School: Upton
Nickname: Bobcats
Colors: blue and white
Stadium: B.F. Weaver Field
State championships: 1961 and 2005
Times worth remembering: The Bobcats were consistently their best in the five-year stretch from 1969-72, in which Upton went a combined 35-6-3. The Bobcats’ best finish came in a 7-0-1 1971 season in which they ended up second in the final statewide poll; Upton’s chance to take on top-ranked Glenrock in the final week of the 1971 season went by the wayside due to a late October snowstorm that slammed the state. Upton also finished fourth in the final Class B-C ballot in both 1969 (7-2) and 1970 (7-1-1).
Times worth forgetting: Back-to-back winless seasons in 1949 (0-7) and 1950 (0-6) were the hardest for Upton to trudge through. In those 13 losses, the Bobcats were shut out six times and failed to crawl out of single digits on all but two occasions. On average, Upton lost games those two seasons by a score of 30-4.
Best team: Although the 1971 team only gave up eight points in its mythical runner-up season, and although the 1961 team won the school’s first state title, the Bobcats’ best pound-for-pound team likely came in 2005. Led by seven first-team all-state choices, including CST Super 25 first-team choices Jason Watt (2004) and Dan Dysart (2005), the Bobcats finished that season 10-1 and whitewashed Guernsey-Sunrise 55-6 in the 1A championship. Upton’s only loss was a 26-19 nail-biter to eventual 2A champion Sundance — in Sundance. Outside of that, the Bobcats outscored foes by an average of 36-5, as only one opponent came within 19 points.
Biggest win: The good feelings from Upton’s 1961 championship only lasted so long, and by 2005 the Bobcat faithful were ready for another trophy. After cruising through most of the regular season with ease and wiping out Shoshoni by 52 points in the 1A quarterfinals, Upton traveled to Cokeville for a key semifinal game. Unfazed by both the Panthers’ tradition and the 500-mile one-way trip, the Bobcats played a flawless defensive game and Dysart scored the lone touchdown in a 7-3 victory. Confidence boost? You bet — Upton breezed past defending champion Guernsey-Sunrise by 49 points the following week in the 1A championship in Guernsey.
Heartbreaker: Upton put up the type of defensive effort needed to beat Cokeville in the 1998 Class 1A-D2 title game, holding the Panthers to just 111 yards of total offense. But the Bobcats’ offense never came through. Upton had four turnovers, including a fumble on a punt that led to Cokeville’s game-winning touchdowns, and the Bobcats lost 12-7. It was Upton’s second title-game loss in as many years.