Maybe the Lander Tigers benefited from being under the radar throughout the offseason.
Maybe the Tigers didn’t mind that all the preseason talk was focused on Douglas and its winning streak, Green River and its drop from Class 4A, Powell and its returning all-staters, Cody and its potential, Buffalo and its tradition.
Maybe the guys in green used their offseason as a chance to improve and prove — improve their game to prove their doubters wrong.
The secret is loose, now, of course, after Lander made the trip to Afton and came away with an impressive 35-16 victory over the homestanding Star Valley Braves — and after the Tigers demolished Wheatland 44-7 in Week 1.
This Lander team is a force; the Tigers could, and probably should, be 4-0 when they take on Douglas in Week 5. And now everyone is aware of just how good the Tigers could be this fall.
Second mad props to another Fremont County squad, Shoshoni, which ended 10 years of futility against Wind River and beat the Cougars 29-20. The last time the Wranglers had beaten the Cougars was 2001 — and between then and about 6 p.m. Thursday night, the Cougars had a 278-18 scoring advantage on the Wranglers in that time span (yes, you read that right). But Shoshoni showed the moxie necessary to shake off that history, even after falling behind 13-0 at halftime. And don’t look now, but the Wranglers, the team that started the season on a 19-game losing streak, is now 2-0.
Third mad props to Big Horn, which made the long trek to Burns but found a way to come out with a 27-22 victory in a seesaw affair. The Rams struggled the past two weeks, which made them easy to overlook in a game where a long trip and a good team were not enough to slow down the defending 2A runners-up. This victory may have just saved the Rams’ season. And with dates with Wright, Glenrock and Wheatland coming the next three weeks, the timing could not be better for the maroon and yellow.
And that’s this week’s mad props. But here are some other gleanings from Week 2’s games:
Gillette stepped up big time in its 30-21 victory over Cheyenne East in an early showdown of undefeated teams. Now, the Camels and Natrona are the only two undefeated teams in 4A. But don’t look ahead to that Week 8 Camels-Mustangs showdown just yet. There’s some parity at the top of 4A, as NC’s 20-13 squeaker over Cheyenne Central on Friday demonstrated. …
Green River and Riverton set the early mark for combined points between 11-man teams in the Wolves’ 54-30 victory over the Wolverines. Both teams proved they can pile up the points. …
Congratulations to Kyhler Cummings, who scored Cheyenne South’s first varsity touchdown. Even in a 62-6 loss (to Sheridan), there is reason for optimism in the Bison camp. …
I’ll just go ahead and say it now: Game of the week next week is Lyman-Lovell. If you’re within a 100-mile radius of Lovell at 7 p.m. Friday, you need to gather your buddies, get in your car and motor on down to the KPR to watch this game. …
Pop quiz: The only team in Wyoming that still hasn’t allowed a point this season? That’s right. Pine Bluffs. …
Congratulations go out to Southeast coach Mark Bullington, who notched his 100th career victory in the Cyclones’ 41-14 victory over Sundance. He is the 22nd coach to accomplish the feat and is only the third active coach in the state to reach the century mark.
As for me? Well, it was a better week this week than last week:
This week: 29-3 (91 percent). This season: 64-17 (79 percent).
–patrick
In the Gr-Riv. game Riv. didn’t play 5 defensive starters and 4 offensive starters the first half so the score is a little deceiving. GR looked good but nothing like Douglas or Buff. last year.
Gr did not have kester, bloom went for 299 most in second when your missing starters were on field. Gr will okay.
GR will be more than OK. They have a great quarterback,kicker, running back etc. My only point is how many yards did they give us with our starters. Playing with a large lead achieved with 5 defensive starters out is an advantage. They are a GOOD team but not to be feared like Douglas or Buff last year IMHO!
Heard that Brady Guilde was injured in the Douglas-Cody game. Any word on if he is ok? I hope it was minor.
fun game to watch in Riverton last night!
Last game at Tonkin Stadium next Friday hopefully the the Wolverines can come out on top!
When Green River gets rollin they can straight fill up the scoreboard!
Why the lack of starters for Riverton? Suspensions? Injuries? Food poisoning?
Have not heard about Gulde and his injury. Can anyone fill that one in for us?
–patrick
Something pretty mild like some pranks around town is what I heard.
4 starters were seen Ding Dong Ditching at a local residence. Hope Gulde is OK and just has a minor injury .
The 5th starter has a severe case of the flu and missed all week of school. Hopefully he gets well and can play against Cody.
Got to looking at the schedule for next week and it’s a huge week for 2A. Lyman-Lovell, Greybull-Thermopolis and Glenrock-Wheatland are huge games for that classification. Should be a fun week there.
Also intrigued by Lusk-Southeast and Burlington-Shoshoni in 1A and by Hulett-Kaycee in six-man.
Thoughts?
–patrick
Why didn’t Kester play against Riverton?
Skipping school of all things
CORRECTION allegedly skipped school. GR will have a great year if the players will remember that they are a TEAM!!
What those fans of 3A who are still under the delusion that Green River belongs in that classification don’t realize is that the Wolves are in a down year for talent. They just lost two extraordinary classes of talent and suffered a rebuilding year. Green River proved week 1 that it can walk all over the field against the top ranked team even when the kinks aren’t worked out. You’re right, Riverton, the score was deceptive: Riverton never had a chance. 30 points sounds nice, but in reality Green River dominated the game from the get-go. One thing is for sure: there is not a defense in 3A that can stop that offense, period.
I am just confused at why people thought it was a good idea to make South jump into 4A and shove Green River down a class. South has heart to stand in there and keep taking 60+ point beatings week in and week out. Props to them. Green River is playing sloppily, making games look closer than they really are, but they are a 4A team in a 3A classification. Douglas, Buffalo, Powell, Cody; they’re good, no doubt, but it’s just a different level of football. It’s going to be a good race to see who can play GR in Laramie in November, though.
ildpr, Green River was moving down with or without South’s help this year. Riverton bypassed Green River in ADM enrollment figures this year, and even if South had not entered into 4A this year, Riverton would have replaced Green River in 4A this fall. With South coming in, Riverton was able to stay in 3A.
Reclassification is always based on enrollment and never on talent. Reclassification is also based on a two-year cycle. Next year, South’s ADM is about 1,087 students — larger than Laramie, Sheridan and Evanston. It was either put South in a classification they don’t belong in this year or one they don’t belong in next year. Putting the Bison in 3A in 2011 and 4A in 2012 would have called for some MAJOR restructuring.
Anyway, all that is moot to Green River because the Wolves were moving down anyway, with or without South’s entry.
–patrick
End of qtr 1 7-6 GR with Riv not playing 5 starters mostly 2 way. 40-30 with 5:47 left in the game. Riv. is ranked 8th. You obviously weren’t at the game or you don’t know total domination. Douglas beats them by 30 last yr hands down!
ildpr said, Wow….your conceit is epic. I would guess that by the end of the season (when it matters) these lolly unworthy 3A teams will have your Wolves figured out.
Patrick, thanks for clearing that up. I was not aware that the classifications were based on a two-year cycle, so the move makes more sense. However, I still think there is a problem with that as a system. What is wrong with having a larger 4A classification, similar to 5A in 2008? Riverton, the 11th team, clearly didn’t belong (no disrespect to them), having won two games in three years, and even those games were to then-4A opponents. This season, Green River would have been in the mix at least in 4A, so why base it on population? Is there some other objective way to determine fair, competitive conferences?
Riverton, I shut my radio off at 27-6 and turned it back on at 54-30. Green River beats Douglas by 30 last yr, hands down. Not that that matters- this season, Green River is a 4A team playing in a 3A league. Riverton is perennially salty, so a 24-pt margin of victory is nothing to sneeze at. 3A Rocks, those teams can figure it out all they want, but they won’t be able to stop it anyway. Green River is the real deal. But who knows? Maybe we’ll see something different against a great Buffalo team next week at Wolves Stadium, but I don’t think so.
Ildpr, You talk about fair? Try being the father of a football player that is on the smallest team in 4A & get beat 45 to 0 by NC in your playoff game. We were 2 & 8 last yr. Why aren’t you saying that Douglas should be moving up to 4A after a very impressive 30-0!!. I bet you’re a Bearcat. I think there are a lot of people that feel the way you do. I think it’s nice to be playing school are size. GR is not unbeatable, but it will take a good team to beat them. I will tell you this, that if you have to play the better teams you will get better. GR has had to claw their way hard in 4A. It has made them a tougher team. I hope the people in 3A can understand there is two side to this reclassification.
By the way, Ask Wheatland if 3A was a fair, competitive conferences!!!
I agree with Wolvesfan on some points. It’s a lot more fun for schools our size to play schools our size. I remember Gillette coming to town with 95 kids to our 35. Now at least we have a fighting chance. GR is a really good team that anyone will have a tough time beating but act like you’ve been there comes to mind. The GR-Douglas comment was more to irritate you after your 1rst post-SORRY
Wolvesfan and Riverton, I think I should draw your attention to 2004 when Green River won the state championship in dominating fashion. The Wolves beat now-3A schools Cody (who moved up for four years and got wrecked) and Star Valley 48-0 and 45-6, respectively. Fair? How about beating East (the largest school in 5A at the time) 44-0? Fair? How about the playoff game against Riverton, then the smallest 5A school, which was Steve Core’s choice for best game in 25 years of G.R. football? That game was as good as any fan of football could ask for, and it was played by the two best and smallest schools in the 5A class. Every team has a bad year (see East 2009 2-7, Natrona 2009 2-8). That doesn’t make it unfair.
I think what you mean to say isn’t that it’s nice to be playing schools your size, but rather it’s nice to be winning all the time. Nobody likes to lose, but it has to happen once in a while. People in Green River should become aware of the fact that this little 4A-team-in-3A honeymoon isn’t going to last, and the Wolves will start playing to the level of their competition.
Finally, as a GRHS alumnus (nope, not a bearcat, but good guess), football season without playing Evanston and Rock Springs is just so empty.
I meant to say I like playing schools our size and if your not from Douglas you’re not winning all the time. Spotting 1500 kids to Gillette and Natrona is one thing in BB where 5 people play is different than football. What 2004 has to do with anything today I dont know. We graduated about 150 kids each of the last to yrs. which probably means we have around 600-650 kids. Why is it wrong to want to play schools in the 500-1000 range? I don’t think anyone in 3a is afraid of us. If the parents of GRHS want their kids playing 4a contact your school board, maybe they could try move up.
I’m pretty sure most of the 3A teams aren’t upset by Green River’s arrival. Unfortunately, Cheyenne South would probably have the same luck playing in 3A maybe beat one of the bottom dewellers . Its just a bad situation, all away around. I don’t want to rain on Green River’s parade but they still have a lot of football to play before they go to Laramie. They have won 2 games one against a team starting 22 new players and one that was missing 5 starters, who I think may be struggling anyways (not sure why). The season really is preparation for playoffs in Wyoming since just about everyone makes it. Green River is a GOOD team but certainly not a great team, and I agree with Riverton in that Green River is not a team to fear like what we saw the last two years in Douglas those teams were flat out scary, not only would they beat you on the scoreboard but you felt lucky if you didn’t get anyway hurt. Hardest hitting teams I have ever seen in! Lastly, I disagree with what ildpr, in the fact that Green River will play to the level of their competition I think they will find that when they play some of these teams a second time it will be much more of a challenge.
I can say as a member of the media the if Green River was in 3A (or at that time 4A) they would have had a winning streak much much much longer than 30. Other than Prosinski 3A didn’t have athletes that could match up with the skill athleticism and size of the 2007, 08, and 09 Green River Wolves. I should say that all of 3A should be counting their blessing that Green River moved down when they did otherwise things wouldn’t just be embarrassing, they’d be dangerous to the physical health of 3A players.
I’m not bias, I just know football. I live in Cheyenne so..
Alumn, i think u might be forgetting about some of those players in 2008 and 2009. All this is apples to oranges, but Douglas did have the Super 25 offensive player of the year in 2008 in Cody Bohlander. 2009 pierre etchemendy was also offensive player of the year for super 25. 3A had some pretty dang good talent
Sounds pretty bias to me…..
Clayton Kirven, John Camino and Kyle Cummings would probably disagree
Green River should be 4A, Green River oust to come up and play Gillette and I’d be very impressed with the athletisicm of their players, that Mark Martinez kid was very good. They actually almost beat Gillette a couple years ago but missed a twenty yard field goal to lose the state title. Gillette only has 65 kids this year, so why the hell can’t G.R play up, Evanston had 40 kids on their roster, and Cheyenne South has no hope of winning a game all season, G.R got it good.
Wow, Camel. You really did miss my comment on this the first time around. Your ramblings make it clear you don’t really understand how school classification works.
Only one school I know of has ever opted up, and that was Cokeville in 1989, because they were being forced to play nine-man and didn’t want to do it. That team went on to win the state championship.
One more time, for those who can’t figure this out for themselves: Classification has NOTHING to do with talent and EVERYTHING to do with enrollment.
–patrick
One note Patrick—When I was in school in Greybull, in 1977, Greybull opted up because of a stud team we had in the 77 football season.Lost to Evanston at Home and did not make the playoffs. We got stuck in class A for several years and got whipped. I can remember my senior year, 80 season, we had 32 players and went to Evanston, who had 90 players. Playing up is stupid, I can tell you that from experience. GR currently has 732 kids in High School, smaller than Riverton. Where the injustice lies is that GR plays 3a football and 4a in other sports. This needs to be fixed, you are either a 3a school or a 4a school, not both. Its my understanding the WHSAA is looking at this issue very closely. Also,some day Patrick I will give you some details on what really happened to South. There is more to that story, but this is not the venue to explain that. Its Hall of Fame week in Green River, so the Friday night tilt with the Bison should be fun. Good luck to all the teams.