This is a preliminary look at the playoff scenarios for each team in the state entering Week 8. Games for Week 8 are listed here.
Saturday update: The 1A six-man East scenarios are updated to reflect Saturday’s results.
Class 4A
Natrona: In. No. 1 seed.
Gillette: In. No. 2 seed with victory. No. 3 seed with loss and Cheyenne South victory. Tie for 2-3-4 seeds (coin flip to break) with loss and Sheridan victory.
Sheridan: In. Tie for 2-3-4 seeds (coin flip to break) with victory and Cheyenne East victory. No. 3 seed Gillette victory, regardless of victory or loss. No. 4 seed with loss and Cheyenne East victory.
Cheyenne East: In. No. 2 seed with victory and Cheyenne South victory. Tie for 2-3-4 seeds (coin flip to break) with victory and Sheridan victory. No. 4 seed with loss.
Cheyenne Central, Cheyenne South, Evanston, Kelly Walsh, Laramie, Rock Springs: A lot of possibilities. They’re outlined here, to the best of my knowledge:
| Sheridan beats South | CC | KW | Lar | Eva | CS | RS |
| Eva W, Lar W, NC W (Note 1, scenario 1) | 6 | 5 | 7 | 8 | out | out |
| Eva W, Lar W, NC W (Note 1, scenario 2) | 4-way | 4-way | 4-way | 4-way | out | out |
| Eva W, Lar W, RS W | 4-way | 4-way | 4-way | 4-way | out | out |
| Eva W, KW W, NC W | 7 | 5 | out | 6 | 8 | out |
| Eva W, KW W, RS W | 7 | 5 | out | 6 | out | 8 |
| CC W, Lar W, NC W | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | out | out |
| CC W, Lar W, RS W | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | out | out |
| CC W, KW W, NC W | 5 | 6 | 8 | out | 7 | out |
| CC W, KW W, RS W | 5 | 6 | 8 | out | 7 | out |
| South beats Sheridan (Note 2) | ||||||
| Eva W, Lar W (Note 3) | 5-way | 5-way | 5-way | 5-way | 5-way (5 seed) | out |
| Eva W, KW W | 8 | 5 | out | 6 | 7 | out |
| CC W, Lar W | 5 | 8 | 7 | out | 6 | out |
| CC W, KW W | 5 | 6 | 8 | out | 7 | out |
Note 1: In the scenario where Sheridan, Evanston and Laramie all win, then Central, Kelly Walsh, Laramie and Evanston will all be tied with 3-6 records for the final four playoff spots. I’m not sure how that tie would be broken. In the first scenario listed above, KW and Evanston get credit for their victories over the highest-ranking non-tied team, which in this situation would be Cheyenne South… then KW gets the 5 seed for its victory against Evanston. Then it reverts to the three-way tiebreaking procedures from there. In the second scenario listed above, KW and Evanston don’t get credit for beating South (because more than one team beat the highest-ranking non-tied team), which would lead to a four-team playoff for the final four spots.
Note 2: In all situations where South beats Sheridan, the Rock Springs-Natrona game is meaningless for playoff seeding, and Rock Springs is eliminated.
Note 3: If South, Evanston and Laramie all win, then Evanston, Laramie, Kelly Walsh, Cheyenne Central and Cheyenne South will be in a five-way tie for the final four playoff spots. The WHSAA does not have guidelines for breaking a five-team tie. However, using the criteria used in four-team tiebreakers of giving the team with the victory over the highest-ranking non-tied team the top seed, South would get the No. 5 seed for beating Sheridan. Then that leaves Evanston, Kelly Walsh, Cheyenne Central and Laramie tied for three playoff spots… and See Note 1.
Class 3A East
Douglas: In. No. 1 seed.
Riverton: In. No. 2 seed.
Torrington: In. No. 3 seed with victory. No. 4 seed with loss.
Rawlins: In. No. 3 seed with victory. No. 4 seed with loss.
Buffalo, Lander: Out.
Class 3A West
Cody: In. No. 1 seed with victory. Tie for 1-2-3 seeds (coin flip to break) with loss and Jackson victory. No. 2 seed with loss and Star Valley victory.
Powell: In. No. 1 seed with victory and Star Valley victory. Tie for 1-2-3 seeds (coin flip to break) with victory and Jackson victory. No. 3 seed with loss and Jackson victory. Tie for 2-3-4 seeds (coin flip to break) with loss and Star Valley victory.
Jackson: In. Tie for 1-2-3 seeds (coin flip to break) with victory and Powell victory. No. 2 seed with victory and Cody victory. Tie for 2-3-4 seeds (coin flip to break) with loss and Cody victory. No. 4 seed with loss and Powell victory.
Star Valley: In. Tie for 2-3-4 seeds (coin flip to break) with victory and Cody victory. No. 3 seed with victory and Powell victory. No. 4 seed with loss.
Green River, Worland: Out.
Class 2A East
Big Horn: In. No. 1 seed with victory. No. 2 seed with loss and Thermopolis victory. Tie for 1-2-3 seeds (coin flip to break) with loss and Newcastle victory.
Newcastle: In. Tie for 1-2-3 seeds (coin flip to break) with victory and Wheatland victory. No. 2 seed with victory and Big Horn victory. Tie for 2-3-4 seeds (coin flip to break) with loss and Thermopolis victory. No. 4 seed with loss and Wheatland victory.
Wheatland: In. No. 1 seed with victory and Thermopolis victory. Tie for 1-2-3 seeds (coin flip to break) with victory and Newcastle victory. Tie for 2-3-4 seeds (coin flip to break) with loss and Thermopolis victory. No. 3 seed with loss and Newcastle victory.
Thermopolis: In. Tie for 2-3-4 seeds (coin flip to break) with victory and Big Horn victory. No. 3 seed with victory and Wheatland victory. No. 4 seed with loss.
Burns, Glenrock, Wright: Out.
Class 2A West
Mountain View: In. No. 1 seed with victory. No. 2 seed with loss.
Lyman: In. No. 1 seed with victory. No. 2 seed with loss and Greybull victory. No. 3 seed with loss and Lovell victory.
Greybull: In. No. 3 seed with victory. No. 4 seed with loss.
Lovell: Neither in nor out. No. 2 seed with victory and Mountain View victory. No. 3 seed with victory and Lyman victory. No. 4 seed with loss and Pinedale victory. Out with loss and Big Piney victory.
Big Piney: Neither in nor out. No. 4 seed with victory and Greybull victory. Out with loss or Lovell victory.
Kemmerer, Pinedale: Out.
Class 1A 11-man East
Lusk: In. No. 1 seed.
Lingle: In. No. 2 seed.
Moorcroft, Southeast, Tongue River, Upton-Sundance: A lot of possibilities. They’re outlined here:
| Lingle beats Moorcroft | SE | TR | US | Mor |
| US W, TR W | out | 4 | 3 | out |
| US W, PB W | out | 4 | 3 | out |
| SE W, TR W | 4 | 3 | out | out |
| SE W, PB W | 3 | 4 | out | out |
| Moorcroft beats Lingle | ||||
| US W, TR W | out | out | 4 | 3 |
| US W, PB W | out | out | 4 | 3 |
| SE W, TR W | 4 | 3 | out | out |
| SE W, PB W | 3 | out | out | 4 |
Pine Bluffs: Out.
Class 1A 11-man West
Cokeville: In. No. 1 seed.
Rocky Mountain: In. No. 2 seed.
Burlington, Riverside, Shoshoni, Wind River: A lot of possibilities. They’re outlined here:
| Wind River beats Cokeville | Sho | Rsd | Brl | WR |
| Brl W, Rsd W | out | 4 | out | 3 |
| Brl W, Sho W | 3 | out | out | 4 |
| RM W, Rsd W | 4 | 3 | out | out |
| RM W, Sho W | 3 | out | out | 4 |
| Cokeville beats Wind River | ||||
| Brl W, Rsd W | out | 4 | 3 | out |
| Brl W, Sho W | 3 | out | 4 | out |
| RM W, Rsd W | 4 | 3 | out | out |
| RM W, Sho W | 3 | triangular | triangular | triangular |
Saratoga, Wyoming Indian: Out.
Class 1A six-man East
Guernsey-Sunrise: In. No. 1 seed.
Kaycee: In. No. 2 seed with victory. No. 3 seed with loss.
Hanna: In. No. 2 seed with victory. No. 3 seed with loss.
Midwest: Neither in nor out. No. 4 seed with victory. Tie for 4 seed (triangular playoff to break) with loss and Hulett victory. Out with loss and Rock River victory.
NSI: Neither in nor out. No. 4 seed with victory and Rock River victory. Tie for 4 seed (triangular playoff to break) with victory and Hulett victory. Out with loss.
Hulett: Neither in nor out. Out with loss or Midwest victory. Tie for 4 seed (triangular playoff to break) with victory and NSI victory.
Rock River: Out.
Class 1A six-man West
Dubois: In. No. 1 seed with Snake River victory. No. 2 seed with Farson victory.
Farson: In. No. 1 seed with victory. No. 4 seed with loss.
Snake River: In. No. 2 seed with victory. No. 3 seed with loss.
Meeteetse: In. No. 3 seed with Snake River victory. No. 4 seed with Farson victory.
St. Stephens, Ten Sleep: Out.
–patrick
Patrick, One question in the 1A East…If Moorcroft beats Lingle and TR beats Pine Bluffs, how does that put TR out of the play-offs when they will have the same conference record as Moorcroft and have them beat head-to-head?
Eagle Fan: Simply looking at the Moorcroft-Lingle and TR-Pine games doesn’t give you the complete picture. You have to account for the US-Southeast game.
If TR, Moorcroft and US all win, they’ll all be 3-3 in conference. They’re head-to-head is equal, so the tiebreaker goes to the team with a victory against the highest-ranked non-tied team. In that case, Moorcroft has a victory against Lingle, so Moorcroft would be 3. Then it goes to head-to-head, and US beat Tongue River head to head, so US is 4 and TR is out.
If TR, Moorcroft and Southeast win, again, they’ll all be 3-3. TR wins that tiebreaker due to head-to-head victories against both of them and will be 3, and Southeast beat Moorcroft head-to-head, so it will be 4 and Moorcroft out.
In short, there’s not a scenario in the 1A East where, if Moorcroft wins and Tongue River wins, they’ll be tied alone. US or Southeast will also be tied with them in that scenario every time. It’s always a three-way tiebreaker you’re looking at if both Moorcroft and TR both win.
–patrick