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.
Hollywood portrays high school coaches in a couple of ways, some positive, but mostly negative. Coaches are described as lousy teachers, caring only about winning and men who don’t have the slightest concern for their players once their usefulness is gone.
What a load of crap.
The strongest bonds in education are between player and coach, and it’s not just young men, young women seek the guidance, solace and advice of their former coaches just as often.
To the guys sitting in the stands, or rather bellowing idiotic statements behind the bench during games, you’ll never understand. You’re just there first and foremost to see your kid play and secondly, have the team win with him or her on the field.
It doesn’t work that way.
I’ve witnessed legions of moronic behavior among the “adults” watching the game from the cheap seats. Last Friday afternoon’s game in Shoshoni featured an annoying blowhard, complaining about the plays that were called, insulting the kids who missed a tackle or who were late on a play and generally making a fool of himself.
You can always find these guys behind the bench, close enough for the players and coaches to hear their inane comments while foaming at the mouth. No one ever engages them. They don’t talk to them. They don’t make eye contact and everyone walks a wide berth around them.
Hopefully he didn’t have a son or grandson playing because that is the ultimate embarrassment for a young boy or girl.
I’ve noticed something else when I write a story with a Hollywood style ending, versus one where the local team plays hard, but couldn’t pick up the win in a close game.
I did a piece on the history of overtime in Riverton with the reference point of the Wolverines thrilling 36-35 double-overtime win. It garnered dozens of comments, dozens of shares and multitudes of likes on our County10 Facebook page. Rightfully so, it was a tremendous win.
The night before, I wrote a detailed story of Shoshoni’s close loss to Saratoga 22-20. It didn’t get any comments, no shares, and just a single handful of likes.
I’ll admit, this type of situational support annoys me.
Head Coach Tony Truempler and the Wranglers played an entertaining game but fell short in the final seconds to end their season.
The Wranglers were 0-8 a season ago and finished the year 6-3 last Friday. That’s vast improvement that should be celebrated, but in our idiotic world of “winner take all” there were no accolades for the Wranglers.
Shoshoni’s improvement this season may have gone unnoticed by locals, but rival coaches knew it.
“I thought they played a great game against us,” Big Piney head football coach Jeromy Moffat said.
The Wranglers upset the heavily favorer Punchers in Sublette County, and in the process won the West 9-man league via the tie breaker.
Moffat defies the Hollywood Image of a “winner take all coach” he is dedicated to his players, not just as athletes but as young men.
“We’re not focusing on just being a good football team but being good young men,” Moffat said. “I don’t care if you’re all-state, or a freshman, I’m all about aiding the development of young men.”
Sometimes that development involves facing the consequences of your actions.
It has been around Fremont County this season on an individual basis with players being ineligible for low grades or punished with game suspensions for off-the-field incidents.
In Big Piney it involved a group of players.
A few Big Piney players were involved in a bad decision that left them off the game roster against Wind River and Shoshoni this season.
“We suited up 13 against Wind River,” Moffat said. “We played 11 the entire game.”
Against Shoshoni Moffat had three starters out.
“We came out flat against Shoshoni,” Moffat said. “We’re so young, we have just two seniors and two juniors. I think that loss turned into a blessing in disguise.”
Moffat reiterated his belief in developing young men on the football field.
“The kids aren’t bad kids they just made a bad choice and learned a lot from that. It was one of the hardest days I’ve had as a coach,” Moffat said. “We can let this fracture us as a team or learn from it and come together.”
By the look of the Punchers against Southeast Goshen, they’ve improved and come together just fine.
Southeast beat Big Piney 30-8 in the first week of the season in Goshen County. In the opening round the Punchers handled the Cyclones 24-14 to advance to the semi-finals against top-ranked Lingle Ft. Laramie.
“They were able to come back and practice, but they weren’t able to play. We suited up 16 or 17 but played that core group of 11. We haven’t had a full roster since Greybull,” Moffat said. “It’s been hard on the parents. In a small town, the rumors fly.”
Now it’s a 411-mile one-way trip to Lingle for the season to continue.
“We’re kind of playing on house money, because no one believed in us,” Moffat said. “We’re approaching it as us against the world.”
I’m not sure of the route the Big Piney bus will take Friday on the trek across the state, but odds are they’ll head to Farson, pull up South Pass and roll through Lander, Riverton and Shoshoni on their way to the little town 10 miles north of Torrington.
If you spot the Puncher bus on Friday, why not honk your horn and give them a thumbs up. These kids are learning and taking part in something they will remember for the rest of their lives.
A shoutout to my friends Mark Lenhardt and Dan O’Brien who have taken their teams to the semi-finals. Lenhardt has Riverton in the semis for the first time in a decade at top-ranked Star Valley. O’Brien continued a tradition set by the late David Trembly in reaching the second round. The Rams have their hands full at top-ranked, unbeaten Little Snake River, but they’re in it.
It’s playoff football.