2016 season wrap-up: Points galore, for better or worse, for Wyoming high school football teams

The 2016 season has come to a close, and the latest chapter of Wyoming football history — minus all-state, all-America and Super 25 selections as well as individual season records — has been added to the site.

With that, a few notes worth mentioning about the 2016 season:

Scoring records

This year, scoring records didn’t stand a chance. That was clearest in the final game of the season: The 4A title game between Sheridan (56) and Natrona (28) ended with 84 points, the most ever in an 11-man title game in Wyoming.

Seven programs set records for most points in a season: Farson (699); Kaycee (670); Greybull (501); Burlington (471); Upton-Sundance (451); Pine Bluffs (332); and Cheyenne South (194). Meanwhile, seven programs also set records for the most points averaged per game: Farson (63.55); Kaycee (60.91); Lingle (55.13); Burlington (52.33); Greybull (45.55); Upton-Sundance (41.00); and Riverton (37.11).

As prolific as the offenses were, seeing so many teams set “negative” records for points allowed wasn’t a surprise. In fact, Hulett’s 589 points allowed this season was the most allowed by any team in state history. Other programs setting team “records” for the most points allowed in a season were Rock River (558); Normative Services (547); Ten Sleep (513); Riverside (406); Thermopolis (377); and Natrona (295). And six programs set records for most average points allowed: Rock River (69.75); Normative Services (68.38); Wyoming Indian (67.86); Hulett (65.44); Riverside (50.75); and Thermopolis (47.13).

Four of the seven highest points-allowed averages came in 2016, with Rock River (third at 69.75), Normative Services (fourth at 68.38), Wyoming Indian (fifth at 67.86) and Hulett (seventh at 65.44) making the “top” spots. Wyoming Indian’s 67.86 points allowed per game is the highest total of any 11-man season in state history.

However, two programs set defensive records. Kaycee set program records for fewest points allowed (168) and fewest average points allowed (15.27), while Cheyenne South set a program record for fewest points allowed per game (31.90).

Offensively, both Wyoming Indian and Rock River set program lows in points in a season and average points — Rock River with 119 points and 14.88 per game, Wyoming Indian with 6 points and 0.86 per game.

The 115 points scored combined between Torrington and Riverton in the Trailblazers’ 66-49 victory on Sept. 23 was the most combined points in an 11-man game in Wyoming since 1930 and the fifth-most ever.

Three of the seven highest-scoring playoff games in state history were in 2016; the 103 points scored between Star Valley (61) and Douglas (42) in the 3A semifinals ranks third all-time in 11-man games.

The rest of the scoring records are here.

Coaching

Kaycee coach Lee Kremers has two state titles in his first two years as head coach. That’s a rare feat: He joins Worland’s Lew Kelly (who won state titles his first four years as head coach from 1924-27), Southeast’s Mark Bullington (who won state titles his first three years as Southeast’s head coach from 1999-2001) and Thermopolis’ Chuck Syverson (who won titles his first two years in Thermopolis in 2009-10) as the only coaches in state history to pull off that accomplishment.

Also in that discussion is Star Valley’s McKay Young, who won a state title in his first year as the head coach at Star Valley.

Sheridan’s Don Julian has jumped into Wyoming’s top 10 for victories as a head coach. Julian now ranks seventh with 153 victories in Wyoming. Meanwhile, Natrona’s Steve Harshman ranks fourth with 180 and, of course, Cokeville’s Todd Dayton is atop the list with 304.

Team records

Sheridan extended its state record by winning its 25th state championship. The Broncs were one of three teams to repeat as state champions, as Star Valley and Kaycee also won their second consecutive titles. This comes after zero teams repeated as state champions in 2015.

Pine Bluffs won its first state championship in program history with its 10-7 victory against Tongue River in the 1A 11-man title game. Farson, meanwhile, appeared in its first title game in its 41-30 loss to Kaycee in the six-man championship.

As noted previously on this blog, Kemmerer has now lost 36 games in a row, a state record. Additionally, Kemmerer has lost 17 straight home games; two home losses in the Rangers’ first two home games of 2017 would give Kemmerer that unfortunate record.

Cokeville posted its 29th consecutive winning season and its 31st consecutive non-losing season, extending its state records in both categories.

See all streaks records here.

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If you see any mistakes I’ve made in this update or anything I’ve overlooked, please let me know.

For the record, my 2016 picks finished up like this:

Last week: 3-2 (60 percent). This season: 247-58 (81 percent). 12-year total (has it really been that long?): 2,830-726 (80 percent).

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This week, we’ll get the all-state and Super 25 teams, and final stats — and then any individual season record-breakers — will also be released. We’ll also get the 2017 conference schedules this week; the WHSAA will release those during the statewide scheduling this week in Casper.

The 2017 season promises to be one of change. Thunder Basin High will open in Gillette; defending 2A champion Big Horn moves to 1A 11-man, while Evanston moves to 3A and Lingle becomes playoff-eligible in 1A six-man; schools will regain control of their nonconference scheduling.

I’ll be here for it.

If you like having these records on demand, in a way that was never possible before the site came along… if you like having rich details available for every program in the state, no matter its size or prestige… if you liked seeing the details in this post… and if you like the idea of this site continuing into the 2017 season and beyond…. then sponsor a page.

Thanks for reading all year long. I wouldn’t, and couldn’t, do this without reader support. A special thank you to my page sponsors; you’ve renewed my commitment to the players, coaches and fans in Wyoming, and I appreciate that.

In the meantime: Follow wyoming-football.com on Facebook and Twitter, and don’t forget about wyoming-basketball.com (which you can also follow on Twitter).

–patrick