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There are some changes in high school football this fall, unexpected changes. The nature of prep football is reflected by the five classifications in Wyoming.
For the big schools, there isn’t much of an issue unless you’re Cheyenne South High School. Laramie County School District #1 didn’t do the Bison any favors when they carved out the lines in the capital city for Central, East and South High Schools. The demographics of the students attending South don’t lend themselves to athletic competition.
After a promising first season in 2011, where the Bison made the playoffs with a 3-7 record, they’ve won only seven games in the ensuing 14 years. They currently hold the longest losing streak in Wyoming high school history at 56 in a row, a dubious record that will no doubt just grow longer. South hasn’t won a game since a 36-35 nailbiter over Laramie on October 11, 2019.
But this isn’t about Class 4-A football, where enrollments are more than adequate to field varsity, junior varsity, sophomore and sometimes multiple freshman programs.
This story is about the small schools, the bottom of the Wyoming High School Activities Association (WHSAA) in terms of enrollment.
WHSAA Director Trevor Wilson knows the issue all too well.
“The smaller schools are declining in enrollment all across the state,” Wilson said.
Those smaller enrollments affect football more than any other sport. That’s the reason it’s the only one with five classifications.
On Monday night, only eight boys showed up for practice in Shoshoni. The Wranglers have had down years, but overall, they’ve been competitive in 6-, 8-, 9- and 11-man football since their first game back in 1929.
Former NFL offensive lineman Nick Bebout was a 1969 graduate of Shoshoni. “We only had 13 players in the fall of 1967,” Bebout said. “We went to 8-man football.”
The Wranglers stayed there until 1973 when they returned to the 11-man game.
It was easier back in 1967 to change classifications. There were no playoffs yet for small schools.
That’s not the case today. Conferences are carefully aligned with no option to move down unless you declare your school ineligible for the post-season.
Shoshoni is looking at that now. The Wranglers have the option of playing a 9-man junior varsity schedule, but many 9-man programs have barely enough to field a full squad, much less break down to a JV schedule.
With only eight players, and even if a couple more turn out this week, the odds of completing a 9-man schedule without forfeiting games later in the season aren’t good.
Shoshoni may turn to 6-man. They won’t be playoff eligible, but they could have a full schedule if the plight of a few other schools comes into play.
In 2016, former Shoshoni standout athlete and Brigham Young University shot putter Jake Zent coached the Ten Sleep Pioneers to a 1-7 season, but aside from a blowout loss against Dubois, the Pioneers were competitive. Zent had just six players on his 6-man team.
Kaycee has already canceled its 6-man schedule for lack of numbers. Shoshoni could take Kaycee’s position in the existing schedule. The kids get to play. The other teams get to have an opponent that week and there’s one less team in the conference for the other schools to consider when the playoffs arrive.
Kaycee had away games at Casper Christian, Hulett, Burlington and Midwest. Hulett will be a haul for the Wranglers. Midwest is a bit closer but still at least three hours in a bus. Casper and Burlington are about 100 miles away, crosstown rivals by Wyoming standards.
Another option comes even closer to home. Meeteetse is suffering from low numbers as well. They have only 31 students in grades 9 to 12, and two-thirds of them are girls. The Longhorns may not have a 6-man team this year either.
Meeteetse has just one long trip, to Hulett on the schedule. The remainder of away games are close to home in Ten Sleep, Burlington and at Basin against Riverside.
In contrast, there are about 30 boys out at Pavillion for Wind River and Dubois has the largest team it’s fielded in decades with 21 players, nine of them freshmen out for head coach Dan O’Brien.
Encampment has low numbers as well, with possibly the best player in Class 1-A 9-man in Kannon Gilbert. It would be a shame for Gilbert not to have a football team to play on.
Across the ridge to the west in Carbon County is Little Snake River. The Rattlers have won five of the last seven state titles under head coach Jack Cobb and are unbeaten in the last two seasons.
Little Snake River has an enrollment of 52 students and almost every boy plays football.
The almost goes away when you head even further west to Lincoln County and the little powerhouse of the Cokeville Panthers.
The Panthers have 22 state championships but haven’t won one since 2014. There are only 61 boys and girls at Cokeville High School, but it is a rare year that every boy in school isn’t wearing the Panther orange and white uniform.
Cokeville is pride, coaching, ranch kid toughness and tradition.
That pride led the Panthers to opt up in 2020 when the Class 1-A 11-man division went to either 9-man for the smaller schools or Class 2-A 11-man for the larger ones.
Cokeville could easily qualify for 6-man football based on its enrollment. They would be the smallest team in 9-man as well. Instead, they’re the smallest team in Class 2-A by a wide margin. Lincoln County rival Kemmerer is the next smallest with triple the enrollment at 175.
The Panthers have a tradition second to none, but the handwriting might be on the wall for Cokeville football. A growing number of parents are concerned about the disparity of school size on their schedule and increased risk of injury from playing at the higher level against teams with more depth that can keep players fresh by platooning. Cokeville doesn’t have the luxury of substituting players like larger schools.
If the Panthers were to drop to 9-man football, the playoffs would likely become a formality. The UPS truck could just set up a regular delivery each November for the state championship trophy.
Demographics change in small schools. The balance between boys and girls fluctuates, and the football team is the first to feel it.
Attitudes change as well. Many parents don’t want their children to play a game that can be as violent as football.
The overly protective parent was a rarity in previous generations. It’s the norm today.
Demographics change. Attitudes change. But football still requires enough boys to put a team on the field. Monday night in Shoshoni, there were eight. In 10 days, we will find out whether that’s enough to find a way to play.