From 1962 to 1967 in all classes, and from 1962 to 1974 in Classes A and B-C, postseason football was shut down in Wyoming. No playoffs, no state championship games, nothing. Only an unsatisfying mythical championship that, in the end, was just opinion. The next several days, wyoming-football.com is taking a look at the title games and playoff brackets we missed out on in the “dead era” of the 1960s and 1970s.
Today, we examine the year 1972.
Class A: Torrington (7-1) vs. Star Valley (8-1-1). Two teams with early stumbles would meet for the title. The Trailblazers’ only loss came on the road at Buffalo in a 13-8 shocker, but Torrington rebounded to win the east, while Star Valley tied Kemmerer and lost to Green River but won the West after beating both in the Southwest round-robin schedule.
Class B East: Tongue River (8-1) vs. Glenrock (9-0) OR St. Mary’s (10-0). In a weird quirk in the Southeast schedule, Glenrock and St. Mary’s did not play each other in the regular season. Glenrock gave up just 12 points all season, while St. Mary’s, which was in its first year as a Class B school after transitioning from Class A, beat Class A schools Wheatland and Lusk on its way to perfection. (FWIW, St. Mary’s beat Glenrock 18-6 in the 1973 season opener.) In the Northeast, Tongue River again dominated, with its only loss to the Billings Senior JV in the final week of the season.
Class B West: Basin (9-0) vs. Pinedale (8-1) OR Cokeville (8-1). Pinedale and Cokeville shared the Southwest title after splitting their two games in the regular season, Pinedale winning 6-0 in Pinedale and Cokeville winning 10-6 in Cokeville. Basin was battle-tested, having eked out tight victories against Dubois, Byron and Cowley to win a competitive Northwest.
–patrick
These are great Patrick,
In Star Valley we talk about the unbeaten teams the program had in the ’60s under Lew Monsen, but we don’t talk nearly enough about some of the teams in Jerry Hart’s early years like this one. For any stat nerds like me who might like it, the Braves had a nice backfield that year, with two guys carrying the majority of the load. DonLee Jackson carried for 552 yards and Lane Turner had 425 yards. Turner also had the longest (that I’ve been able to find) punt return in Star Valley history that season, a 98-yarder returned for a score.
Maybe some Blazer fan(s) can give us some insight on their ’72 team.
Thanks Dahl. Star Valley will receive plenty of love this week. 🙂
I took a quick glance at the all-state teams from 1972 and Torrington looked like it had a strong defensive line. One name that jumped out at me was Kelly Sittner. He later played at UW.
–patrick