(Pavillion, WY) – An entirely new coaching staff takes the sidelines for the Wind River Cougars. Former assistant Troy Anderson is the head coach, with Ethan Borchardt, Tyler Downey, and Dino Baldes assisting.
Anderson is a familiar face along the sidelines of Fremont County football. He was the Riverton Wolverine head coach a few years ago and assisted Rod Fredricks at Wind River for the last few seasons.
Anderson is blessed with one of the premier power backs in all of Wyoming prep football, regardless of class, in senior Jeffrey ‘Bubba’ Rushing.
“Bubba is awesome,” Anderson said.
Joining Bubba in the backfield are junior quarterback Tanner Walker and fleet-footed hurdler Eli Hill.
“Braxton Dow saw time at the varsity level last season,” Anderson said.
Seniors Aden Pogue and Daniel Reid bring experience back for the Cougars.
“We’re going to be structurally pretty similar on offense,” Anderson said. “Having a quarterback back is a big deal. We’ll put the rest of the pieces together. We have a solid 27 players.”
When asked who would be tough in the Class 1-A 9-man West, Anderson said, “the regulars.”
“Greybull has two good players back, in Brown and Sanford. Rocky’s going to be good, they’re big and well coached. Piney always has numbers and is well coached.”
The dark horse might be the defending Class 1-A basketball champion Saratoga Panthers.
“They have a stacked team at skill positions,” Anderson said. “It’s going to be a stacked league. As a whole, the West is probably tougher than the East, aside from Pine Bluffs.”
Anderson sees Rocky Mountain and Pine Bluffs as favorites in the 9-man league.