Guest Posts on County 10 are provided by contributors and the opinions, thoughts, and comments within are their own and may not necessarily reflect those of County 10.
We take predicting football for granted, at least I do. In covering as many games, in as many divisions as I will this fall, it’s easy to know who is coming back, who will impact the game this year as a junior or senior and on the other side of the coin, who is going to be down.
Not everyone spends autumn afternoons and early winter evenings covering the six county football teams as I do, but each team has a fan base.
What if you were a new coach, didn’t know anything about the teams you were about to face and wanted to get as much information as you could on your opponents? Is there anything you can do?
The answer is yes, and that is looking carefully at other sports. Two sports in particular lend themselves well to forecasting the strength of a football team.
The top sport is and always has been and always will be track and field when it comes to predicting football dominance.
Take an opposing football roster, get on a site like Milesplit.com and check that roster against the following events, 100-meter dash, 110-meter-high hurdles, 800-meter run, high jump, long jump, shot put and discus.
Yes, it really is that easy.
Sprinters are always running backs, they combine speed, raw power and acceleration, just what you’re looking for in a running game. As a county, we don’t have many “churn and burn” sprinters, but Dubois does in sophomore Cooper Kintzler. The kid is a blazer, and in 6-man football, that’s a bonus.
The hurdles are a bit different, these guys are almost as fast as sprinters, but they have incredible agility, mental toughness and most of them end up playing quarterback. Most hurdlers are 6-1 to 6-3 and also compete in the triple jump. A perfect skill set for a quarterback. This season, we don’t have a wealth of hurdlers, but we do have some young quarterbacks.
What about the 800? It is the toughest race in track but is also an event that anyone with guts can run in under 2:10. In small schools like Cokeville, you’ll find your linemen and linebackers putting it all on the line often in the metric half mile. It’s not pretty, but neither is the battle in the trenches.
The long jump augments the 100-meter dash, but many high jumpers are excellent wide receivers. They have the discipline to run prescribed routes and the jumping ability to fly high for a ball.
Travel to the shot put and discus rings and you’ll find the big boys that open holes on the offensive line, or on the reverse side, take up two or three blockers and stuff offenses as defensive tackles.
That’s where the Riverton Wolverines have an advantage this year. Second year head coach Mark Lenhardt had a bevy of throwers out last spring. It’s nice when a head football coach is on the track staff and in less than subtle terms, tells the boys to get on the track. It will pay off for Riverton.
Football forecasting using just the regional and state track meet data from the year before is a great indicator of talent.
The other sport to look at is wrestling, especially the heavier weights. A state placer at 215 or heavyweight is almost always an all-state lineman. The toughness of competing as an individual carries itself well to the gridiron. Man-to-man battles in the trenches win football games.
The other weights are important too. Many great high school football teams have their entire secondary and most of their linebackers competing between 126 and 160 pounds in wrestling.
These are not hard, fast rules.
The kid who is an outlier, who doesn’t go out for track or wrestle and only plays football is hard to evaluate. You can’t anticipate heart and the heart, desire and tenacity of a kid is easy to spot when they’re on the field, but difficult to predict.
A final sport unique to Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and the Dakotas, with a nod to Texas is rodeo. Anyone tough enough to put their strength to the test against a four legged powerhouse in a horse, bull or steer doesn’t have much fear when they’re tackling another human.
We had a lot of rodeo kids in Lusk and later in Shoshoni that were tough as nails in the arena and a nightmare for opposing players on Friday night under the lights.
Wind River and Shoshoni both sport cowboys on their rosters.
Dan O’Brien is the only new head football coach in Fremont County this season. He assisted venerable Dubois coach David Trembly and brings a lot to the table. The Rams are limited in numbers with just 11 players, but in wide-open 6-man football, it’s quickness, height and open field tackling that takes a team deep into the playoffs. Look for the Rams to surprise some people.
There’s a new look in the 9-man West Conference this season with Riverside departing for 6-man football. There are only 13 teams in the 9-man division statewide this year. Wind River, Shoshoni, Wyoming Indian, Greybull, Rocky Mountain and Big Piney make up the conference. St. Stephen’s won’t be fielding a varsity team this season.
Class 3-A has a different look as well. It’s hard to believe with their storied athletic tradition, but the Worland Warriors drop to Class 2-A for football this season. Torrington moves back up to fill their spot. Demographics, economic changes and the diaspora of our youth lead to changes like these.
The season starts this Friday with Zero Week games. Riverton at Powell will be interesting as will a game between Jackson Hole and Glenrock halfway between the two schools at Wolverine Field on Friday.
Here’s to another great year of Fremont County football.