Five minute introduction: Dubois

Today begins the unveiling of my “super-secret project.” By now, I’ve pretty much committed myself to writing a book about Wyoming high school football history, and part of that book will be brief overviews of every program in the state — their highs and lows, their best games and heartbreaking losses.

I’ll post a new bio every Tuesday. Feel free to critique, agree, disagree, suggest other options or bring up your own favorite memories. I’d love to hear what your favorite memories are from your favorite teams!

Teams will be posted in more or less random order. That said, Dubois — for no real reason at all — kicks off this project… Enjoy.

School: Dubois
Nickname: Rams
Colors: blue and yellow
Stadium: Rams Stadium
State championships: None
Times worth remembering: The mid-to-late 1980s were a good time in Dubois. From 1984-90, the Rams only had one losing season and made their only appearance in a state championship game, 1990’s 35-20 loss to Lingle in the 1A-9 man championship.
Times worth forgetting: From 1975-83, the Rams had just one winning season, a 5-2 season in 1978. Four times in that span the Rams won just one game, and had winless seasons in both 1975 and 1980. The 1975 squad couldn’t finish its season, forfeiting its final two games.
Best team: The 1984 Dubois team had the most consistency, reeling off seven straight victories before a loss to Shoshoni in the season finale, a loss that kept the Rams out of the playoffs. Seven players from that squad made the all-state team — first-teamers Allen Politte and Kal Jepson were joined by five second-team selections. Only Mountain View had more all-staters in Class 2A that year.
Biggest win: There aren’t a lot of postseason successes for Dubois — in program history, the Rams have only won playoff games three times. Even so, 1990’s 20-6 semifinal victory over Midwest gave Dubois its only trip to a championship game.
Heartbreaker: Three games stand out in Dubois’ list of near-misses: a 20-0 loss to Shoshoni in the 1984 season finale, a 26-24 loss to Meeteetse toward the end of the 1988 season and a 23-21 loss to Hulett in the semifinals of the 1992 9-man playoffs. The losses in 1984 and 1988 kept the Rams from making the playoffs, but the 1992 loss probably cost Dubois a championship. The Rams won the West Conference title in 1992 and the loss to Hulett was an upset in every stretch of the imagination. Dubois was denied a chance to play Burlington — a team the Rams beat 21-14 earlier in the season — in the 9-man title game. Burlington subsequently beat Hulett 46-8 in the title game for its first state championship; Dubois is still searching for its first title-game win.