Sure, anyone can win at home.
But to go on the road? With the distractions of the bus trip, the unfamiliar locker rooms, the new fields, the hyped-up home teams?
Winning on the road takes some real gusto.
And several Wyoming high school football teams have put together impressive road winning streaks.
The all-time best goes to Rocky Mountain, which went 25 consecutive road games from 1994 to 2000 without a loss. That streak helped the Grizzlies win three state championships (1995, 1997, 1998) and 46 consecutive regular-season games.
The streak came to an end on Sept. 8, 2000, when Rocky lost to regional rival Lovell 12-0 on the Bulldogs’ home field.
Only one other school has put together a road winning streak of longer than 17 games. That’s Cokeville, which won 20 straight on the road from 1987-92.
The Grizzlies’ record appears safe for now, as the longest active road winning streak belongs to two-time defending six-man champion Snake River, which has won eight consecutive games on the road, not counting two neutral-site victories the past two years in the state championship games at War Memorial Stadium.
Here is a short rundown of the state’s longest all-time and current road winning streaks:
Longest road winning streaks
All-time
Rocky Mountain, 25 games, 1994-2000
Cokeville, 20 games, 1987-92 (one neutral site victory not counted)
Byron, 17 games, 1945-52 (one victory of unknown location not counted)
Laramie, 17 games, 1959-62
Several teams tied at 15 games
Current
Snake River, 8 games, since 2010 (two neutral site victories not counted)
Lovell, 6 games, since 2010
Longest road non-losing streaks (includes ties)
Worland, 18-0-1 (19 games), 1953-56
Byron, 17-0-1 (18 games), 1965-69
Worland, 15-0-1 (16 games), 1924-28 (one neutral site victory not counted)
Coming tomorrow: The longest road losing streaks.
–patrick