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.
The first week of prep athletics is in the books and some interesting trends were on display. Football, volleyball, cross country, golf, and girls’ swimming are all in full array at your local high school.
I’ve been accused of being a “2-A guy” by diehard Lander and Riverton fans, well, I do have a soft spot for small schools. Yes, my favorite basketball movie is “Hoosiers” and I’m a relentless fan of the underdog.
So, let’s start with the 1-A and 2-A football and volleyball teams.
It was a tough opening weekend for the Class 1-A West 9-man teams. In five of the six games played last week between the 9-man West and the 9-man East, the East won and won by big margins.
Only Wyoming Indian broke through with a win for the West in a 26-12 victory over Guernsey-Sunrise in Platte County. Congratulations to head coach Nate Reinhardt and the Chiefs. It’s a great way to open the season.
The Wind River Cougars, 2003 state runner-up up ran into a buzzsaw in Goshen County, dropping a 63-14 decision to Lingle-Ft. Laramie. The Doggers are the favorite in 9-man this season and bring blazing speed to a game where the edge is a little more open than in the 11-man game.
Shoshoni played well against Pine Bluffs for a half, but the Hornets rolled in the second to a lopsided win. State champion Big Piney lost at Yoder against a team that for the first time in 23 seasons wasn’t coached by Mark Bullington. Southeast Goshen is a surprise for many living outside the Platte Valley.
Wright ran away from Greybull and Lusk made the long drive, almost 400 miles, to Cowley, and beat Rocky Mountain 22-12. The Grizzlies lost four fumbles in the game, but as coaches and venerable fans know, you make your own luck.
It doesn’t look like a great playoff format for the West, but teams grow during the season, and the very idea of playoffs is for teams on the rise to upend favorites.
The West 9-man is wide open, any of the six teams can qualify for the post-season.
It looks like the small school volleyball powers are in the East as well. The Tongue River Lady Eagles dominated a well-run tournament at Pavillion last weekend. None of the West Conference teams matched up well with them. How the Eagles will do with Wright, Big Horn, Sundance, and Pine Bluffs remains to be seen.
The Wind River tournament had a couple of teams playing that didn’t exist just a few years ago. The Ft. Washakie Lady Eagles are playing at the varsity level in the Class 1-A Southwest. It’s taken a while, but the Eagles are on the court and playing well.
Arapahoe Charter has flirted with conference alignments in the past, most notably under the late, legendary head coach Alfred Redman who narrowly missed the state tournament just a few years ago.
This year the Lady Warriors are playing a junior varsity schedule, but they’re playing. Keep it up girls.
The Lander Tigers broke an 11-game losing streak with a 21-14 win at Green River on Friday. Lander held the Wolves to just 112 yards of total offense. That means a solid defense, congratulations to head coach Jim Burton and the Tigers.
You don’t win many games when you give up 12 unanswered points in just a few seconds. That’s what happened to the Riverton Wolverines last Friday at Cody. The Broncs ran the opening kickoff back 99 yards for the initial score, then tallied a pick-six on Riverton’s first series for a 12-0 lead.
Battling uphill against a heavily favored opponent is popular in Hollywood, but in reality, doesn’t exist.
Big Red battled back to a 12-3 deficit on three stalled drives into the Red Zone, that’s something to build on.
Cody is a good football team, and the Wolverines were able to move the ball against the Broncs. Now with a three-game homestand, Riverton can vault back into contention.
Head coach Mark Lenhardt has done an excellent job with the boys, and only good things are waiting ahead.
There’s a new head man in Dubois. Dan O’Brien, a Boston native who has found his niche in the High Country opened the season with a 72-12 win on the road at Ten Sleep.
The Pioneers are a young team with just nine players, but a win is a win. The first test of the season comes this Friday when the Rams host a solid Meeteetse team.
If you have the chance, make the run to Dubois and watch a little 6-man football. It’s exciting, fun and features outstanding open field tackling. It’s been called “fast break” football, but the tackling is better to watch than any other level of prep football.
Former Dubois standout Wyatt Trembly had ample playing time in his first college game last weekend at Black Hills State. It’s not often that freshmen make this type of impact, but Trembly is not your typical freshman college football player.
Cross country and golf are individual sports wrapped into a team concept. The Lander and Riverton boys are competitive on the links, maybe competitive enough to bring home trophies from the state finals.
The girls’ teams don’t have enough players to score as a team, but Riverton junior Tylynn McDonald has an outstanding season in progress. She won the Worland invite and finished a close second at Thermopolis, good luck over the next few weeks.
Lander has a star in the making and one already established in freshman Dorthy Jensen and senior Ameya Eddy. The dynamic duo of Tiger distance running can go far this season.
The Tiger boys are more balanced behind senior Mack White.
Cross Country relies on the combined scores of the runners on the team, you don’t have to win a race to win a team title. The Tigers have that capability.
Riverton’s boys have the same opportunity. Head coach Tawn Gopp has a bevy of talented, hard-working runners.
If you’ve never watched a cross country meet at Wyoming Indian High School, well, you should. It’s a spectacular event with an outstanding course. The Chiefs pull out all the stops for their invitational and the state finals held at Ethete two and three years ago where the best venue Wyoming cross country has ever been privileged to experience.
It’s still a little wild out there on the Wind River Reservation. This year workers spooked a black bear and cub on the course, and bull snakes are a common site in the staging area. It’s fabulous.
Here’s to another great week of prep athletics.