandeBossche is the Shrine Bowl head coach for the first time. This is the third time a coach from Lusk has led the South — former coach Jerry Fullmer was the South coach twice, in 1987 and 2000 — while Gillette will have a coach lead the North team for the fourth time.

The coaches will assemble their assistant coaching staffs and, together, the staffs will pick the players for the annual all-star football game.

The North, which won last year’s game 34-6, leads the all-time series 19-18-3.

–patrick

Wheatland football coach Scott Schultz has resigned to pursue national opportunities tied to his work as a strength coach.

In an email to wyoming-football.com on Monday, Schultz said he is attempting to pursue a position as an athletic trainer with at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Schultz said he will move to Colorado in January.

Schultz said he is a nationally registered strength coach through the National Strength and Conditioning Association — one of 84 such people in the country — and a nationally certified performance enhancement specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

“It is my intention to go and pursue the national office as a trainer and hopefully get a chance to prove myself enough to get into the Olympic Training Center,” Schultz wrote. ” … All will take some work and persistence but is something I have been striving for over the last 10 years.”

Schultz started coaching at Wheatland in 2006. He went 30-42 in eight seasons with the Bulldogs. Wheatland reached the playoffs five times under Schultz and advanced to the semifinals in 2006.

A replacement has not yet been named.

To see the list of all coaching changes statewide, click here.

–patrick

Published Dec. 16, 2013; last updated Aug. 20, 2014.

The following head coaching changes are taking place for Wyoming high school football teams for the 2014 season:

Cheyenne Central: Drew Severn is set to take over as the Indians’ next head coach, per a school announcement. Severn has been an assistant football coach in Burns and in Arizona and was an assistant wrestling coach at Central. He takes over for Brick Cegelski, who resigned after 18 seasons as coach, the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle reported. Cegelski went 85-87 in his tenure.

Greybull: Marty Wrage has accepted the head coaching post at Greybull, wyoming-football.com was notified. Wrage was previously a head football coach in Ogallala, Neb. He replaces Justin Bernhardt, who resigned after going 7-11 in two years as head coach, the Greybull Standard reported.

Lander: Assistant coach John Rounds has been promoted to be the new head coach. Rounds, who previously coached the Tigers’ offensive line and linebackers, replaces Doug Hughes, who went 26-29 in six years as head coach. Hughes is now Lander’s activities director.

Moorcroft: Dusty Petz will replace Steve Richter as Moorcroft’s coach, the coaches told wyoming-football.com via email. Petz is Moorcroft’s boys basketball coach. Richter was Moorcroft’s coach for 11 seasons, going 30-63.

Powell: Chanler Buck was named the interim head coach at Powell, AD Tim Wormald said via email. Buck was previously a volunteer assistant with Powell. He takes the place of Jim Stringer, who died in July after 11 seasons as head coach.

Rawlins: Corey Wheeler will be Rawlins’ head coach in 2014, the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle’s Jeremiah Johnke reported on Twitter. Wheeler will replace Tom Waring, who resigned after one season as head coach, the Rawlins Daily Times reported. Rawlins went 1-7 last season.

Rock RiverTerrance Reese will be the head coach for Rock River’s first varsity football season, school officials said via email to wyoming-football.com. He replaces Ray Moore, who resigned in February.

Rock Springs: David Hastings was named the Tigers’ new head coach in May, the school announced via Facebook. Hastings has previously coached in both Utah and Idaho. He takes over for Tom Jassman, who coached the Tigers for three years and went 6-24.

Wheatland: Dusty Hudson was named Wheatland’s new head football coach, AD Frank Jesse told wyoming-football.com via email. He replaces Scott Schultz, who resigned after eight seasons to pursue national opportunities as a strength coach. Schultz went 30-42 in his span.

Worland: Thor Ware has been named the head coach at Worland. Ware, who previously coached at Sugar-Salem, Idaho, and Rainier, Oregon, replaces co-coaches Josh Garcia and Bryan Bailey, who went 3-6 in their only year as head coaches together.

Wyoming Indian: Todd Ghormley was named Wyoming Indian’s new head coach, Casper Star-Tribune reporter Jack Nowlin said on Twitter. He replaces Taylor Her Many Horses, who went 2-14 in two years as head coach of the Chiefs.

If you know of other head football coaching changes in Wyoming, post a comment below or email me at pschmiedt@yahoo.com.

–patrick