An e-mail I received the other day got me thinking about which Wyoming football team could be classified as the most dominant.
There have been 149 unbeaten, untied teams in Wyoming since 1946, so whittling that list down is a project in and of itself. Calling one team out of those 149 the most dominant is even tougher.
The problem is that naming the state’s most dominant team requires answering two questions — the most dominant team, period, and the most dominant team when compared to school size.
When you answer the question “most dominant, period,” you look at the big schools. A few teams immediately jump to mind: Rock Springs in 2002, Natrona in 1999, Green River in 2004 and the 1991 Sheridan team that finished the season ranked in the top 25 nationally by USA Today.
When you look at dominant for size, you have to bring up Glenrock in 2008, Buffalo in 2005 and Lusk’s 2000 team that didn’t give up a point in the regular season. I think two teams from 2009 — Douglas and Guernsey — deserve to be in the conversation, as well.
But there are some older teams that deserve some consideration, too.
Worland won six straight titles in the 1950s, but never went against any “AA” teams. Laramie had some very good teams in the early and mid 1960s and won 34 straight at one point. Kelly Walsh with Mike Devereaux and Allyn Griffin was dominating in 1980 and 1981.
There were also some small-school dynamos, specifically Cokeville (in just about any year), Byron in the 1950s and both Cowley and Deaver-Frannie in the 1970s. Rocky Mountain had some great teams in the 1990s, as well….
There’s only been one unbeaten and unscored-on team in state history (at least that I know of) and that was the Heart Mountain camp team from 1943, but that season comes with all kinds of footnotes. Sometime I’ll blog about those Heart Mountain teams, because they were pretty interesting… but back to the topic at hand.
I’ve also found two teams that only gave up six points the entire season — Saratoga and Torrington, oddly enough both in 1974. Also, Tongue River in 1973 had eight shutouts in 10 games.
There were several other teams that only gave up points in one game.
Click here for a Casper Star-Tribune story from 2002, which I link to from my origins page, that talks about what teams might be considered the best ever.
How about you? What teams do you think deserve consideration for the title “best ever,” either for its size or overall? Post a comment below.
–patrick
From talking to some old timers, I’ve heard that the ’89 Central and ’91 Sheridan teams were the best they’ve seen – in the past 30 years at least
Wrong about Worland not playing AA teams. Look at your own records. Played Sheridan & Casper every year in the 50’s. Both schools nearly 3X Worland’s size.
Howard — My bad. Word was supposed to be “many,” not “any.” Thanks for graciously pointing that out.
–patrick
Also, Howard, since you sound like the expert… how do you think Worland’s 1950s teams would have stacked up against some of those other teams that have been mentioned?
We all know the definition of an “expert”. I did participate on 3 of those Worland championship teams and played at University of Colorado on a football scholarship. The ’54 Worland team was uindefeated, beat both Sheridan & Casper and defeated Torrington 32 to 7 for the championship. The single wing ground game was strong enough that we seldom had to pass – just enough to keep ’em guessing. Worland was fortunate to have some very good coaches: Carl Selmer, Pearley Wells and Jack Aggers. Very difficult to compare teams from different eras. Clearly the kids have become bigger, faster, stronger and probably better coached.
I would like to mention the ’52 Sheridan team, which I thought was one of the best. They did win AA that year and the next. On the ’52 team was future WY QB, Larry Zawada, Ed Wilinson (I think was his name) who played at Northern Colo and perhaps the most outstanding prospect ever to come out of WY: Homer Scott. Unfortunately Homer;s career at U of Colorado was cut short by an auto accident.
Would also like to mention ’52 Greybull team with a stud by name of Jim Crawford, WY All American. Jim’s Greybull team was not that good, but Jim was. Against Worland, I believe he carried the ball on almost every play and made almost every tackle form the safety postion – one hell of an effort and one hell of a U of WY tailback.
Thanks for the thoughts, Howard. I’ve always thought those Worland teams were fascinating. That kind of sustained success doesn’t happen without talented players and a coach who can get that talent all moving in the same direction. I don’t know if we’ll ever see that sort of championship streak pulled off at the big-school level again.
–patrick
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