Familiarity with either War Memorial Stadium or championship games are a common thread for the teams that will be playing in next week’s state championship games.
Some teams are not only familiar with the atmosphere surrounding state championship games, they are also familiar to title games at War Memorial Stadium. Defending state champions Douglas, Thermopolis and Sheridan all earned return trips to Laramie this weekend.
Some teams are making their first trips to Laramie for title games but aren’t unfamiliar to championship settings. Big Horn, Lusk, Buffalo, Cokeville and Natrona have all played in state championship games in the past eight years.
Meanwhile, two teams — Snake River and Hanna, the two six-man title game participants — are pretty new to this whole football championship thing.
All told, they will come together in Laramie next weekend for an exciting weekend of high-stakes football.
How they got to this point, though, is a story in and of itself.
Natrona was undefeated until the final week of the regular season. Two big victories in the playoffs — including Saturday’s 30-10 victory over Gillette — earned them a spot in the title game.
As fate would have it, the team Natrona draws in the title game is the only one that beat the Mustangs in the regular season. That’s Sheridan, the hot-and-cold defending champs that are as hot as anyone right now, especially after beating upstart Cheyenne East 46-12 on Friday night.
The 3A title game matches the state’s two most consistent mid-size school programs: Douglas and Buffalo. One of these two teams has played in the championship game each season since 2003, including when they played each other in 2008. And, of course, they’re conference rivals, and Douglas beat Buffalo 22-7 earlier this season.
But both of them had to fight and claw and scrap to get to this point. Douglas got pushed by Riverton but won its 30th consecutive game thanks to a solid defensive effort in a 23-2 victory; Buffalo needed overtime to beat Cody 24-21 on the road in one of the best games of the season.
The defending champion in 2A, Thermopolis, has played the part of a defending champ all season long. That is, except for this one game where they had to go to Sheridan County. That was the trip to play the Big Horn Rams, and the Rams dominated the defending champs 42-7. Now, the Bobcats have their chance for revenge.
The Bobcats have been playing out of their minds in the playoffs, including a 39-15 victory over Lovell on Saturday. The trouble is that the Rams have been doing the same; Big Horn is unbeaten and blasted Greybull 37-7 in the semis.
The 1A 11-man title game will pit two undefeated teams, Cokeville and Lusk, that have just been rolling teams all season long. Cokeville, for just the time this season, didn’t win by more than 40 points, but still scored enough to beat four-time defending champ Southeast 24-7; Lusk has scored at least 46 points in each of its past eight games, including a 66-15 semifinal blasting of Lingle.
Oddly enough, despite the success and tradition of both programs, the teams have only played each other once previously, a 1994 Class 1A semifinal game that Cokeville won 7-6 in Cokeville. …
As for the newbies to championship tradition, Snake River and Hanna, well, they get to play each other for the rights to the six-man championship. Snake River has straight been thumping teams; the Rattlers continued that trend on Saturday by trouncing Kaycee 42-12. Hanna has been surviving by winning close, a trend that continued with Saturday’s 33-32 home win over a tough Ten Sleep team.
Snake River, of course, is a startup program. Last year, the Rattlers were faced with resurrecting a team that had been dead for more than 50 years. As for Hanna, the Miners have played in just one state championship game in the past 50 years, and that was when they won the 1A nine-man championship back in 1989. The two teams have become rivals of proximity in six-man’s short history — they’re both in Carbon County — and Hanna will be looking to reverse the result of a 50-34 loss to the Rattlers earlier this season.
It’s quite interesting that three teams playing in title games next weekend — Buffalo, Thermopolis and Natrona — have one loss, and in each case that one loss came against the the team that they’ll face in the War — Douglas, Big Horn and Sheridan, respectively.
Nevertheless, it promises to be a fun weekend in Laramie. Once again, here is the schedule:
Friday
Class 1A six-man, Snake River vs. Hanna, noon
Class 3A, Buffalo vs. Douglas, 3 p.m.
Saturday
Class 2A, Big Horn vs. Thermopolis, 10 a.m.
Class 1A 11-man, Cokeville vs. Lusk, 1 p.m.
Class 4A, Sheridan vs. Natrona, 4 p.m.
Feel free to start discussing these matchups now. Post a comment below and we’ll chat! I’d love to hear your opinions about the title game matchups, the semifinals or anything about Wyoming high school football.
As for me? Well, I hate to say I told you so, but…
This week: 10-0 (100 percent). This season: 238-52 (82 percent).
–patrick
Will these games be televised?
Doubt it. Haven’t heard anyone planning to do so. Webcasts will also be delayed 24 hours per WHSAA vote in September.
–patrick
I’ll give my input on classes that i know about, in order the games are played.
3A-There is so much hype behind this game. Douglas and their winning streak, the chance for a 3-peat, Buffalo trying to avenge a regular season loss, and the fact that these two teams have been at the top of 3A the past few years. Since Buffalo lost to Douglas in Week 4, Buffalo has outscored opponents 313-67. Needless to say Pat Lynch has this team re-energized. Lets go to the numbers.
Buffalo has the top ranked offense in 3A, along with the top rushing offense, averaging 418 ypg. Douglas is 4th, averaging 360.4. The edge goes to Buffalo.
The defenses match up almost evenly. Douglas and Buffalo are ranked 1 and 2, respectively. Douglas is also toting the best rushing defense, allowing only 25.9 ypg. But Buffalo has the best pass defense, allowing only 73.3 ypg. But, one number sticks out noticeably, the turnover ratio. Buffalo is +16 in this category. Douglas, just +5. Again, edge goes to Buffalo.
Special teams seem pretty even to me. Each team is averaging about the same in the return game, and are holding teams to about the same numbers. Call this one even.
Forget about the regular season, it doesn’t matter anymore. This comes down to one game, for all the marbles. You better believe Pat Lynch and Jay Rhoades will have their teams ready to go.
As for the game, call it 20-14…. Buffalo with the upset.
2A-Again, a re-match of a regular season match up. Big Horn blasted Thermopolis last time, 42-7. Since then, Thermopolis has rolled over opponents 237-86. But, Big Horn hasn’t backed off either, outscoring opponents 229-33. Now to the numbers.
Thermopolis and Big Horn have the two top ranked offenses in 2A, respectively. Thermopolis averaging 452.6, Big Horn 324.2. Thermopolis has the top ranked passing offense, and 2nd ranked rushing offense. The edge, seemingly, goes to Thermopolis.
Big Horn has the 2nd ranked defense in 2A, only allowing 175.8 total ypg. They have the best rush defense, holding teams to only 76.9 ypg. Looking at the turnover ratio, Big Horn is +16, Thermopolis only +2. The edge definitely goes to Big Horn here.
Again, special teams look very evenly matched to me. No team has a definite advantage. Call it even.
A lot can be said about Big Horn killing Thermopolis in Week 5. Remember what happened last year? Thermopolis lost to Glenrock in Week 3, than avenged that loss in the State Championship.
This one won’t be a blowout. Thermopolis will keep it interesting, but Big Horn’s defense will prevail. Call it 28-17 Big Horn.
4A-Yet again another rematch from the regular season. Sheridan and Natrona met at Homer Scott field in late October, and Sheridan pulled the upset, winning 18-17. Both teams have been looking good in the playoffs picking up big wins the past couple of weeks. Sheridan pulled out a win against Kelly Walsh, than manhandled East in the semifinals. Natrona blasted Green River and Gillette, outscoring them 75-10.
Natrona has the 2nd ranked offense in 4A, averaging 413.8 ypg. Sheridan is only 7th, averaging only 282.9 ypg. This Natrona offense has scored 56 touchdowns this year. Sheridan has only scored half as many, at 28. The edge has to go to Natrona.
As far as defense goes, you’re looking at the best two defenses in 4A. Natrona holding opponents to 203, and Sheridan allowing 267.5. Natrona’s defense has a better turnover ratio at +11, Sheridan is only +1. Edge Natrona
Again, special teams look pretty evenly matched. Both teams have the capability of taking one back all the way. So there is no definite advantage here.
The regular season showed how close these two teams are evenly matched. I think this one will come down to a late defensive stand. Call it 24-21 Natrona
Buffalo’s win over Cody was a great game however, I was much more disappointed with Cody then impressed with Buffalo. I expected a lot more out of the Broncs…I didn’t feel like Cody played to their strengths. I was also disappointed with their overall team speed. I am still scratching my head about the choice to go for the win rather then send it into a second overtime. It just seemed like Cody wasn’t prepared for what Buffalo was going to do. Buffalo looked like the same team that a watch against Douglas way back when.
Sisco,
I hate statistical analysis to predict games and I really hate comparing scores, to many factors play into these comparisons, subbing down, weather, 16 and 17 year old kids etc… This being said here are some stats that maybe useful in your evaluation of these two teams. Douglas held Buffalo’s #1 offense to192 total yards only 88 on the ground, they also forced 3 turnovers and most importantly 7pts. Douglas’ defense has been relentless all season long, usually subbing down for most of the second half against many teams. Douglas’ offense, from the outside looking in has been somewhat disappointing this season considering what they did last year by beating teams by average 40+. However, the weapons exist,and they are more then capable of putting points on the board in a variety of ways. Just because Douglas hasn’t scored 50+ per game or accumulated massive yard totals,keep in mind they are no slouches when it comes to scoring ranked 3rd in 3A scoring at 42 pts per game (Buffalo #1 46 and #2 Cody 43). I wouldn’t wager a guess at all on who will win this game but, I will say it is going to be a war, Between two class programs. CAN’T WAIT!!!