Each Friday for the next few weeks, wyoming-football.com will be checking in on each one of Wyoming’s five football classifications, looking ahead to see what might be coming this fall. Today, we look at Class 2A, the third preview in the series.
Four questions to answer
Who’s the team to beat? That seems to be the question no one can answer in 2A. Is it Lovell? Is it Lyman? Maybe Greybull? How about Wheatland? Or Burns? Maybe Big Horn? Or Thermopolis? The parity at the top of 2A this year seems to be what defines the classification. No team is the clear-cut favorite — and no team is out of it before the first snap.
Will Wheatland’s time in 3A pay off in 2A? Yes and no. The Bulldogs’ first year in Class 2A will certainly be different from its time in 3A, and experience against bigger, stronger and faster teams should help the team excel at the 2A level. But a bunch of the Bulldogs’ players from last year’s Class 3A playoff qualifying team were seniors. With a ton of new faces leading Wheatland this fall, the “dropping down” effect should be washed away by the time the postseason arrives.
What’s up in Lyman? If you watched the South team play in spurts in the Shrine Bowl this year, you got an idea of what the Eagles’ offense might look like this fall. Coach Ted Holmstrom is working with a fast-paced offense for his Eagles this fall, an offense where a 25-second clock is laughed at. It’s an offense that keeps things interesting and piles up points — if it works right. Nevertheless, the Eagles’ record has steadily improved and Lyman may host a playoff game for the first time in seven years if the offense performs at its expected capacity.
Can Thermopolis make it three in a row? There is surprisingly little off-season chatter about Thermopolis, which is weird because it’s the Bobcats who have won the last two Class 2A state championships. Of course, the engineer of those two titles, quarterback Mitch Syverson, is graduated, as well as five other all-state players. Receiver Chris Ryan is the only all-stater back for Thermopolis, but as the team proved last year, it’s silly to count out a team that knows how to win in the postseason.
Four players to watch
Wade Eyre, Lyman. Eyre was an all-state pick for his work at quarterback for the Eagles last year. He completed 74 of his 169 passes for 1,031 yards and had a 9-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio, but as the Eagles’ offensive pace picks up (see above), his numbers may grow.
Earl Hickman, Mountain View. Staying in the Bridger Valley, Hickman appears poised for a breakout year. His rushing numbers were solid last year (137 carries for 799 yards and six TDs), but it’s his abilities as a punt returner that should have other teams scared. On seven punt returns last year, Hickman tallied an astounding 162 yards, leading 2A with 23.1 yards per punt return.
Mitch Weigel, Newcastle. The Dogies’ stock is growing, and Weigel is a reason why. His 190 defensive points led his team last year, and his 21.1 points per game were third in 2A. He was in on 99 — yes, 99 — assisted tackles last year and also had two fumble recoveries and three interceptions. He also played a small role on offense (180 combined rushing and receiving yards), a role that will probably increase this fall.
Austin Frazier, Greybull. Frazier was the underrated star of the Buffs last season. He led Greybull with 11 rushing touchdowns, carrying 75 times for 692 yards, and also led the team in receiving yards (155), punt return yards (139) and kick return yards (332). He was also 31-of-38 on extra points, 3-of-3 on field goals and was second on the Buffs’ squad with 97 defensive points.
Four key games
Greybull at Big Horn, Week 1. Perhaps the most intriguing nonconference game of the season, we will see quickly how the Buffs and the Rams — anticipated to be two of the top teams in 2A this fall — stack up against each other.
Thermopolis at Big Piney, Week 2. Thermopolis’ first West Conference game comes against an always-difficult Puncher team that will be looking for a chance to prove it, too, belongs in the discussion of 2A’s top teams.
Lyman at Lovell, Week 3. It’s too bad this game isn’t a Week 8 game; it may end up being for the West Conference championship.
Wheatland at Burns, Week 6. Wheatland has work to do this fall to maintain its status as de facto conference title favorites. The Broncs, an up-and-coming team in their own right, get the Bulldogs at home late in the season and may earn the conference title if they can find a way to KO the big guys.
Predicted order of finish
East: Burns; Wheatland; Big Horn; Newcastle; Glenrock; Wright; Tongue River; Moorcroft.
West: Lovell; Lyman; Greybull; Thermopolis; Mountain View; Big Piney; Kemmerer; Pinedale.
Trivia
Wheatland’s move to Class 2A is prompting a lot of schedule changes for the Bulldogs, who will play four schools this fall that they have never played before. But Wheatland is familiar with many 2A teams already, including a pair of schools that the Bulldogs have already played more than five times all-time. Today’s trivia: Which current 2A team has Wheatland played more than any other, all-time? Post your guesses below, or tell me your thoughts about the upcoming 2A football season.
–patrick
Glenrock?
Patrick,
I’m guessing Newcastle. How’s the book coming?
Two good guesses…. but it’s Newcastle. Wheatland has played Newcastle 41 times in school history and Glenrock 23. Against the other 13 schools in 2A, Wheatland has played a combined 16 total games. (Thermopolis is next on that list with five games against Wheatland.)
The book is coming along. It is more or less ready to go, minus the 2011 season and some small touching up. It’s always the last 10 percent that is the hardest….
–patrick
Good job with the posts every friday, I like reading about other classes other than 3A that I don’t know too much about. I’m excited to see what you have for them this Friday! A player to definitely watch out for is Bronson Hernandez from Worland, been starting since he was a sophomore, gonna be a stud on defense and a load carrying the ball for the Warriors.
Thanks for the kind words, Sisco. The 3A preview will be out on Friday. I think you might like it. 🙂
–patrick
Should be an interesting season in 2A.
Hey Sisco,
What is your opinion of the Warriors depth this season? It seemed to me last year that injuries and overall numbers hurt the team down the stretch. Do you have any idea what the potential numbers might be for practice this Monday?
Dahl,
The depth of the Warriors is probably going to be one of the hardest things to deal with, as it has been the past couple of years. I remember during practice my senior year (2009) we would barely have enough players for live scrimmages, and would only suit up about 25 players for games. Last year was about the same way, and this year isn’t looking to be any different. Sophomores will be asked to step up and fill some spots that the upperclassmen can’t fill. With a new starting QB it looks like we will be seeing the same power running team we’re used to seeing from them. If they piece together a good enough line, they could maybe surprise people. But, they are going to have to rely on some young kids to come in right away and contribute. How are things in Star Valley? Are Abrams and Hilyard returning this year or did they graduate?
Sisco,
Abrams graduated, as did Taylor Keller who had 44 catches for aboug 690 yards and 7 scores. Jason Lewis comes back, he also had 44 catches an just under 500 yards. Hillyard is likely to be the guy at QB. I don’t know that they will throw it as often as they did last year, Ridge is a little bit faster and more of a threat to run and maybe can’t throw it quite as well as Logan.
Just like Coach Glenn used to say, we have some good potential at some positions, but until they start playing together, in particular the O-line, it’s hard to tell just what will happen. TJ Guild should be our top returning RB and he had 16 catches also. Conner Hoopes should start at our slot position which is pretty much our TE and also on defense.
I like a lot of things that I’m seeing, but the defense has to be much more stingy then they were last year; way too many big plays through the air in particular.
Looking forward to coming up to Worland this year, they always seem to do something great for the troops and stuff like that and I appreciate that kind of thing.
Hope you guys have a good turnout on Monday and the numbers are up
Thanks for the response! I appreciate it
Dahl,
No problem. The same thing goes for Worland, if they get their line going they should be okay. I think they are running a sort of flexbone offense this year, so we will see how that turns out.
If my memory serves me right, it was Abrams and Keller who went off last year in Afton right? That was an insane game to watch. Wasn’t Hilyard the starter two years ago when we played you guys in Worland?
I’m not too sure what is going to happen this year with the benefit games. I know they try to do one every year, whether it be for football or basketball. Last year they had pink games for the basketball teams in support of breast cancer, so maybe they will switch back to the football team this year.