Week 4 picks

The Midwest Oilers were plenty motivated before last Thursday.

The guarantee of a playoff berth — and the desire for maybe even a playoff win, or even better, a chance to play in a state championship game — was motivation enough for the team with the state’s longest active playoff drought.

The Oilers won their first two games, beating the Natrona freshmen and sophomores 45-33 and Meeteetse 80-24.

Then, last Thursday happened.

Starting quarterback Taylor Weber was seriously injured in a car crash on Interstate 25. His mother, Retha, died in the crash.

Since then, there has been an outpouring of support for the Weber family. The Midwest community rallies when one of its own is in trouble — and that’s been the case this week.

In the Oilers’ 42-29 victory over Kaycee on Tuesday (a game pushed back from Friday because of the crash), the Midwest team saved a spot for Taylor on the bench.

Photo courtesy Cathy VanNorman

The Oilers also broke out special helmet decals to keep Taylor and the Weber family close to their minds.

Photo courtesy Tandi Rinker

But time and football seasons continue. This Friday, the Oilers host Hanna in a game with huge 1A six-man East Conference race implications. A victory moves the Oilers to 2-0 in conference play and sets up a big game with top-ranked Guernsey on Oct. 15. Midwest has a great chance to be undefeated by the time it reaches that game in Week 7.

The Oilers haven’t had a 3-0 start to a season since 1991 — the last time the team made the playoffs. It just so happens that Midwest won the state championship in the 9-man division that season.

Midwest had been playing to erase that drought.

Now they’re playing for more than that — they’re playing for the honor of their teammate and his family.

When the Oilers take the field at 7 p.m. Friday against Hanna, that extra passion will show. And it will continue to show throughout the season.

Playing for your team is one thing; playing for something even bigger than even your team is another.

Unfortunately, death and tragedy have a way of inspiring people. The Oilers would gladly trade their extra motivation to bring their quarterback uninjured and to bring his mother back alive.

But the reality of the situation will inspire the Oilers in their first home game since the accident. I think Midwest wins on Friday — because this team is now bigger than the sum of its parts.

It has to be.

Here are my other picks for this week (oddly enough, all the games are on Friday this week), with the projected winning teams in bold and the projected non-winning teams biding their time to prove me wrong:

Friday
Class 4A
Cheyenne Central at Cheyenne East: Even though the Indians are 4-0 and the Thunderbirds are 0-4, this game will be closer than you think. Just as Gillette. 5 p.m.
Evanston at Laramie: Someone needs this game. Evanston has dropped a pair of rough games after beating Natrona in Week 1; Laramie has lost three in a row by a combined 105-14. I’ll give the nod to the Red Devils. 7 p.m.
Natrona County at Green River: I can’t quite tell whether the Mustangs will come off the Oil Bowl focused or distraught. Either way, though, drawing the Wolves on the road the week after a tough loss is an immense challenge to overcome. 7 p.m.
Rock Springs at Kelly Walsh: No one will be underestimating the Tigers from here on out, but a little post-Oil Bowl hangover might keep the Trojans from winning by more than a touchdown. 7 p.m.
Sheridan at Gillette: It’s hard for me to imagine the Energy Bowl having more hype around it than it did last year — but this year will probably top it. And the game should match the hype. It shapes up as a great game between two of the state’s best programs. 7 p.m.
Class 3A
Cody at Lander: The Broncs are still stinging a bit from last week’s tough loss, but I think that’ll just serve as motivation in the first week of conference play. I still like Lander, and I think the Tigers will keep it close…. 7 p.m.
Douglas at Buffalo: A rematch of last year’s 4A championship is still a critical conference game, even though some of the luster disappeared with Buffalo’s loss last week. It’s a shame this game is the league opener, though…. 7 p.m.
Jackson at Powell: Just in case you haven’t noticed, the Panthers have won three in a row. 6 p.m.
Riverton at Rawlins: A pair of teams with three-game losing streaks meet up in Carbon County — and your guess is as good as mine. Just based on the comparative scores, I think the Wolverines break their streak and add to the Outlaws’. 7 p.m.
Star Valley at Worland: Worland has been steadily improving every week. No reason for me to think that trend will stop now. 7 p.m.
Torrington at Wheatland: Succinctly: Torrington is for real. 7 p.m.
Class 2A
Big Horn at Glenrock: OK, I admit it — Big Horn has really impressed me the last couple weeks. I like what the Rams are doing. But, come on, this is Glenrock at home. The Herd has won 16 straight at the Rock and is 40-6 at home this century. 6 p.m.
Big Piney at Lyman: Lyman took a big step forward last week and got off the scoreboard schneid. If that improvement continues, the Eagles could pull off the upset… but I’ll stick with the “safe” pick here. 4 p.m.
Kemmerer at Wyoming Indian: Last two weeks: Kemmerer 116, Opponents 3. Ouch. 7 p.m.
Lovell at Mountain View: In case you’ve forgotten, Lovell is 3-0 and pretty good. As long as the Bulldogs can keep their focus on the improving Buffalos and not next week’s Buffaloes (Greybull), they have what it takes to go into the Bridger Valley and come away with a victory. 4 p.m.
Newcastle at Wright: I called for the Panthers to break into the win column last week. Didn’t happen. Now I’m thinking that maybe I was just a week off. 7 p.m.
Pinedale at Greybull: Greybull has the same problem as Lovell. If they can focus on the Wranglers and not look ahead to next week’s potential showdown of undefeateds, they’ll win. Otherwise, Pinedale has the talent it takes to make the Buffs pay. 6 p.m.
Thermopolis at Moorcroft: Potential game of the week material right here. Bobcats’ air game vs. Wolves’ ground game. Should be a great one — and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the victory go to either team. As for the pick, well, I went back to the old standby in my moments of indecision — I flipped a coin. 4 p.m.
Tongue River at Burns: I vow, at some point this season, I WILL correctly pick a Burns football game. Maybe this week. Maybe. 6 p.m.
(Random 2A note: If Greybull, Lovell, Kemmerer and Big Piney all win as predicted, the 2A West will have four teams at 3-0 and four teams at 0-3. Weird.)
Class 1A 11-man
Lingle at Lusk: Somewhere along the line, a disciplined defense will slow down the Doggers’ offense. Lusk has that. But if the Doggers win this one, watch out. There might not be a 1A team out there that can stop them if Lusk can’t. 7:30 p.m.
Normative Services at Hulett: The Wolves are in need of something positive, but it doesn’t look good — NSI’s month from you-know-where is coming up, and the Red Devils are ready to take out two weeks of frustration. 2 p.m.
Riverside at Burlington: If you’re looking for a great under-the-radar game, look here. This one has all the makings of a close, tense, exciting game. Call it 14-13ish. 3 p.m.
Rocky Mountain at Wind River: Granted, it’s only Week 4, but playoff implications are dripping all over this one. Both teams are 3-0 and want to keep that momentum rolling. It’s a critical two-week stretch for the Grizzlies, who host Cokeville next week. 6 p.m.
Saratoga at Dubois: It’s been a difficult three weeks for the Panthers and Rams, who have scored 14 points between them. Both teams would love to put a notch in that win column and try to turn the season around before it’s too late. 2 p.m.
Shoshoni at Cokeville: Cokeville 132, three opponents so far this season 6. The Panther Express keeps gaining momentum…. 1 p.m.
Southeast at Pine Bluffs: The Cyclones know how to bounce back — they haven’t lost two consecutive games in the same season since 2002. 7:30 p.m.
Sundance at Upton: The chase for a playoff spot gets immensely tougher for the squad that loses this game. It’s not a must-win, but… well, yeah, it is. 7 p.m.
Class 1A 6-man
Kaycee at Meeteetse: Two games in one week shouldn’t faze the Buckaroos. 2 p.m.
Ten Sleep at Farson: The Pioneers are now the team to beat in the 1A six-man West. Look for them to keep rolling. 3 p.m.
Interclass
Natrona frosh-sophs at Guernsey: Speaking of rolling… do you think the Vikings can reach 100 points in a game this season? Maybe this week. 1 p.m.

Snake River has a bye this week.

So what’cha all think of those picks? Through the uprights? Wide left? Blocked by a 4-foot-11 freshman? Let me know what your picks are by posting your thoughts with a comment below.

–patrick