A total of 23 Wyoming high school football games during the regular season match up teams from the same county.
Two of those games happen this week. By coincidence, both games involve defending state champions. The opponents of those defending champs, though, are on the schedule for significantly different reasons.
Of the two matchups, let’s start with the more traditional one. Snake River visits Hanna in a rematch of last year’s Class 1A six-man championship.
The Carbon County rivals were six-man’s two best teams last year, and both entered the title game undefeated — oddly enough, because they didn’t play in the regular season. Snake River won that game and the title. The rematch on Saturday won’t have the same drama as their last meeting, but it will help set the pace for the rest of six-man.
The other intra-county game happening this week hasn’t happened often. In fact, despite long histories, these two teams have only played each other twice before, in 1984 and 1985.
Those two teams are defending Class 2A champion Mountain View and winless-at-Class 3A last year Evanston.
It’s hard to know what to make of this game. Then again, it’s hard to know what to make of Mountain View this year, as the Buffalos lost a ton of seniors from last year’s championship squad.
Meanwhile, Evanston started slow last week in a 29-14 loss to Ben Lomond, Utah, losing its 12th game in a row dating back to 2018.
The only other times these two Uinta County programs faced each other came in heady days for both programs. In 1984, both teams reach their respective championship games — Mountain View winning 2A, Evanston losing 3A — and although they didn’t repeat that success in 1985, they did repeat the game, and both were competitive all season. Evanston won both games.
This time around might be a bit different, with the smaller Mountain View riding a wave of program momentum and Evanston trying to gain confidence.
And of those 23 intra-county games scheduled this season, the Evanston-Mountain View game is the only varsity-vs.-varsity game that has two teams from different classifications facing each other.
The little guy doesn’t get this intra-county chance again this season.
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Week 1 is always intriguing, because we learn so much about so many things. Every game will be fun to watch unfold. Regardless, these are the ones I’ll be watching with a more focused eye:
After losing to Wheatland in a Week 0 game last week, Rawlins plays Lyman this week in a game that will tell us a lot about the relative strengths of the two 2A conferences. …
I can’t shake the feeling that Pinedale-Glenrock could be one of the best games of the week. …
Every single 1A nine-man game will be fun to follow. With as much shake-up as there was last offseason — teams moving in and out, in addition to learning the nuances of the nine-man game — anything is possible. …
Dubois could be a breakthrough team in six-man this year. The opener with a veteran but shallow Kaycee team will be interesting to watch unfold.
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Now, for the picks. I put the teams I think are going to win in bold, but I think really hard before I do so. Or I flip a coin.
Thursday
Interclass
Evanston JV at Big Piney
Rawlins at Lyman
Friday
Class 4A
Campbell County at Laramie
Kelly Walsh at Cheyenne Central
Natrona at Cheyenne East
Sheridan at Cheyenne South
Thunder Basin at Rock Springs
Class 3A
Lander at Green River
Powell at Worland
Riverton at Cody
Class 2A
Kemmerer at Wheatland
Lovell at Big Horn
Pinedale at Glenrock
Tongue River at Thermopolis
Class 1A nine-man
Greybull at Moorcroft
Riverside at Pine Bluffs
Shoshoni at Southeast
Wind River at Lingle
Wright at Rocky Mountain
Class 1A six-man
Guernsey-Sunrise at Farson
Kaycee at Dubois
Interclass
Douglas at Torrington
Mountain View at Evanston
Newcastle at Buffalo
Interstate
Burns at Mitchell, Neb.
Jackson at Bear Lake, Idaho
Preston, Idaho, at Star Valley
Rich County, Utah, at Cokeville
Ten Sleep at Bridger, Mont.
Saturday
Class 1A six-man
Burlington at Hulett
Meeteetse at NSI
Midwest at Encampment
Snake River at Hanna
Interclass
Kelly Walsh sophs at Lusk
Open: Saratoga, Upton-Sundance. Upton-Sundance’s game with the Campbell County JV was canceled this week.
For a full schedule including kickoff times, as well as results from past weeks, go here. Click on “Week 1” on the top of the page for this week’s schedule.
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Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:
Last week: 12-3 (80 percent). This season: 12-3 (80 percent).
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Which matchup has you fired up for Week 1? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.
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–patrick
Great analysis on the week. I think most games are pretty straight forward this week. Laramie and Campbell county I definitely think could go the other way. They seem to be evenly matched, but playing in Laramie is hard for anyone. The other one that I think could go the other way is Pine Bluffs and Riverside. Pine lost a few key seniors from last year, but they didn’t have a completely empty closet. The youngsters have some talent that coach Gray will figure out how to use.
Great work Patrick, still providing the best Wyoming football coverage even from a distance.
Pine-Riverside is going to be a great one. Riverside has been young two years in a row now and finally has the experience to compete; their move to nine-man is coming at the exact right time. Also curious to see how Southeast matches up with, well, anyone, and Shoshoni will be a nice gauge to start.
–patrick
It’s going to be tonight to match up with Southeast. For a 9 man team they are BIG and where they aren’t they are fast. Shoshoni brings a lot back so that game will go along way in setting the East vs West stage.