School: Jackson
Nickname: Broncs
Colors: black and orange
Stadium: William T. McIntosh Stadium
State championships: 1981, 1986 and 2007
Times worth remembering: Jackson won most consistently in the 1980s, a decade in which the Broncs posted only two losing seasons in 10 years. It was also the decade that saw Jackson win two of its three state championships — a 9-0 campaign to win the 1981 title and a 6-4 season that was good enough for the 1986 championship.
Times worth forgetting: Not much of the 1990s was good to the Broncs, but the stretch from 1991-96, when Jackson went 1-7, 3-5, 1-7, 2-6, 1-7 and 0-8, was the toughest of them all. Combined in those five years, the Broncs went 8-40, and at one point failed to break double digits on offense for 12 consecutive games.
Best team: Although the Broncs twice had undefeated state champions (1981 and 2007), the 1982 team might have been the best of Jackson’s bunch. The 1982 team was better both offensively and defensively than the 1981 title team, and all that kept Jackson from a repeat championship was a late-season loss to eventual state champion Star Valley.
Biggest win: Of Jackson’s three championship-game victories, the buzz is still most electric around the 1986 title game, which Jackson won 17-16 on a field goal with 2:01 remaining by current coach Bill Wiley. The Broncs trailed 16-0 early in the third quarter, but Mike Rooks scored a pair of second-half touchdowns and the Jackson defense forced Douglas out of its offensive rhythm just in time to notch the victory.
Heartbreaker: The aforementioned 1982 team had the chance to turn Jackson into a mini-football dynasty, but that one loss — the 20-7 loss to Star Valley, in Jackson, in the second-to-last week of the season — kept the Broncs out of the playoffs altogether. Star Valley went on to beat Wheatland for the state championship; Jackson had to stay home and wonder about the opportunity it missed.