Wyoming prep hoops coaches: The 1950s

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Editor’s note: This post was written by “Stat Rat” Jim Craig, formerly of Lusk and now of Cheyenne, who has provided significant help to the research on Wyoming sports history.

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Even though this writer was born in the early 1950s, it’s tough for me to recall all that much about that particular decade, save for my Davy Crockett coonskin cap and my oft-busted Zorro sword with the chalk tip that made nifty Zs on my mom’s kitchen cupboards, much to her chagrin. (We Baby Boomers were the initial slaves to corporate Disney decades before the rest of you!) But I’ll digress from that nostalgic traipse down memory lane and focus on memories created by Wyoming high school coaches during that decade of Eisenhower and Elvis, while word-processing from underneath my atomic bomb-proof school desk, safe and sound!

First, a chart which will covers games played from December of 1949 to March of 1959:

(The chart data shows that coaching careers lengthened during this decade—compared to the 1940s—and the number of those who coached all ten years of the decade increased from three to five—the three in the chart as well as Harvey Crowe (Sundance and Buffalo) and Vern Jensen (Lyman and Laramie). Nine year coaches increased from one to 10 (those listed below and Tead Weaver –Sundance and Upton). Granted, WWII shortened many careers in the 1940s, but don’t forget the Korean War did likewise for the initial years of the 1950s. An average coaching term was 3.74 years, more than double the 1940s average.)

Top Ten 1950s Coaching Records by Wins
CoachSchool(s)SeasonsWinsWin%Q-FactorMedalChamp
*Okie BlanchardCheyenne Central92040.8131.0000.8894
Mack PeytonRock Springs91870.7221.0000.6671
Jacque SchmiedtHuntley; Wheatland101590.6240.6000.0000
George CollinsThermopolis; Natrona81530.7251.0000.3752
*Carl RollinsSheridan91520.6260.8890.2221
George DorringtonHanna; Campbell Co91510.590.7780.2222
Roger YoutzAlbin; Veteran; Greybull; Worland101470.6390.5000.4002
Reese GaskellSaratoga; Rawlins91370.5710.2220.0000
*Jim WisemanLingle; Torrington91260.5550.6670.1110
Archie JurichJackson91240.5460.4440.2220
*Swede EricksonMidwest; Natrona71220.6130.8570.2861
Richard GruberDayton61180.8370.8330.3330
Jack KingLander71170.6220.7140.0000
Ed RichPine Bluffs91170.5390.3330.1110
Dennis RaganMoorcroft; Albin; Saratoga91170.520.4440.1111
Tony KatanaSuperior; Green River101170.4680.5000.0000
Floyd HartLusk51150.7371.0000.0000
*Keith BloomEvanston; Powell81150.5610.5000.1250
*Wilford MowerByron; Lovell81110.5930.5000.2501
Norval ‘Bud’ JohnsonGlenrock; Evanston81110.4930.6250.0000

Q-Factor=percentage of times qualified for the state tourney
Medal=percentage of times finishing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd
*Wyoming Coaches Association Hall of Fame member

As he did during the 1930s and 1940s, Okie Blanchard is heads and tails above the rest, even when he spots everyone else a year of wins by retiring before the 1958-59 season. Coach Blanchard leads the list in wins and win percentage, medals (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) in all but one state tourney during the time period, takes double the state championships of the runners-up, and qualifies nine out of nine times for the state tourney. The city of Cheyenne honors all sorts of historic events and history makers with bronze statues in and about the downtown area. A street corner should be saved for a statue of Coach Okie, Wyoming’s first great coach.

Two for the Hall of Fame? The Wyoming Coaches Hall of Fame was established in 1984, a quarter century after the 1950s ended and a generation after many of the above finished their stints on the sidelines. Are there any on the list that should be considered, possibly forgotten by time? Certainly Mack Peyton’s record is impressive, and while his numbers don’t quite match Okie’s for this arbitrary time span, they’re still excellent. The 20 years of coaching requirement—80% within Wyoming— keeps Peyton from serious consideration, as sadly he only coached nine years in the state, from what I’ve found. Wheatland’s Jacque Schmiedt is one who just misses the 20 year mark. I have him totaling 19 seasons, 6 in Huntley (where he also founded the Cardinal football program) and 13 seasons in Wheatland. A factor working against Coach Schmiedt was geography— those 13 years as a Bulldog mentor had Wheatland playing against Cheyenne Central (enrollment @300 vs @2500), Laramie and Torrington pre-1962 and against University Prep’s championship program after that date. This limited the Bulldogs’ chances at state tourney qualifying somewhat. However, both coaches have Hall of Fame worthy numbers, in my estimation, and as the chart for the 1950s demonstrates.

Others? George Collins established a nifty record, coaching at Thermopolis and Casper Natrona, notching two championships in seven years with the Bobcats. His Mustang teams were less fortunate, medaling only twice in six years. However, in all his 13 years as a coach, Collins’ teams qualified each year for the state tourney. George Dorrington won state championships with small school Hanna and also larger school Campbell County. The latter win was quite the surprise as the Camels were unranked entering the state AA-A tourney and Gillette wasn’t all that big of a school at the time, with around 260+ students. Dorrington only coached 10 years of hoops in Wyoming, which works against him, somewhat. Roger Youtz coached mainly during the 1950s and stepped away from the sidelines in the 1963-64 season, totaling 16 years in Wyoming, a career that began in 1948-49. His two state championships were with small school Veteran. His teams made the trip to the Gem City for the state tourney eight times. All three coaches fall short of the requisite 20 years, but still should merit some consideration for the Hall of Fames, I believe.

Week 5 picks: Class 4A’s best rivalry delivers on its promises

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With apologies to eight other Class 4A teams, it’s time to state the truth: Class 4A’s best rivalry is the one that has developed between Cheyenne East and Sheridan.

This rivalry is not due to tradition or geography. Instead, this rivalry focuses on success and competitiveness — and how, inevitably, only one of these two teams gets to have the success they want, but both get the competitiveness that makes them better.

Since 2011, the Thunderbirds and the Broncs have met five times in the playoffs, including twice in the past three years. Each time, the winner of that playoff game went on to win the Class 4A championship, a total that includes two times when East and Sheridan played each other in the championship game:

  • 2022 Sheridan over East, championship… Sheridan won state
  • 2020 East over Sheridan, semis… East won state
  • 2016 Sheridan over East, quarters… Sheridan won state
  • 2013 East over Sheridan, semis… East won state
  • 2011 Sheridan over East, championship… Sheridan won state

As for competitiveness? Well, in five meetings in the past three years, East has a 3-2 edge in victories… but the scoring margin between the programs in those five games? East leads, 133-132.

Conversely, both teams have provided the other a boost — whether intended or not.

Sheridan has won 24 consecutive games. The Broncs’ last loss was in 2021 to… Cheyenne East. In fact, both of Sheridan’s most recent losses, and three of its four most recent, have come against East.

Meanwhile, in its past 17 games, East is 15-2. The only two losses were to… Sheridan.

Class 4A’s premiere rivalry is renewed on Friday in Cheyenne. Not coincidentally, East and Sheridan are 4A’s final two undefeated teams, both coming in at 5-0.

If we know anything about this rivalry, we know it’ll be competitive. And it’ll make both teams better. And they just might see each other again with higher stakes at play. And the winner just might end up a champion.

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Some other Week 5 games that are looking good on paper, and we can only hope they’re as good in person:

A Class 4A rivalry, geography style, will happen Friday in Gillette when Thunder Basin heads to Camel Stadium to face Campbell County in what I think only I call the Coal Bowl. (Does anyone else? How do we make this a “thing”?) I say driven by geography because it definitely hasn’t been driven by competitiveness. The Camels are 0-7 all-time against their crosstown rivals, with just one of those games (2019’s 4A quarterfinal game) ending anywhere close to competitive. But the Camels are on a four-game winning streak and Thunder Basin has lost two of three, with two losses that were pretty ugly (52-7 to East and 41-12 to Sheridan). Is this the year the Camels have their moment? If nothing else, it should be significantly more competitive than past Coal Bowls. …

Sometimes, all I want to do is just say “3A West” and walk away, because we all know by now just how dang tough that conference is. This week, it’s 5-0 Powell traveling to Afton to play 4-1 Star Valley that has the classification’s attention. With Cody also at 5-0 overall, the top of the West is too competitive to allow for any missteps. Of these three, Cody may be the most fortunate, getting to play both the Panthers and the Braves at home this year. First, though, this week, and what could be the most competitive game of the week, will be in Afton. …

It’s always worth noting when Riverton plays Lander, even though right now they’re a combined 1-9. That said, Riverton had a breakout game last week in beating Rawlins by four touchdowns. The 42 points Riverton got last week is 20 more than Lander has scored all year. Maybe a rivalry game will get the Tigers’ offense going. …

Only two winless teams remain in Class 2A, Glenrock and Burns. They’ll meet this week, and at least one will jump into the win column — and maybe build a bit of momentum to take into the remainder of the season. …

On the flipside, the only two teams who remain undefeated in 2A West Conference play are Mountain View and Cokeville. Conveniently, they’ll play each other this week in Cokeville. …

It’s a bit early to start projecting playoff pairings, but Burlington’s game against Farson just might be a first-round playoff preview. …

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Hey. Picks in bold. This is how I do it. You might have Montell Jordan or Katy Perry go through your head with that last sentence; personally, I have The Game and 50 Cent.

Thursday
Class 1A nine-man
Wind River at Wyoming Indian
Interclass
Big Piney at Evanston JV
Friday
Class 4A
Cheyenne Central at Cheyenne South
Laramie at Kelly Walsh
Natrona at Rock Springs
Sheridan at Cheyenne East
Thunder Basin at Campbell County
Class 3A
Buffalo at Douglas
Cody at Green River
Jackson at Evanston
Powell at Star Valley
Rawlins at Worland
Riverton at Lander
Class 2A
Big Horn at Wheatland
Glenrock at Burns
Lyman at Kemmerer
Mountain View at Cokeville
Newcastle at Upton-Sundance (at Upton)
Pinedale at Thermopolis
Tongue River at Torrington
Class 1A nine-man
Greybull at Rocky Mountain
Lingle at Moorcroft
Pine Bluffs at Lusk
Saratoga at Wright
Shoshoni at Riverside
Southeast at Guernsey
Class 1A six-man
Dubois at Meeteetse
Kaycee at Encampment
Interstate
Rich County, Utah, at Lovell
Saturday
Class 1A six-man
Burlington at Farson
Hulett vs. Snake River (at Midwest)
Midwest at Hanna
Open: Casper Christian, Ten Sleep.

For a full schedule including kickoff times, click here. You can click on “Week 5” at the top of the page to take you directly to this week’s schedule.

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Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 29-4 (88 percent). This season: 129-25 (84 percent).

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What game am I overlooking in Week 5? Let me know where my attention should be diverted! Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship. 

–patrick

Go Panthers! Go Camels! Wait… which one?

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On eBay right now, you can buy this custom license plate supporting the Powell Panthers.

If you happen to live in eastern Park County, it would be a pretty cool move to have one of these hanging in your office or den.

It’s just that your dollars would be going to Tennessee, not Wyoming.

And that is because Wyoming’s orange-and-black Powell High School Panthers are not the only orange-and-black Powell High School Panthers in America.

In fact, Wyoming’s cats share a name, a mascot and a set of colors with Powell High School in Tennessee.

Powell is one of two Wyoming high schools to share a name, a mascot and a color scheme with another American high school. Campbell County’s Camels have doppelgangers in Alexandria, Kentucky. I mean, come on — none of these shirts would look out of place in Gillette. But your dollars would support the Bluegrass State.

Using MascotDB.com’s search capabilities, I found that Campbell County and Powell are the only two Wyoming high schools to have their name and colors replicated by another high school program somewhere else in America. That said, three others have had their name and mascot repeated — just not their colors.

The United States is a big country. Those kinds of repeats are understandable.

But I still think it would be fun to settle it, once and for all, on the field.

I’d like to see the two Powell teams and the two Campbell County teams on each other’s schedules next year. And, heck, let’s make the stakes high: Winner gets to keep their mascot and colors. Loser has to change at least one of them.

Logistics aside — distance, cost, 4A round-robin schedule, the fact that no one at any of these four schools would actually want to risk giving up their identity on the result of one game — it’s a fun thought. If the visual identity of your entire school or community was on the line, how hard would you play? How hard would you cheer? How many shirts or novelty license plates would you buy? And, wait a minute… isn’t having a twin actually kind of fun?

Regardless, if you ever find yourself in Alexandria, Kentucky, or Powell, Tennessee, keep your eyes peeled. You just might see a little slice of Wyoming.

–patrick

Week 4 picks: Logic takes a break in 2A’s top tier

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Don’t compare scores.

Don’t try to establish trends.

Don’t think, mostly.

Class 2A’s competitive but convoluted top half continues to generate results that are, well, a bit unpredictable.

Take this loop for a drive in your logic-mobile: Lovell beats Big Horn 33-27. Cokeville beats Lovell 33-18. Upton-Sundance beats Cokeville 13-6.

So what happens when Big Horn plays Upton-Sundance? You guessed it. Big Horn beats Upton-Sundance 45-7.

Add Lyman to that loop, as the Eagles, ranked No. 1 in 2A last week, couldn’t handle the trip north and lost to Lovell 20-12.

Only one team in each conference has remained unscathed — Mountain View in the West and Tongue River in the East.

We’ll put the conversation about Tongue River aside for the moment and instead focus our attention to the Bridger Valley, where Mountain View faces… Lyman.

And if you think you know how this game might go, you don’t.

Don’t think.

I mean, it’s easy to take a look at Mountain View’s 4-0 record, its 13 total points allowed (including a shutout last week against Thermopolis), its stable offensive production and think, hey, yep, favorites.

And it’s easy to take a look at Lyman’s inevitable bounce-back from a tough road loss (oddly enough, Lyman’s first road game after three at home), the home-field advantage they’ll get in a rivalry game, the results of the last three Bridger Valley rivalry games — all Lyman victories — and think, hey, yep, favorites.

Don’t think.

The way Class 2A’s top teams are duking it out this year, it’s much more likely this game will end up as yet another game that defies the odds, the senses and the understandings of our physical world. It doesn’t have to make sense. Odds are it probably won’t.

Given 2A’s nature this year, we know the result of this game will be confusing. Until it’s played, though, we just can’t yet know in what ways it will surprise and disorient.

I guess that’s the fun of it all.

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Other things I’m watching this week with heightened levels of interest:

Lusk’s two losses have both come against undefeated teams, 4-0 Big Piney and 3-0 Lingle. This week, the Tigers play 3-0 Southeast. Next week, the Tigers play Pine Bluffs, which is 3-0 entering its game this week against Moorcroft. For as good as Lusk has looked, even in losses, style points don’t get teams into the postseason, so don’t be surprised if Lusk feels that urgency and makes this one in Yoder interesting. …

Speaking of the 1A nine-man East, Wright is probably the most talked-about 0-3 team in the state after coming within a minute and a point of beating what was a top-ranked Pine Bluffs team in a 21-20 loss last week. I’m intrigued to see how the Panthers do against another tough conference foe on the road in Lingle this week. …

Another team that’s probably better than its record is Thermopolis, which has brought along its defense significantly from last season. Despite being 1-2, the Bobcats have proven they will be a tough out for everyone this year, and I’m interested in seeing if their offense finds its groove this week against Rich County, Utah. …

Sheridan at 4-0 and Thunder Basin at 3-1 are both in prime position for home-field advantage through the first two rounds of the playoffs — that is, if they can beat the other one this week. Class 4A has developed a clear gap this year, with five teams at 4-0 or 3-1, five teams at 1-3 or 0-4, and no one in between. This is the only game this week were two of the teams in the higher tier meet. …

This week’s coin-flip game? Rocky Mountain hosting Shoshoni. It makes sense that it’s been hard to get a read on these teams due to all of the graduation losses both teams had, so at least we get this game where they can figure it out themselves. …

Not that anyone’s counting, but Snake River has now won 24 in a row, the longest winning streak in school history and just on the cusp of top-10 in state history, which starts at 26. Casper Christian comes to Baggs this week. …

St. Stephens has canceled, again, leaving its opponent for the week to scramble, again. This time, Riverside picked up a game with Cody’s JV. Looking ahead, at least two more future opponents of the Eagles have picked up other games.

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Picks. Call me a punk, but I’m feeling lucky. So I’ve selected some teams to win, and I’ve put them in bold. I’ll tally it all up after the week is done. Yes, I have a spreadsheet. You don’t? Weirdo.

Thursday
Class 1A nine-man
Big Piney at Wind River
Interclass
Riverside at Cody JV
Friday
Class 4A
Campbell County at Kelly Walsh
Laramie at Cheyenne Central
Natrona at Cheyenne South
Rock Springs at Cheyenne East
Sheridan at Thunder Basin
Class 3A
Douglas at Worland
Evanston at Star Valley
Green River at Powell
Jackson at Cody
Lander at Buffalo
Rawlins at Riverton
Class 2A
Big Horn at Torrington
Burns at Upton-Sundance
Cokeville at Kemmerer
Lovell at Pinedale
Mountain View at Lyman
Tongue River at Newcastle
Wheatland at Glenrock
Class 1A nine-man
Guernsey at Saratoga
Lusk at Southeast
Moorcroft at Pine Bluffs
Wright at Lingle
Wyoming Indian at Greybull
Class 1A six-man
Dubois at Farson
Kaycee at Midwest
Meeteetse at Burlington
Interstate
Thermopolis at Rich County, Utah
Saturday
Class 1A nine-man
Shoshoni at Rocky Mountain
Class 1A six-man
Casper Christian at Snake River
Hanna at Encampment
Hulett at Ten Sleep

For a full schedule including kickoff times, click here. You can click on “Week 4” at the top of the page to take you directly to this week’s schedule.

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Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 29-5 (85 percent). This season: 100-21 (83 percent).

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What sense-defying result do you see coming in Week 4? Remember, it only counts if you predict before the game, so… Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship. 

–patrick

Week 3 picks: Casper Christian prepares for the biggest game in program history (for now)

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Since six-man’s return in 2009, eight new programs have entered Wyoming’s football ranks: Kaycee, Snake River and Farson in 2009, Cheyenne South in 2011, St. Stephens in 2013, Rock River in 2014, Thunder Basin in 2017 and Encampment in 2019.

Varying degrees of success have followed, in two distinct camps.

The happy campers? Kaycee, Snake River and Farson have all won multiple state championships. Thunder Basin and Encampment have yet to finish a season with a losing record.

The blistered, sprained-ankle, sunburnt and/or missing campers? Cheyenne South has one playoff berth, zero playoff victories and a winning percentage under .100. St. Stephens has won five games in 10 years. Rock River no longer fields a football team.

Enter Casper Christian, the state’s newest high school football program and the ninth since 2009 to try to establish fresh gridiron roots in Wyoming.

After a hodgepodge schedule a year ago that included games against a handful of six-man teams and several against Natrona’s sophomores and freshmen, the Mountaineers are now an official, playoff-eligible program that, so far, has shown an affinity for shedding the label of newcomer.

Now 3-0 after a 57-26 victory against Hanna last week in the program’s first conference game, Casper Christian has arguably the biggest game in program history, as short as it is, on Saturday in Casper.

Understanding why requires understanding a little bit about the Class 1A six-man South Conference.

The conference’s top three preseason teams — two-time defending champion Snake River, three-time semifinalist Encampment and two-time semifinalist Dubois — are the teams everyone else is chasing.

That leaves Casper Christian, along with Farson and Hanna, in the position of chasers.

The Mountaineers will have their shot at all of them, with a trip to Baggs to play Snake River next week, a home date with Dubois in Week 6 and a trip to Encampment to end the conference season in Week 7.

But for now, their game with Farson (kickoff at noon Saturday at Natrona) will be Casper Christian’s make-or-break, just as it will be for the Pronghorns, too. Chasing down those top three after a loss to secure any kind of hope of a playoff berth gets a lot harder.

Meanwhile, in the Mountaineer camp, a victory keeps the hope for not only the postseason alive, but the hopes for a bigger opportunity later in the year when the “biggest game in program history” is a memory, replaced by games with far more significance.

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Some other games to watch in Week 3:

As cool as Casper Christian’s quick start has been, the biggest game in Casper is still Friday’s Oil Bowl between Kelly Walsh and Natrona. Both teams enter the game coming off a victory, so it will be interesting to see whose momentum is preserved moving forward. …

Arguably the 3A game of the week pits Douglas and Powell against each other. They are both undefeated, Douglas at 2-0 and Powell at 3-0, and they always seem to have good games against each other. Four of the past six meetings between the Bearcats and Panthers ended with margins of seven points or less, including Douglas’ OT victory in last year’s 3A quarterfinals. …

The “Burton Bowl” is happening this week as coach Jim Burton’s new team, Lander, faces his old team, Evanston. Those scenarios are few and far between, and they’re always interesting to watch unfold. …

If Torrington ends up moving to Class 3A next year, will this be the last Wheatland-Torrington rivalry game that we see for awhile? …

Greybull is off to its first 2-0 start since 2016. All the Buffaloes did that year was go to the 2A title game. So if Greybull can knock off West top threat Big Piney this week, watch out. …

Farson and Casper Christian aren’t the only ones engaged in an important 1A-6 South game, as two of those three aforementioned frontrunners, Encampment and Dubois, will face off Saturday in Dubois. This game is so key, I heard Master Lock is sponsoring it.

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On to this week’s picks. I denote the team I think will win in bold. It’s a fun little game I play. It’s much smaller than the actual games being played.

Thursday
Class 2A
Upton-Sundance at Tongue River
Class 1A nine-man
Rocky Mountain at Wyoming Indian
Interclass
Cheyenne East JV at Shoshoni
Friday
Class 4A
Cheyenne East at Laramie
Cheyenne South at Campbell County
Kelly Walsh at Natrona
Rock Springs at Sheridan
Thunder Basin at Cheyenne Central
Class 3A
Buffalo at Cody
Douglas at Powell
Lander at Evanston
Riverton at Star Valley
Worland at Green River
Class 2A
Cokeville at Pinedale
Glenrock at Big Horn
Lyman at Lovell
Newcastle at Burns
Thermopolis at Mountain View
Torrington at Wheatland
Class 1A nine-man
Lingle at Guernsey
Pine Bluffs at Wright
Saratoga at Lusk
Southeast at Moorcroft
Wind River at Riverside
Class 1A six-man
Ten Sleep at Kaycee
Interstate
Kemmerer at Rich County, Utah
Rawlins at Moffat County, Colo.
South Fremont, Idaho, at Jackson
Saturday
Class 1A nine-man
Greybull at Big Piney
Class 1A six-man
Burlington at Midwest
Encampment at Dubois
Farson at Casper Christian (at Natrona)
Meeteetse at Hulett
Snake River at Hanna
Interclass
St. Stephens at Shoshoni JV

For a full schedule including kickoff times, click here. You can click on “Week 3” at the top of the page to take you directly to this week’s schedule.

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Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 28-6 (82 percent). This season: 71-16 (82 percent).

A quick housekeeping note from last week: Wind River’s varsity actually had the week off. The Cougars’ JV played Natrona’s sophomores, not their varsity. That result has been removed from the site.

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Who’s your surprise team to this point in the season? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship. 

–patrick

Week 2 picks: Conference play creates intriguing matchups in 2A, 1A

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In all, 38 teams start conference play this week. Those games are in Class 2A, Class 1A nine-man and Class 1A six-man, where bigger conferences mean more league games.

Of those 19 games, a few stand out as potential title-deciders.

In particular, the 1A six-man South game between Dubois and Snake River will have big ramifications come playoff time. The South is shaping up as a three-team race between the Rams, Rattlers and Encampment, but Farson will also be a tough out and newcomer Casper Christian — don’t look now — is 2-0. While Dubois/Snake River is the game drawing top billing, Encampment’s game with Farson this week is also crucially important.

In the 2A West, Lovell and Cokeville met in last year’s semifinals and will meet again in the first week of conference play. Both teams played in thrillers last week, Lovell beating defending 2A champion Big Horn in double overtime and Cokeville losing by seven to Upton-Sundance. And while Lovell appears to have that early advantage, Cokeville hasn’t started a season 0-2 since 1987. This one may not decide a title, but for two teams used to winning, a loss will be a rough sting.

And in 1A nine-man, the most intriguing game of the week might be between Lingle and Lusk in Goshen County. Lusk lost last week, yes, but played well enough against a ranked Big Piney squad to keep it respectable. Lingle… well, we can’t learn too much about a team when it wins by 71 against clearly inferior competition. This week will give us a chance to learn a lot about both these teams and their title chances.

In each case, six more weeks of conference matchups await. No titles will be decided this week. But it’s hard to win a conference title if you lose your first conference game of the year, and that makes Week 2 just as critical as any other.

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Up in Class 4A, conference play is already into its third week. Although the schedule wasn’t designed for this to happen, a weird quirk of how things have gone so far makes Week 2 “separation week.” The four teams with 1-1 records (Campbell County, Rock Springs, Cheyenne Central and Natrona) all face one another in a week of potential make-or-break games. A loss here for any one of these four teams sends hopes of a first-round home playoff game into deep trouble. …

Class 4A also gives us what might objectively be called the game of the week with 2-0 Thunder Basin traveling south to play 2-0 Cheyenne East. Thunder Basin has a 105-24 scoring advantage through two weeks, East a 94-19 advantage. Arguably, though, East has had the tougher schedule. Either way, seeing them face each other will help clarify a lot about the top of 4A. …

Three teams start the competitive parts of their schedules in Week 2. Saratoga (against Moorcroft) begins its season after canceling its Week 1 game due to questionable numbers. Meanwhile, Midwest and Ten Sleep meet in a game of teams with 0-0 records. …

St. Stephens will again sit out a week as Wind River, which was scheduled to play the Eagles this week, will play a sub-varsity team from Natrona instead. Oddly enough, Wind River also had to scramble to find a make-up game last week, too, after Saratoga canceled on them. At this point, it’s unclear if St. Stephens’ season will get off the ground at all this year. …

One of last year’s most exciting out-of-state games will see its rematch on Friday when Loveland’s Resurrection Christian comes from Colorado to Buffalo. Last year, the Bison lost 20-14 in overtime, so it’ll be interesting to see how they match up when they’re in Johnson County as opposed to greenie-land. …

Also on the out-of-state list this week is the now-traditional showdown between Star Valley and Sugar-Salem, Idaho. Both programs are their respective state’s defending 3A champ (Sugar-Salem has actually won four titles in five years). Neither team has lost yet this year, either, with the Braves at 2-0 and the Diggers at 3-0. Always a good one. …

Speaking of out-of-state foes, Rich County, Utah, is off to a 3-0 start. The Rebels will play their next seven games against 2A West opponents, and that stretch starts this week with Mountain View. …

It’s been an odd start for Cheyenne South, which has lost games by scores of 56-10 and 69-3. Both games are Wyoming high school football scorigami, meaning it’s the first time those final scores have ever been achieved in a Wyoming high school football game. So far, we’ve had six scorigami games this year: South’s two games (56-10 loss to Thunder Basin and 69-3 loss to Sheridan), Cody 56-2 over Lander, Casper Christian 61-53 over Kaycee, Mitchell, Neb., 55-24 over Wheatland and Snake River 78-28 over Meeteetse. …

This week’s can’t-get-a-read coin-flipper game: Kaycee/Meeteetse. I’m watching this one extra-close, because I literally have no idea which direction to lean. …

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Here are this week’s picks. I put the team I think will win in bold. Somehow, it generates an emotional response. Language is weird.

Thursday
Class 1A nine-man
Moorcroft at Saratoga
Friday
Class 4A
Campbell County at Rock Springs
Cheyenne Central at Natrona
Kelly Walsh at Cheyenne South
Sheridan at Laramie
Thunder Basin at Cheyenne East
Class 3A
Cody at Worland
Green River at Rawlins
Powell at Lander
Riverton at Evanston
Class 2A
Burns at Torrington
Kemmerer at Thermopolis
Lovell at Cokeville
Pinedale at Lyman
Tongue River at Glenrock
Upton-Sundance at Big Horn
Wheatland at Newcastle
Class 1A nine-man
Guernsey at Pine Bluffs
Lusk at Lingle
Riverside at Wyoming Indian
Shoshoni at Greybull
Wright at Southeast
Class 1A six-man
Hulett at Burlington
Kaycee at Meeteetse
Interstate
Gering, Neb., at Douglas
Jackson at Wood River, Idaho
Loveland Resurrection Christian, Colo., at Buffalo
Mountain View at Rich County, Utah
Sugar-Salem, Idaho, at Star Valley
Saturday
Class 1A nine-man
Big Piney at Rocky Mountain
Class 1A six-man
Casper Christian at Hanna
Dubois at Snake River
Farson at Encampment
Midwest at Ten Sleep
Interclass
Natrona JV at Wind River

For a full schedule including kickoff times, click here. You can click on “Week 2” at the top of the page to take you directly to this week’s schedule.

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Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 28-7 (80 percent). This season: 43-10 (81 percent).

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Which game jumps out to you as a potential conference championship game in the making? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship. 

–patrick

Reclassification numbers for 2024-25, 2025-26 released to Wyoming schools

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Enrollment numbers to be used to classify schools for Wyoming high school sports were recently released to schools, giving an indication of which classification schools will be in for sports in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years.

For most sports, Wyoming will use a new system for classifying its schools starting in the fall of 2024. Football will keep its existing structure, but some programs may switch classifications depending on enrollment.

Enrollment figures for the next round of reclassification, as provided by WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson, are as follows:

1. Kelly Walsh, 2,035
2. Natrona, 1,886
3. Cheyenne East, 1,748
4. Rock Springs, 1,548
5. Cheyenne Central, 1,416
6. Campbell County, 1,354
7. Cheyenne South, 1,331
8. Thunder Basin, 1,297
9. Sheridan, 1,140
10. Laramie, 1,127
11. Star Valley, 919
12. Jackson, 916
13. Evanston, 827
14. Green River, 776
15. Riverton, 763
16. Cody, 630
17. Lander, 592
18. Powell, 558
19. Douglas, 510
20. Rawlins, 455
21. Torrington, 356
22. Buffalo, 352
23. Pinedale, 349
24. Worland, 343
25. Wheatland, 263
26. Lovell, 239
27. Mountain View, 238
28. Lyman, 237
29. Newcastle, 234
30. Burns, 224
31. Glenrock, 215
32. Moorcroft, 203
33. Thermopolis, 192
34. Kemmerer, 188
35. Tongue River, 165
36. Big Horn, 147
37. Big Piney, 145
38. Wyoming Indian, 138
39. Greybull, 138
40. Pine Bluffs, 132
41. Shoshoni, 130
42. Sundance, 127
43. Rocky Mountain, 127
44. Fort Washakie, 121
45. Wright, 119
46. Wind River, 117
47. Arapahoe Charter, 107
48. Lingle, 100
49. Saratoga, 98
50. St. Stephens, 92
51. Lusk, 85
52. Southeast, 82
53. Upton, 77
54. Riverside, 76
55. Cokeville, 68
56. Burlington, 65
57. Hanna, 64
58. Guernsey, 63
59. Midwest, 61
60. Snake River, 58
61. Dubois, 54
62. Farson, 54
63. Hulett, 43
64. Ten Sleep, 40
65. Encampment, 34
66. Rock River, 34
67. Kaycee, 31
68. Meeteetse, 30
69. Arvada-Clearmont, 26

For all sports except football, reclassification returns to hard enrollment cutoffs for the 2024-25 school year, thanks to a WHSAA vote earlier this year. Schools with 700 or more students will be in 4A, from 210 to 699 in 3A, from 110 to 209 in 2A, and remaining schools in 1A. Classifications will be the same for all sports except football, eliminating the structure of varying classifications for each sport. With those cutoffs, classifications for all other sports will be as follows starting in 2024-25:

Class 4A (15 schools): Kelly Walsh, Natrona, Cheyenne East, Rock Springs, Cheyenne Central, Campbell County, Cheyenne South, Thunder Basin, Sheridan, Laramie, Star Valley, Jackson, Evanston, Green River, Riverton.

Class 3A (16 schools): Cody, Lander, Powell, Douglas, Rawlins, Torrington, Buffalo, Pinedale, Worland, Wheatland, Lovell, Mountain View, Lyman, Newcastle, Burns, Glenrock.

Class 2A (14 schools): Moorcroft, Thermopolis, Kemmerer, Tongue River, Big Horn, Big Piney, Wyoming Indian, Greybull, Pine Bluffs, Shoshoni, Sundance, Rocky Mountain, Wright, Wind River.

Class 1A (22 schools): Lingle, Saratoga, St. Stephens, Lusk, Southeast, Upton, Riverside, Cokeville, Burlington, Hanna, Guernsey, Midwest, Snake River, Dubois, Farson, Hulett, Ten Sleep, Encampment, Rock River, Kaycee, Meeteetse, Arvada-Clearmont.

Conference alignments will be set by participating schools.

FOOTBALL: Football varies from other sports in its reclassification procedures as it places a certain number of schools in each classification as opposed to using an enrollment cutoff number. Currently, the top 10 schools are classified as 4A, the next 12 (schools 11-22) are 3A, the next 14 (schools 23-36) are 2A, the next 14 (schools 37-50) are 1A nine-man and the remaining schools are 1A six-man.

The presence of Fort Washakie (ranked No. 44) and Arapahoe Charter (ranked No. 47) will not affect football reclassification. Fort Washakie and Arapahoe Charter typically don’t offer varsity-level team sports. In the scenarios above, they have been removed from the rankings, thus adjusting the cutoff for 1A-9/1A-6 football to school No. 52 as opposed to No. 50.

In 2024-25 and 2025-26, Torrington is scheduled to move from 2A to 3A, while Worland is scheduled to move from 3A to 2A. Guernsey will also be scheduled to move from 1A-9 to 1A-6.

Other scheduled moves are more difficult to project, as numerous schools in 2A, 1A nine-man and 1A six-man opt either up or down to fit into their preferred classification.

Current schools opting up or down include Moorcroft, Wyoming Indian, Big Horn, Cokeville, Saratoga and Riverside. However, Wyoming Indian (1A-9), Saratoga (1A-9) and Big Horn (2A) will no longer have to opt up or down, as their enrollment now places them into the classifications in which they were already playing. Wyoming Indian will be playoff-eligible with this shift.

Moorcroft, Riverside and Cokeville will have choices to make, though. Moorcroft currently opts down to 1A-9 but will continue to be a 2A school by enrollment. Riverside also presently opts up to 1A-9 despite being classified as 1A-6 by enrollment, and the Rebels will remain below the nine-man cutoff. Cokeville will likely opt up to remain in 2A despite being a 1A-6 school in enrollment, as they have done the past few years.

Upton-Sundance will also remain in 2A in their co-op agreement.

Schools scheduled to move — Torrington, Worland and Guernsey — could also choose to opt up or down, as could any other school regardless of any changes to classification.

All opt-up or opt-down proposals must be approved by the WHSAA board of directors. Wilson said via email last week that opt-up and opt-down requests won’t be finished until the end of September.

Class 4A football will remain unchanged.

Casper Christian is not included in the above projections, since its enrollments were not included in ADM figures. Casper Christian offers six-man football as its only varsity sport at this point.

The first of four WHSAA quarterly regional meetings is scheduled for Wednesday in Wheatland. The fall WHSAA board of directors meeting will be Sept. 26-27 in Casper.

–patrick

Updates: Cody, Evanston, Greybull, Upton

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A few quick updates to the site:

I fixed the score for Upton’s 34-26 loss to Newell, S.D., on Sept. 9, 1977. This game is famous for being the most overtimes in a game in Wyoming history with five OTs. I noted this game a few weeks back in another blog post, where I first noticed the discrepancy between what I had (32-24) and the actual final.

I also found three coach names — two first names and one full name — for the coaches’ project. I found first names for Cody’s coach in 1921, E.E. Phillips, and Evanston’s coach in 1924, Julian House. I also found Greybull’s coach in 1925, John Simpson.

All the updates have been made on all the relevant pages.

–patrick

Week 1 picks: When defending champions meet their would-be party-crashers, what happens?

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Since 2000, Wyoming high school football has had 72 regular-season games that were rematches of the previous year’s championship game.

That total will increase to 74 this week, as we will see a pair of rematch games from 2022 title games to jumpstart Week 1 of 2023.

This week, Shoshoni travels to Pine Bluffs on Thursday to reprise the Class 1A nine-man title game, while Big Horn visits Lovell on Friday in a rematch of last year’s 2A championship game.

Big Horn and Pine Bluffs are the defending champs. So they’re the favorites, right? Well, the 72-game rematch history since 2000 tells us… not much.

In those 72 games, the defending champs do have a slight edge. Teams coming off a championship have won 40 of those games and lost 32 — a winning percentage of 55.6% that’s barely above random. 

However, the short-term history favors the defending champs. We had five such games in last year’s regular season, and the defending champs won four. Lovell was the only team to reverse the curse last year, beating Lyman in their rematch of the 2021 2A championship game. But Sheridan, Cody, Shoshoni and Snake River all won their rematches last year.

At the same time, that success from defending champs is a blip on a radar full of blips. Defending champs went a combined 3-9 between 2018 and 2021, so there’s no real discernible pattern in the past few years.

And that makes sense. These are not the same teams that played last year in Laramie. Seniors are gone, freshmen are in, approaches are different, planning is fresh. I hesitated a lot to even use the word “rematch” in describing these games, because so much has changed in the past nine months. 

Two other such games are coming this fall. Sheridan and Cheyenne East will play on Sept. 29 in a 4A showdown, Cody and Star Valley on Oct. 6 in 3A.

But it would be foolhardy to look at last year’s title games and think they’ll have much to do with how things go on the field this year. Barely above random, at least.

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On to some other action that’s catching my eye in the first full week of statewide play but the second week for many teams: 

Four of the five 4A teams who won last week face off against each other. Natrona travels south to play Cheyenne East, while Rock Springs makes the long trek to Gillette to play Thunder Basin. It will be interesting to see how that Week 0 momentum rolls into Week 1… or not. …

We have a couple of neutral-site games this week, as Cokeville and Upton-Sundance meet in Shoshoni and Dubois and Hulett play in Ten Sleep. Those are always fun. …

This week’s super-intriguing coin-flip games: Kemmerer/Glenrock and Rocky Mountain/Wright. I can’t get a gut feeling either way on these, which usually means some exciting football to come. …

A late change to the schedule affects Evanston, as the Red Devils will play South Summit, Utah, NOT Jordan, Utah, this week. …

Several changes hit the Week 1 schedule. Lingle will play at sub-varsity team from Cheyenne Central this week instead of St. Stephens as the Eagles prepare to launch their season in Week 2 instead. Wind River will play Campbell County’s JV instead of Saratoga as the Panthers have struggled with numbers so far. And Midwest and the Kelly Walsh sophomores, who were supposed to play on Saturday, will not. Ten Sleep and Encampment will also delay their season openers by a week, although Encampment played in the Dubois jamboree last weekend.

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Picks. I got ’em. Half of you love ’em, half of you want me to reconsider. Regardless, I’m bold with my picks, at least when it comes to the typeface.

Thursday
Class 1A nine-man
Lusk at Big Piney
Shoshoni at Pine Bluffs
Friday
Class 4A
Cheyenne Central at Kelly Walsh
Cheyenne South at Sheridan
Laramie at Campbell County
Natrona at Cheyenne East
Rock Springs at Thunder Basin
Class 3A
Cody at Riverton
Green River at Lander
Jackson at Douglas
Worland at Powell
Class 2A
Big Horn at Lovell
Cokeville vs. Upton-Sundance (at Shoshoni)
Glenrock at Kemmerer
Thermopolis at Tongue River
Wheatland at Mountain View
Class 1A nine-man
Greybull at Moorcroft
Guernsey at Wyoming Indian
Riverside at Southeast
Rocky Mountain at Wright
Class 1A six-man
Dubois vs. Hulett (at Ten Sleep)
Hanna at Kaycee
Meeteetse at Snake River
Interclass
Cheyenne Central JV at Lingle
Farson at Shoshoni JV (nine-man)
Buffalo at Newcastle
Pinedale at Rawlins
Interstate
Bear Lake, Idaho, at Lyman
Burlington at Custer, Mont.
Burns at Yuma, Colo.
South Summit, Utah, at Evanston
Star Valley at Preston, Idaho
Torrington at Mitchell, Neb.
Saturday
Interclass
Burlington JV at Casper Christian
Wind River at Campbell County JV
Open: Encampment, Midwest, St. Stephens, Saratoga, Ten Sleep.

For a full schedule including kickoff times, click here. You can click on “Week 1” at the top of the page to take you directly to this week’s schedule.

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Here are the results of my picks from last week and this season:

Last week: 15-3 (83 percent). This season: 15-3 (83 percent).

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What do you see on the Week 1 schedule that has you excited for the start of the season? Leave a comment here, or hit me up on the Facebook page or on Twitter.

If you like what you see here, consider a page sponsorship. 

–patrick

Does six-man football have a blowout problem?

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From the perspective of a fan who has no rooting interest, a close game always makes for a more interesting experience than a blowout.

And from that perspective, Wyoming’s six-man classification in 2022 may have given us some of the most boring football we’ve ever seen.

Last year in Class 1A six-man, the chances were significantly better that the game would end with a running clock than in a down-to-the-wire finish — and it wasn’t even close.

More than 61% of six-man games in 2022 (36 of 59) ended with the winning team winning by at least 45 points, the cutoff point for the mercy-rule running clock. This included all seven playoff games. Only two of those 59 six-man games (3.4%) were decided by a margin of a single possession or less. Overall, only 10 of those 59 games last season were decided by less than 20 points.

The average margin of victory was 44.3 points.

Not all that exciting.

The hope is that the blowout trend in 2022 was just an anomaly. After all, the 61% blowout rate was the highest at the six-man level since its return to Wyoming in 2009. And the 3.4% single-possession game rate was the lowest.

Blowouts have always been more plentiful than single-possession games, but the differences in 2022 were stark:

YearTotal gamesMargin 45 or moreMargin 8 or lessPercent finishing with mercy rulePercent single-possesison
20094113431.7%9.8%
20104118443.9%9.8%
20114819339.6%6.3%
20124816933.3%18.8%
20136231450.0%6.5%
20145930750.8%11.9%
20155922537.3%8.5%
20167234447.2%5.6%
20176736453.7%6.0%
20186626739.4%10.6%
20196833748.5%10.3%
20205718731.6%12.3%
202150211042.0%20.0%
20225936261.0%3.4%

Some hope that 2023 might return to some kind of normalcy is the fact that the 2021 season was maybe six-man’s most exciting. In that season, 20% of six-man games finished as one-possession games, the highest rate since six-man’s return in 2009.

–patrick