School: Moorcroft
Nickname: Wolves
Colors: green and white
Stadium: Wolves Field
State championship: 1996
Times worth remembering: The Wolves won four consecutive conference championships from 1993-96, and culminated the run with the school’s only state championship. The Wolves put together seasons of 8-1 in 1993 and 1995 and 10-0 in 1996, and even with a 3-5 season in 1994 still won the conference championship.
Times worth forgetting: It took quite a while for the Wolves to reach the speed of high-school football. After adopting the sport in 1952, it took (according to games results found so far) five years for Moorcroft to win its first game. In that span from 1952-58 (with available results), the Wolves were 1-22, including a 1956 season in which the Wolves didn’t take the field due to a lack of bodies. Of course, in 1959, the Wolves made up for all that by advancing to the state championship game….
Best team: The 1996 Wolves did two things no other Moorcroft team has ever done — they went undefeated and they won the state championship. The Wolves, led by three-time all-stater Shawn Dowdy, proved throughout the season that they knew how to both dominate inferior teams and frustrate good ones.
Biggest win: Clearly, again, the nod has to go to 1996. The 9-6 title-game victory over Lusk provided enough excitement to last for 10 championships. Kyle Workman nailed the winning 30-yard field goal with 41 seconds remaining, a kick set up by a punt block just a couple minutes before. Moorcroft scored all nine of its points in the fourth quarter and kept the Tigers out of the end zone, giving up just two first-half field goals.
Heartbreaker: The Wolves were one of the best teams in the state in 1982. Led by Rock Mirich, the Wolves posted an 8-0 record in the regular season, holding every single opponent to eight points or fewer, but couldn’t get the job done once they reached the playoffs. Playing the first home playoff game in school history, the Wolves jumped out to a 20-0 lead but lost to Saratoga 28-20 in overtime. After Mirich ran back the opening kickoff of the second half 95 yards for a touchdown, the Wolves crumpled, and Saratoga’s David Jones scored three times in the second half to help crush Moorcroft’s perfect season.