2025 Week 9 (Wyoming)

I did not have much going on this weekend. There were so many games in so many places. And I was back in Casper, Wyoming. And didn’t have a lot of options from there. No Thursday games nearby. And only one reasonably close Saturday game.

I had three games that seemed possible for Friday. And one of them was at 1pm. Down in Guernsey. But I also could see one of the two Casper schools on Friday night at 6pm. Kelly Walsh was hosting Cheyenne Central and Natrona County was hosting Cheyenne South.

Neither game was going to be a great game, but the Natrona County game was expected to be a beatdown. Cheyenne South was on a 54-game losing streak. In their 15 years of existence, they had won just 10 games. And though Natrona County wasn’t exactly a powerhouse in 2025, they weren’t going to get pushed around by South.

But, Natrona County was a new team for me, and so was South. But I knew the result before I even showed up to the stadium.

Interestingly enough, Midwest was also on the itinerary, and Midwest had just celebrated their 100th anniversary of the first fully lit high school football night game. Which they hosted at Moses Field in Midwest against Casper. Midwest, at the time, were the Yellow Dogs not as the Oilers they’re known today. And Casper was old Casper High School, and were the visiting team on that eventful night.

And at this game, there too was a homage to the first night game on the videoboard. Today, now, the school is known as Natrona County. Though a large orange C is emblazoned on the chest of the Mustang player uniforms.

On Friday, I had made the decision to just stick with Casper. And Natrona County. I had hurt my right calf earlier in the week. And walking was a veritable pain. I had to Uber across town to the field, and arrived about 90 minutes prior to kickoff. I had even considered just sitting in the stands and not photographing. It was windy and cold. And I forgot a jacket. Or common sense. I was chilled. And with Wyoming having free admission, there wasn’t any advantage to or not to be on the sideline.

But I was at the school and getting photos done. Walking did stretch out my calf, even in the cold air. And the cold air itself was brisk, and biting. And kept me alert.

So, I had plenty of time to explore the field and stands. I didn’t go to the home side. As I was waiting for a decent sunset shot over the home stands. But that never came. Clouds rolled in by that time. Even with the 6pm start giving perfect timing.

But I did get to see what Cheyenne South was about. A 54-game losing streak is tough to proceed through. I wasn’t sure if it was just inexperience, not getting kids out for the sport, or what the situation. But, I had seen my share of hapless teams and was curious what made this one team in Wyoming so listless.

Only a handful of fans occupied the small visitor bleachers. Just three temporary portable bleachers on trailers were setup for the visitors. The home stand being a large concrete structure. The scoreboard being small to the south side, while a stand-alone video board stood to the north endzone. Beyond the east visitor bleachers sat another field, a practice field, just for the Mustangs.

The crowd for Natrona County, too, was sparse. An impending blowout, biting cold winds, and chilly forecasts for the night didn’t speak well for the crowd. Though it did fill in as the pregame ended and the early part of the first quarter commenced.

#40 – Natrona County v. Cheyenne South

And then I saw why Cheyenne South had a 54 game losing streak. They mishandled the ball; Constantly. It was a constant issue with the team. Be it the snap exchange with the quarterback in the shotgun formation, or just handoffs and holding it while running. It was their major flaw in their game play.

And that didn’t speak anything of their skills or abilities. Just they could not put themselves in good position to do anything offensively if they couldn’t hold on to the ball.

It started badly, and kept getting worse. A two yard punt was quickly turned into a 14 yard run by Natrona County. It was then, that I realized my roster I had wasn’t fully current. There was no roster or program at the game I could find. And unlike Kelly Walsh, there was no QR code to scan to view one. And the online roster I found was not matching the names. So, I had to listen for the name to be called and then find it on the roster where it was usually unnumbered. And then get the writing correct. Which helped for names like Kana’i Olsen. Who scored that first touchdown.

It was partly that reason, I didn’t note the scoring plays in my article. Because I was not 100% sure I had the names correct to begin with. And it was too late to now be tracking down the rosters. Live and learn.

Kana’i Olsen added another TD after a fumble. And then another touchdown in the first. Originally I credited Carter Cox, only to realize there was also a Cooper Cox, and that was who the announcer had said scored the first score. So, three tweets in, and at least one of them was definitely wrong.

Cooper Cox had another score, which is when I found the discrepancy. And then I started a string of unphotographed touchdowns. The scores kept happening to the far side of the field, and with a crowd of people in the photo that made them impossible to get. Luckily, I got a shot of the cannon going off for one of them.

Oh yeah, there was a cannon. A very loud and always surprising cannon.

There was also a Browns sighting. Decked out in Browns and Ohio State gear, I was shocked to see the Browns on the videoboard. To celebrate a sack, there was a large GIF of Odell Beckham Jr. dancing in the old Browns Manziel-era uniforms. Surely, it’s similar colors to Natrona County in orange and gray instead of orange and brown, but it was still a shock. And one I had to capture.

A few more touchdowns made it 48-0 at the half. And I made my way through the temporary gates to the field to get some hotdogs. Which were $3 a piece. And to use the bathroom. Sitting on the near empty South bleacher, I ate my hotdogs and finished the photos. And got up for the third quarter. Luckily, the running clock would be running for this one as it was a 45-point margin.

The second half ran smoothly enough. Two more touchdowns. And a steady running clock. As the sun had gone down completely, the wind had quieted some. No longer painfully cold. Now just cool.

As the game drew to a close, South made one last attempt down field for a score. But their efforts proved fruitless. And for the day the South Bison managed just three yards of offense. Losing to Natrona County, 62-0.

Wyoming Spotlight: Natrona County rolls, as Cheyenne South extends losing streak to 55 games (PHOTO GALLERY)

After the game, I took an Uber back. The two trips totaling just $50 which was a little much to attend a single high school game. But, I couldn’t drive and could barely walk. And had been considering just taking the night or weekend off.

The next day, I was in Midwest, Wyoming. I had felt a lot better and my leg was feeling better. Still stiff, but walking on it was easier. Just slow. It felt like it was constantly in a state of cramping. But, I walked down the hill to the field as I did in 2024, and got a great picturesque view of the field for what was now an afternoon game.

Unlike 2024, when I was here for a night game. When Midwest and Hulett put on the highest scoring game in Wyoming state history. Midwest had won, 94-93 thanks to a dropped 1-point conversion pass by Hulett. And then the final few minutes of the game ran out. Had the game been tied with the lack of field goal kicking, the game certainly would have hit the 100 mark for one of the two teams, if not both.

But this year, I was back and circumstances had changed. Midwest was struggling through the 2025 season. And Meeteetse, though better, weren’t exactly threatening for a state title yet this year.

First though, the middle school game had to finish. As it was scheduled for 1pm, and the varsity game was scheduled for 2pm, it was clear that was not going to happen. The middle school game barely entered the third quarter by 2pm. And roughly 30 minutes after 2, the game ended and the officials got to take a break. Telling me that the varsity game would start at 3pm instead.

One interesting note about the Middle School game is the team nickname. Just as Kaycee’s varsity team was the Buckaroos and the middle school was the Broncs, so too did Midwest have two different names for their teams. While the varsity team is the OIlers and they play at Oiler Field. The middle school team, harking back to a simpler process of being ‘oilers’, were called the “Pumpers”. Which I thought was a clever name than just reusing the high school’s nickname.

I had accepted that by going to Midwest, I would once again be without cell service. And to start the game, I was. And then I went to the far side of the field. Immediately, my phone had one bar. Which was great, as I had tried the school’s wifi that I hadn’t seen available in 2024. But it was blocking all social media sites. So, as one tweet went out unexpectedly, I fired off all the ones I had saved as drafts from earlier in the day.

#41 – Midwest v. Meeteetse

I had seen both of these teams previously. Midwest, as mentioned, during their epic win over Hulett. And Meeteetse back in 2011, when they traveled to Kaycee on a Friday afternoon.

It became evident that I wasn’t going to see a replay of 2024. Midwest moved the ball slowly and methodically. Meeteetse had flourishes, but again kept the game low scoring and the clock running. Leading up to a 20-6 halftime lead for the visitors.

Unlike at Natrona County, I did have both rosters. In fact, they had rosters for the middle school games as well. But, I did not get all the photos. One score in the third, I didn’t get a single usable shot of the touchdown. Or of any celebration. Besides, again, a cannon shot. Though that was after the fiery shot that I had gotten last night.

Despite the touchdown, Meeteetse (pronounced Muh-teet-see) added two scores of their own to extend the lead to 32-13. In the fourth quarter, Midwest has an early score, but quickly gives up two touchdowns again. And finally with under 2 minutes to go, Midwest gets one more score on a short run, to cut the lead to 46-25. And that is the final score.

Wyoming 6-man: Meeteetse powers past Midwest Oilers, 46-25 (PHOTO GALLERY)

After the game, though, disaster struck for me. As had both cameras with me, I was transferring photos from both memory cards. And the zoom lens’ card, I thought I had transferred everything from. But the folder was empty on my laptop. I went back to the card, and all the files in that directory were wiped. I either accidentally deleted them, or had moved them rather than copy them. Either way, I had no access to them now. And I had contemplated how to proceed.

I had the first third of the game as it was in a different folder before the numbering reset and started a new folder. And the wide angle. And all the photos I had saved to my phone during the game and/or tweeted out.

So, i went through several programs trying to access my photos. Taking me all day Sunday. As I had first paused to watch the Browns annihilate the Dolphins, 31-6. And then, after the first two programs failed. One of which wanted $80 to access the photos it had recovered but wouldn’t give me access to. I found another program online, for free, and used it to recover the photos. Only it recovered everything. A 64 GB SD Card had a lot of pictures found. Hundreds, even, were from 2024 still. But I had finally gotten a program to find my photos from this weekend. And then I was faced with nearly 1300 photos from this game as I had taken nearly 1000 just with my zoom lens. And another 300 or so with the wide angle. And spent the rest of Sunday evening working through all of the photos to put together a decent gallery, finally, of the game.

ECONOMICS

The only driving on the weekend was the 44 miles from Casper to Midwest. Expenses were $50 for Ubers. $18 for food at the Krispy Krunchy inside the Sinclair in Midwest. And another $6 at the concession stand. That $18 at Sinclair also included buying a Midwest-colored hat for $3.

On Friday, both teams I saw were new. While on Saturday, nothing was new for me. As I had seen both teams previously and had attended the 94-93 game in 2024 at Oiler Field. But it was cool to see it, and photograph it, during the day.