School: Thermopolis
Nickname: Bobcats
Colors: purple and yellow
Stadium: Bobcat Field
State championships: 1990, 1991 and 1992
Times worth remembering: Three years, three championships. It’s hard to do much better than the Bobcats did from 1990-92. Those three years, Thermopolis won the 2A title and had unbeaten seasons in 1990 (11-0) and ’92 (9-0) and finished 27-3 combined for all three seasons. Thermop outscored its foes by an average of 34-9 for the three seasons and notched 10 victories by shutout — and won all three championship games on its home field.
Times worth forgetting: The years leading up to the three-peat were anything but pleasant. From 1982-89, Thermopolis went 9-55. Of the losses, 18 were by shutout. The bottom came in an 0-9 1986 season in which the Bobcats were competitive but consistently on the wrong side of close games — including losses of 14-8 and 17-14.
Best team: What made the 1992 Thermopolis team unique was not only its undefeated 9-0 record, but how it won. The Bobcats were a dominating team; aside from a 28-26 win over Mountain View in the Bridger Valley, no other teams came close to touching the Bobcats in the regular season or the postseason. Thermopolis, led by 2A player of the year Colte Russell, won its games by an average score of 40-8 and held its final seven opponents to a total of 26 points.
Biggest win: Drama dripped from Thermopolis’ 21-20 overtime victory over Lovell in 1990 in the 2A championship, a game Bobcats actually never led the game until its final play and Richie Mitchell’s extra point in overtime. Rick McKinney scored both Bobcat touchdowns in regulation and Corey Wahler added the TD that led to the winning point in overtime, securing Thermopolis’ first state championship and providing the impetus for an early 1990s dynasty.
Heartbreaker: After losing in the semifinals in 1993 to end their championship run, the Bobcats appeared headed for another state championship in ’94. They came into the championship game ranked first in 2A at 9-0 and had the right to host the title contest again, this time against Kemmerer. However, Thermopolis’ offense couldn’t muster any consistent offensive threats, and Kemmerer took advantage of turnovers to post a 16-6 victory. It was the Bobcats’ best chance to win another championship; the team also lost title games in 1996 and 1997 and hasn’t returned to a title game since.