Our look at predictions for each classification of Wyoming high school football turns today to Class 1A 11-man. See a brief introduction to how these picks are made.
THE PICKS
East: Southeast, Lusk, Upton-Sundance, Lingle, Pine Bluffs. West: Cokeville, Rocky Mountain, Riverside, Shoshoni, Burlington, Wind River.
THE TEAMS
Southeast
Pick: First in East
Confidence Index: 55 percent
My gut says: Either Lusk or Southeast will win the East this year. The game between the two of them is in Yoder. Hence me picking the Cyclones.
Lusk
Pick: Second in East
Confidence Index: 55 percent
My gut says: The Tigers won’t finish any lower than second. They’ll have to beat Southeast in Yoder, though, to earn the top seed – a tough task.
Upton-Sundance
Pick: Third in East
Confidence Index: 90 percent
My gut says: This may be the easiest pick of the season. The Patriots are solid and deep, but they probably don’t have enough to keep up with Southeast or Lusk. Yet.
Lingle
Pick: Fourth in East
Confidence Index: 45 percent
My gut says: The Doggers are consistently a tough team to beat. All it will take for them to move up is for one team to overlook them.
Pine Bluffs
Pick: Fifth in East
Confidence Index: 60 percent
My gut says: I feel like the Hornets deserve respect this fall, but every time I look at the conference, they end up here. Sorry, Pine.
Cokeville
Pick: First in West
Confidence Index: 100 percent
My gut says: When the stampede is coming, you get the heck out of the way.
Rocky Mountain
Pick: Second in West
Confidence Index: 35 percent
My gut says: Places 2-6 in the West are a mess. But I think the Grizzlies have the slightest of edges to take that second spot and host in the first round.
Riverside
Pick: Third in West
Confidence Index: 30 percent
My gut says: I’ve got the Rebels awfully high this season, especially considering that the squad has had turnover in both the playing and coaching ranks. But I like the talent up in Basin.
Shoshoni
Pick: Fourth in West
Confidence Index: 10 percent
My gut says: Shoshoni should be higher than this. Like I said, places 2-6 are a mess. I wish I could just say “tie” and move on. But I can’t, because you expect more of me than that. So I put Shoshoni here, knowing they’ll probably not finish here.
Burlington
Pick: Fifth in West
Confidence Index: 40 percent
My gut says: Of all the teams in the West, Burlington may have lost the most from last year. That doesn’t mean they can’t be a playoff-caliber team, though.
Wind River
Pick: Sixth in West
Confidence Index: 30 percent
My gut says: I had to put someone last. The Cougars could just as easily finish second in the conference as they could sixth. It’s that kind of year in the West. Lots of fun = low predictability.
PLAYOFFS: Quarterfinals, Southeast over Shoshoni, Lusk over Riverside, Rocky Mountain over Upton-Sundance, Cokeville over Lingle. Semifinals, Southeast over Rocky Mountain, Cokeville over Lusk. Championship, Southeast over Cokeville.
The big three still reign supreme in Class 1A 11-man this year, and it will be interesting to see (1) whether Southeast, Lusk or Cokeville wins the state title and (2) if any of the other eight teams in the class can even come close to knocking off one of those three.
Tomorrow: Class 2A.
–patrick
Picks here are great! However, I pick Lusk to win the East and Southeast will have to take the hard road by going to Cokeville for another upset?