I’m doing a project for my alma mater, Midwest, and I’ve uncovered a handful of wrong scores I had posted on the site that I’ve since fixed. Small changes, but, hey, I want to get this right.

Upton beat Midwest 48-14 on Sept. 25, 1987. I had 48-12.

Midwest beat Moorcroft 26-14 on Sept. 9, 1988. I had 28-14.

Big Horn beat Midwest 24-13 on Sept. 24, 1999. I had 23-13.

Lingle beat Midwest 40-0 on Sept. 12, 2003. I had 32-0.

Burlington beat Midwest 54-6 on Sept. 17, 2004. I had 53-6.

I also found the date and corrected the score for the Natrona sophs’ 53-6 victory over Midwest on Sept. 24, 2002 (I had 56-6), as well as the date for the Natrona sophs’ 48-6 victory over Midwest on Oct. 22, 2002.

Update 1:28 p.m. March 27: I also fixed the location for Midwest’s game against the Sundance JV on Sept. 9, 2002. It was in Sundance, not Midwest.

I also corrected the spelling of Burlington’s Daryl Peterson on the 2004 1A all-state team and of Ben Michelena and Sean Belliveau on the 2001 1A all-state team playing for NSI.

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

–patrick

Prior to the 2010s, Wyoming had added just two new public, comprehensive high schools since the addition of Kelly Walsh High School in Casper in 1967: Wyoming Indian in the 1970s and Wright in the 1980s.

Two new high schools, though, opened (or are scheduled to open) this decade — Cheyenne South in 2010 and Thunder Basin in Gillette in 2017.

That raises an interesting question: Will we continue to see more new high schools in Wyoming? And if so, where?

For now, my speculation is that Wyoming is done with new high schools for quite a while. No communities have expressed the immediate need or the desire to add a 9-12 facility.

Still, regardless of timing, here are some suspects to think about for the location of the next new high school in the state:

Casper. We’ve been over this before: Casper probably won’t get a new high school for the next three decades. Too many people have too great an investment in making this Pathways (formerly CAPS) program work. A few years ago, there was also talk of making Roosevelt High in Casper a regular high school as opposed to an alternative school. That proposal included athletics programs. However, I haven’t seen that build any steam recently. And, to boot, Roosevelt students will be housed in the Pathways building. Maybe by 2040, when the Pathways building needs a remodel and can be retrofitted to become a standalone high school, we’ll see that third high school. Until then, I’m pessimistic.

Rock Springs. With Thunder Basin’s opening, Rock Springs now has the largest 9-12 enrollment of any town in the state with only one high school. Given the enrollment history in Rock Springs, it will probably be 50 years before it will be ready for another high school, if ever. Unless we get a worldwide trona boom… then, watch out!

LaBarge. The community 20 miles south of Big Piney is just on the Lincoln County side of the Lincoln/Sublette County border — which leads to an arrangement where, as I understand it, Lincoln County pays Sublette County for educating the children who journey from LaBarge to Big Piney for their schooling. The K-5 LaBarge Elementary is where LaBarge students start before moving on to Big Piney for their middle- and high-school education. But LaBarge is big enough to have its own high school, and has been for a while now. LaBarge High would be about the same size as nearby Farson and would be a natural fit in the 1A Southwest. I can’t for the life of me figure out why LaBarge hasn’t had its own high school all these years…. Maybe some folks in Sublette/Lincoln counties can fill me in as to why this hasn’t been done already.

Wamsutter. The K-8 Desert School in Wamsutter supports students for nine years, before the students start to travel the 40 miles from Wamsutter to Rawlins, one-way, to finish their schooling. The once-booming extraction community has slowed its roll recently, though. There was talk a few years ago about Wamsutter adding a high school, but with the decline in extraction industries, Wamsutter’s long-term hopes for a high school aren’t as strong as they were a few years ago. If it opened now, Wamsutter High would only have about 20 students — more than Glendo and Chugwater but fewer than every other athletics-sponsoring high school in the state.

Thayne. This is pure speculation. But it’s based in some existing infrastructure. For grades 4-12, Star Valley students all attend the same schools, but for grades K-3, about half the students in the valley go to Afton Elementary and the other half go to Thayne Elementary. A split on the Afton-Thayne line, if extended from the K-3 level to the K-12 level, could give Star Valley two separate high schools of about equal size, 350-400 students each. Star Valley covers a lot of area — it’s 40 miles from Alpine to Smoot — so maybe a second high school would work. But I think it would take a huge influx of students for anyone in Star Valley to consider splitting up a system that’s worked for a century.

Wilson. Again, more speculation along the western border. But, again, it’s based in what exists. Wilson — six miles west of Jackson — has its own K-5 elementary. Those enrollment numbers show Wilson would be capable of supporting a mid-sized 2A school on its own. However, its proximity to Jackson makes this really unlikely.

Rozet. Technically, it’s 15 miles from Rozet to Gillette, but most of the students who attend Rozet live west of the school — closer to the east edge of Gillette than to Rozet. Right now, Rozet is basically an eastern Gillette elementary. But it’s fun to think that the Mustangs of old (the high school closed in 1958) could rise from the ashes to be a high school of about 200 students, based on its elementary enrollment, and natural rivalries in geography and size could develop with nearby Moorcroft and Newcastle. That’d be fun. But unlikely.

Somewhere in eastern Laramie County. The history of schooling in Eastern Laramie County — east of Cheyenne — is based on consolidation. Egbert High School shut down in 1958; Hillsdale High closed in 1969; Carpenter High closed its doors in 1971; Albin, the last comprehensive Wyoming high school to close, shut down in 2003. However, Carpenter and Albin held onto their elementary schools… and based on this breakdown I did in 2014 of current elementary enrollment, if Carpenter and Albin re-opened, the four high schools (Burns, Pine Bluffs, Carpenter and Albin) could each support decent 9-12 populations — about 132 in Burns, about 81 in Pine Bluffs, about 55 in Carpenter and about 42 in Albin. That would be a blast. For now, though, tight budgets and relatively small distances (11 miles from Carpenter to Burns, 18 miles from Albin to Pine Bluffs) keep LCSD No. 2 at two high schools. And then there’s the historical precedent: No Wyoming high school that has closed has EVER been re-opened.

Cheyenne or Gillette. Actually, Cheyenne might get a fourth high school and Gillette a third before anyone else gets a first or second. I think Casper’s third would come before Gillette’s third or Cheyenne’s fourth. Even so, Cheyenne in particular could be ready for a new school in, oh, another 50 years. That’s the pace it has set: One new high school every 50 years. East in 1960, South in 2010… Who’s ready for Cheyenne North in 2060?

What Wyoming town do you think will be the next to build a new high school? And when do you think it will be? Leave a comment and let’s speculate.

–patrick

Twelve high school players have been named finalists for the scholar-athlete of the year award from the Wyoming Chapter of the National Football Foundation.

One winner will be named from the group of 12 at a banquet March 19 (Saturday) in Laramie.

Each of the 12 finalists — a lineman and a back from each classification, plus two more finalists — earns a $1,200 scholarship, while the top scholar-athlete earns another $1,200 scholarship. The top scholar-athlete will also be Wyoming’s representative for the Western U.S. Chapter Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.

UW players Cameron Coffman (back) and Rafe Kiely (lineman) will also be honored, as will several special award winners.

The finalists are:
Hayden Fauber, Kaycee (1A six-man)
Shawn Shepperson, Meeteetse (1A six-man)
Jackson Linford, Cokeville (1A 11-man lineman)
Jeff Burroughs, Southeast (1A 11-man back)
Elijah Stewart, Glenrock (2A back)
Josh Calvert, Wheatland (2A lineman)
Baylor Beers, Riverton (3A lineman)
Teagan Cordes, Powell (3A lineman)
Theo Dawson, Jackson (3A back)
Skyler Miller, Torrington (3A back)
Blake Godwin, Sheridan (4A back)
Quinn Happold, Cheyenne East (4A lineman)

Special award winners include:
Courage Award: Cameron Myers, Cody
Perseverance Award: Jaxn Kobza, Tongue River
Football Coaching Award: Harold Bailey, Shoshoni (now Greeley, Colorado); Doug Bartlett, Torrington; Bill Lehr, Big Piney
Greatest UW Football Fan Award: Chuck and Katie Brown, Wheatland; Keith Downey, Laramie
Greatest Wyoming High School Football Fan Award: Michael Popeck, Lander; Lee and Donna Shafer, Big Piney
Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award: Danny Watson, Riverton; Dylan Grant, Randy Rider, Terry Rider and Todd Van Rensselaer, Douglas.

Previous award winners are available at the group’s website.

–patrick

Star Valley’s offensive coordinator for the past four seasons will take over as head coach for the defending Class 3A champions, the Star Valley Independent reported Tuesday.

McKay Young will be the new head coach for the Braves, the paper reported. He takes over for Chris Howell, who led the Braves to the 3A championship in November but resigned to take another coaching position in Utah.

In addition to his four years with the Braves, Young was the head coach for three years at Malad High School in Idaho, compiling a 25-6 record there.

Young is the state’s first new head coach to be brought on for the 2016 season. Cheyenne South coach Tracy Pugh has also resigned, but a new coach hasn’t been named yet for the Bison. News of other coaching changes can be emailed to pschmiedt@yahoo.com.

–patrick

Even though Torrington’s 2015 season did not end in Laramie, it still carried significance in the annals of Blazer football successes.

Last year, the Trailblazers won the Class 3A East Conference championship — the program’s first conference title since 1996 and its first outright title since 1994. I wrote about this in October when I looked into Torrington’s eventual conference title; I knew it had been a while.

But Torrington’s 20-year stretch without a conference title actually isn’t all that rare in Wyoming.

Cheyenne South, Wyoming Indian, Normative Services, Rock River, Farson and St. Stephens haven’t won conference titles yet, or in the case of Farson and St. Stephens, none since 1967 (when my season-by-season conference record listings end).

The next-longest drought belongs to Kelly Walsh, which hasn’t won or shared a conference championship since 1981. Other programs that haven’t won or shared a conference title in this century are Pine Bluffs (1988), Hanna (1989), Big Piney (1990), Lander (1995), Wind River (1997), Thermopolis (1998), and Moorcroft and Pinedale (1999).

These listings come with the caveat that, for several years — some classes more than others — power ratings, not conference standings, determined playoff qualifications. So, for several years in the early 2000s, Wyoming did not have official conference champions. Teams that finished atop the regular-season power ratings for their classifications those years are not awarded conference championships in this analysis.

Big Piney has the most curious case, as the Punchers have won five state titles in the span since their last conference title: 1998 (2nd in conference), 2000 (2nd), 2001 (no conferences due to power ratings), 2004 (no conferences due to power ratings), and 2006 (4th).

Several other programs have shared conference titles this century but haven’t won an outright title in the 2000s:

Newcastle (last shared 2011, last outright 1981)
Rock Springs (last shared 2003, last outright 1989)
Worland (last shared 2009, last outright 1989)
Wheatland (last shared 2015, last outright 1989)
Cheyenne Central (last shared 2007, last outright 1990)
Saratoga (last shared 2007, last outright 1995)
Lingle (last shared 2015, last outright 1996)
Moorcroft (last shared 1999, last outright 1997)
Hulett (last shared 2015, last outright 1999)

Lander’s last title in 1995 was shared; its last outright title came before 1967, when my conference standings records stop.

It’s worth noting here that this list will probably grow rather than shrink over the next few years. Class 4A has just one conference, while other classifications have only two conferences apiece. Winning a conference title has gotten much more difficult the past 15-20 years… which is why so many schools haven’t won conference titles in, oh, 15 or 20 years.

Folks in Torrington know all too well.

–patrick