Here’s to 2024…
Champions: Sheridan, Star Valley, Big Horn, Pine Bluffs, Snake River.
All-state: Four players joined Wyoming’s small club of three-time all-state selections: Burlington’s Joe Bassett; Lingle’s Louden Bremer and Kaiden Riggs (2023 with Torrington); and Upton-Sundance’s Eli Gill.
Another 42 players made first-team all-state for a second year: Big Horn’s Avon Barney and Kolby Butler; Big Piney’s Caden Clifford; Buffalo’s Hayden Jawors; Burlington’s Rykael Andrew, Jordan Casey and Weston Gotfredson; Campbell County’s Trent Rosenau; Cheyenne Central’s Brycen Bailey; Cody’s Maddax Ball, Wyatt Barton, Chase Hatch, Grady McCarten, Trey Smith and Warren Sorenson; Douglas’ Carter Archuleta; Greybull’s Lucas Bolzer; Lingle’s Anthony Arnusch, Colt Brown and Cooper Smith; Lovell’s Davin Crosby; Lusk’s Raynce Brott and Jackson Smith; Lyman’s Max Gregory; Mountain View’s Justus Platts; Pine Bluffs’ Shawn Shmidl; Powell’s Doug Bettger and Keona Wisniewski; Shoshoni’s Quinton Clark; Snake River’s Bridger Cozzens and Mason Jones; Southeast’s Ayden Desmond and TJ Moats; Star Valley’s Cooper Lawson, Smith McClure, Bryson Nield and Grant Thomson; Thunder Basin’s Cort Catlin and Logan Mendoza; Torrington’s Kaden Romig; Wheatland’s Jake Hyche; and Worland’s Brody Thiel.
Individual records: Star Valley’s Bryson Nield set the state’s 11-man single-season receiving record with 1,283 yards, breaking the old record by 20 yards. Nield also set the single-game record with his 291-yard receiving effort against Powell on Oct. 4. Star Valley’s Smith McClure finished eighth all-time for passing yards in an 11-man season with 2,726. Jackson’s Tyson Kendall finished sixth in 11-man single-game receiving yards with 248 this season against Bear Lake, Idaho.
In six-man, Hulett’s Kyle Smith shattered the single-season passing yards mark with 2,508, breaking the old record by more than 300 yards. Hulett had two receivers crack the top six all-time in six-man receiving yards with Hudson Reilly (third, 1,072 yards) and Ben Harrison (sixth, 910). Smith also finished with three of the top four passing games in six-man history, including a six-man record 519 yards through the air against Midwest. Reilly also set the single-game six-man receiving yards record in that game with 321 receiving yards. Also in six-man, Snake River’s Bridger Cozzens finished second all-time with 2,492 rushing yards this season, and his 482-yard rushing effort — in the championship game against Burlington, no less — was the third-best all-time single-game six-man rushing effort.
Scoring records: As noted a couple times, Wyoming had its combined single-game scoring record broken — destroyed, really — in Midwest’s 94-93 victory against Hulett. The 187 combined points beat the old record by 25 points. Hulett was also involved in the No. 3 all-time scoring game this season in its 85-74 victory (159 combined points) against Hanna in (get this) Midwest. Burlington’s 92-point effort in the first round of the six-man playoffs against Farson tied for second-most points ever by one team in a playoff game. Snake River’s 87 points against Burlington was the most points ever in a championship game. Oh, and Burlington and Encampment tied the state record for most overtimes in a playoff game with three, tying Laramie and Cody from their 1976 Class AA championship classic.
In 11-man, Cody’s 49-42 victory against Douglas in the 3A semifinals ranked as the ninth-highest scoring 11-man playoff game in state history at 91 points.
Streaks: We know the big ones. Sheridan has the new state winning streak record at 43 consecutive games; Cheyenne South holds the new state losing streak record at 47. However, Sheridan has also climbed into a tie for second place with a 29-game home winning streak, while South now has the state record with a 22-game home losing streak.
Snake River and Star Valley now rank second and third, respectively, in consecutive games scoring, with Snake River scoring in 155 straight games and Star Valley in 140. The record is 175.
Cokeville had its 37th consecutive winning season, as well as its 39th consecutive season at .500 or better, both by far state records. Meanwhile, Sheridan continued in second place in the consecutive winning seasons category with its 18th. Laramie also continued its state record streak with its 24th consecutive losing season and tied the state record with its 24th consecutive season at .500 or worse.
Coaching: Both Lyman’s Dale Anderson and Wright’s Larry Yeradi reached the 100-victory mark for their careers this season; they’ll enter 2025 tied for fourth among all active coaches in total victories statewide with exactly 100 apiece. Mountain View’s Brent Walk (97 victories) and Cody’s Matt McFadden (95) could reach the mark next season. Natrona’s Steve Harshman, with 241 victories as head coach at Natrona, continues to lead all active coaches in victories, with 101 more than second-place Chad Goff at Cheyenne East, who has 140. Upton-Sundance’s Andy Garland is third at 116.
Rankings: Star Valley will enter 2025 having been ranked for 93 consecutive weeks, fourth-best all-time. Snake River’s state record of 24 consecutive weeks ranked No. 1 ended this season.
Picks: Oh, yeah. Here are the results of my picks from championship week and this season:
Championship week: 4-1 (80 percent). This season: 239-59 (80 percent). Total over 20 (!) (?) (!) seasons: 4,764-1,125 (81 percent).
By the way, everything from the 2024 season should be uploaded to its respective page. If anything looks weird, wrong, misspelled, in the wrong place, or generally discombobulated, please let me know! I’m at pschmiedt@yahoo.com, or you could publicly call me out with a comment. That works, too. 🙂
–patrick