School: Kemmerer
Nickname: Rangers
Colors: black and red
Stadium: Ranger Stadium
State championships: 1993, 1994, 2005 and 2007
Times worth remembering: Kemmerer has had some good times — most notably a mythical state title in the 1970s and back-to-back titles in the 1990s. But both can’t compare to the sustained success the Rangers enjoyed from 2005-08. Aside from 2006’s 5-4 campaign, the Rangers have gone 11-0, 10-1 and 10-1. The 2005, 2007 and 2008 seasons are Kemmerer’s only seasons in school history where they’ve crept into double-digit win totals.
Times worth forgetting: Even with all its success, Kemmerer has had long dry spells, too, including three losing streaks of at least 20 games apiece. But the struggles of the 1952-55 seasons, in which Kemmerer had three consecutive winless seasons followed up by a 1-7 record in 1955, is one of the roughest stretches on record. Kemmerer’s three closest losses in its 20-game winless streak, encompassing an 0-6 1952 and 0-7 records in 1953 and 1954, were by 18, 19 and 19 points. Things began to improve in 1955, but only an 18-0 victory over the Rock Springs JV saved the Rangers from yet another winless season.
Best team: While the Kemmerer teams of recent years, especially the 2005 and 2007 teams, are among the school’s best, the Rangers’ best squad was probably the 1974 team that went 9-0 and split a mythical state championship with Torrington. The ’74 Rangers outscored their opponents 309-35 and gave up just eight points in their final six games.
Biggest win: Even with home-field advantage in the 1993 semifinals, Kemmerer couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable with its opponent, the Lovell Bulldogs. After all, Lovell had beaten Kemmerer 20-15 on a neutral field just two weeks prior to the semifinals. But the Rangers didn’t flinch and beat the Bulldogs 17-14, paving the way for the first of Kemmerer’s state championships. And in the 1994 season, Kemmerer beat Lovell twice — once in the regular season and then again in the semifinals — to win state again.
Heartbreaker: Kemmerer has suffered a few tough losses along the way, but none was tougher to figure out than the one that happened in the 1996 quarterfinals. The Rangers were their conference champions and had home-field advantage and were pegged as one of the top teams in 2A (Kemmerer’s only loss during the regular season was to Rich County, Utah). The first-round matchup with 1-6 Newcastle looked like a warmup to a potential semifinal against Thermopolis. But the Rangers couldn’t hold onto a 26-13 lead and gave up two late touchdowns. Newcastle advanced with a 27-26 victory — a win that still ranks as one of the greatest playoff upsets in Wyoming’s history.