Championship Humble Pie: Quality, not quantity

Quality, not quantity, has often been Cokeville’s calling card.

Only 18 players in uniform? No problem — if those 18 are quality 18.

Only two pass completions in a game? No problem — if those two completions are important.

Seven years without a championship? No problem — because, now, that’s where the streak stops.

And for the Panthers, their 18th state football championship was proof that it’s truly quality that counts.

With more players on the field than on the bench, the Panthers ran over, around and through the Lusk Tigers. Maybe even more critically, the Panthers stopped the Tigers from doing the same to them.

The effort on both offense and defense was exactly what Cokeville needed to break its long championship drought. Well, long for Cokeville. The Panthers had won 17 championships since 1978, but the Panthers had not hoisted the championship trophy since 2003 — an eternity in Cokeville. “Too long,” according to Cokeville coach Todd Dayton.

The mix of consistent offense and overpowering defense was too much for Lusk. It was too much for all of the Panthers’ opponents this season, actually.

The reward is a championship “too long” in the making.

Second mad props to Thermopolis, which blasted any memories of their regular-season meeting with Big Horn — a 42-7 loss — by beating the Rams 13-9 in the Laramie rematch. It’s the Bobcats’ second consecutive championship, and it came courtesy of just enough offense and a whole lot of defense.

The Rams kept threatening to break the game open, but instead had to settle for three Colby Wollenman field goals. But while the field goals gave the Rams the lead, they alone were not enough to keep that lead secure. And Thermopolis took advantage of the crack in the door and on their last drive, a 16-play, 75-yard drive that took almost six minutes to complete.

The difference is that Thermopolis completed the drive. Big Horn couldn’t do that all day long. Thermopolis only did twice, but that was enough to earn another championship trophy.

As for the other three teams to earn state championships this weekend in Laramie — Douglas, Natrona and Snake River — they all demonstrated exactly why their programs were the ones that each team in their respective classifications were trying to emulate all fall.

Douglas won its 31st consecutive game and third consecutive state title by rallying from an early 14-0 deficit to beat rival Buffalo 26-14. The Bearcats were calm and efficient even after falling behind early, and the defense put the clamps down hard on the Bison offense after giving up the two quick scores early. Field position came up big for the Bearcats’ two third-quarter scores, and from there the Bearcats just did what they had to do, what they always do, what is becoming tradition in Converse County.

Natrona capped the weekend of games by breaking open a tight game with Sheridan, scoring the game’s final 20 points in a 34-14 victory. What stuck out to me most in this game was Natrona’s third score, the one that broke the 14-14 tie. The Broncs had just made a long drive down the field and capped it with a touchdown. Then, on the first play from scrimmage on the Mustangs’ subsequent drive, Cole Montgomery found a seam in the pass defense, hauled in a pass from Jimmy Shellenberger and raced almost 70 yards. You could just see Sheridan sag after that; they had done all that work to get into a tie game, and then in one play the orange wave destroyed all that work. The game from that point on was all Mustangs.

And let’s not forget Snake River. The Rattlers capped an undefeated season by bowling over county rival Hanna 67-12 with surprising efficiency. After poking and prodding the Miners for the game’s first 10 minutes, the Rattlers exploded in the second and third quarters, scoring 49 points in those 20 minutes. Even in the world of six-man football, that sort of explosion just is not what you expect to see in a championship game. Hanna definitely didn’t expect it…. especially since the first game between these two teams was only decided by 16 points (50-34). The title game was different, though, and because of that efficiency, the Rattlers wrapped up their first state football championship in just the second year of the program’s resurrection.

So what were your favorite moments of the weekend? Or of this season? Post some of your thoughts below as we put the cap on the 2010 season.

This week: 3-2 (60 percent). This season: 241-54 (82 percent — my best in six years!). Six-year total: 1,342-398 (77 percent)

–patrick