"Build It and They Might Just Come" to Farson

 

Farson-Eden's six-man gridiron on game day.

You could have blamed the wind on a number of events related to the last football game of the season at Farson-Eden High School when the Pronghorns hosted the Kaycee Buckaroos on an overcast and windy Saturday afternoon.

The wind pretty much maintained a steady 20 mph throughout the entire game, and I’m sure it was the culprit when the scoreboard went belly up halfway through the third quarter, although I’m not sure how. Come to think of it—thanks to the wind—the telescoping flagstaff wouldn’t stay extended at its full height either, so Old Glory and the Wyoming state flag flew at a height that was more like half-mast. Even though the “new” football field at Farson is only five-years-old, both goal posts are leaning thanks to five years of wind abuse in this remote outpost of Wyoming’s high desert.

I suppose these kind of things aren’t uncommon when it comes to small town high school football despite the newness of any given facility. And so, some things about this level of play are just innate and can’t be avoided.

Fewer people in communities like Farson and Eden also means that those who are involved simply have to do more. In the case of the Pronghorns, an assistant coach and a handful of players on the team (even starters) help get the venue ready—delivering 10-gallon water coolers to both benches, placing the pylons and yard-markers on the field in their respective places, raising the Flag, wrapping each goal post with protective cushioning should their be a player collision, and then doing it all in reverse after the game.

Things have really changed since the last time I attended a game at Farson in 2013—their home field was across the street at the city park in a sectioned off area of the softball fields. It was pretty crude, but as one of the Pronghorn players pointed out to me, “Nothing says ‘small town high school football’ than softball fields being used for a six-man gridiron.”

Today, things are different in Farson. If there was a football version of the movie Field of Dreams (you know, “Build it and they will come”), it could be Farson as it is the home to the only six-man gridiron in Wyoming with an artificial turf, surrounded by an equally cosmetic six-lane, 400-meter track. Instead of being surrounded by corn, the facility is surrounded by the high desert emptiness that is mostly sagebrush, prickly pear cactus, and rabbitbrush.

Despite this apparent opulence in the middle of the high desert, floodlights are absent so all of their games are played out on either Friday or Saturday afternoons.

Talking to some of the Farson-Eden players before the game, they aren’t all that excited about their home artificial turf—they prefer natural grass because it’s a bit softer and not as “grippy.” On the other hand, I suspect many of their opponents look forward to the novelty of playing a game in Farson knowing it’s void of any hidden anomalies like bumps, hard and barren dirt patches, and varmint holes that are so common to a typical and imperfect small town high school football field.

Postscript: In their first season of six-man football in 2009, Farson-Eden was winless, but in less than a decade the Pronghorns secured the school’s first football state title in 2018 and did it again in 2020. Here’s a story about their rise to Wyoming’s six-man ranks.

Witness: Wyoming Football History

Lovell Head Coach Jeny Gardner

Following her head-coach debut and home-opening loss to Wind River, Jeny Gardner faced her team in the east end zone and informed them that she would be reviewing the film with her staff and making notes about who was engaged in each play and who was standing around. She specifically alluded to the juniors and seniors on the team saying that she believed there were some people on the team who think they have a starting position because of their seniority. This was followed up with a threat to start a freshman if they were willing to do more than just stand around.

As historic as she was in becoming the first female to lead a high school football team in Wyoming, standing in the end zone after the game, I thought she made a better argument for simply being a legit coach. Surely Gardner’s post-game monologue would have scuttled any concerns on her coaching prowess.

Watching her work the game, she looked every bit the example of a head coach. There’s nothing about watching her on the sidelines that seemed out of place—the headset, the matching coaching staff outfits, the gestures she made… she appeared to be in her happy place from my perspective.

She coached a good game and Lovell was well prepared—as much as any high school team in their first outing of the season. Both teams made their share of mistakes, attributed to such first-game-of-the-season blunders. Neither team was clearly dominant either.

Although Lovell absorbed an 18-7 loss, it clearly wasn’t an embarrassing one. I’m not sure how she felt after the game—certainly not great, but I reckon there must have been a little relief once it was over. Getting that first game out of the way and in the bag… there had to be some deliverance in that alone.

Sure, no head coach in their debut game wants to lose—especially at home—but, it happens and even to those coaches who go on to be legacies at all levels of the game.

I read somewhere that Wind River is considered a contender, albeit a dark horse, when it comes to the schools for the Wyoming 1A title. I realized that Lovell is a 2A school, but Big Piney and Cokeville have been beating up on 2A schools for years. In fact, I recall a year Cokeville defeated the eventual state champions in the class above them during the regular season.

And, of course, there is this FCS team called North Dakota State who has a pesky history of beating up on BCS teams.

There’s probably more worthy discussion of this contest from the Wind River side than that of a first-year head coach who just happens to be female. The Cougars’ winning their first game of the season, played on the road in Lovell against a retooled 2A team under the direction of a first-year head coach, is certainly more telling of Wind River’s championship contention this season than anything about Gardner’s Bulldogs.

Sure, it was an historic event, and it was inspirational to see a woman handle her football team the way she did. I was happy to see she was the real deal, but beyond that I was impressed not because she was a good woman coach, but that she was simply a good coach—so impressed, I even bought me some Lovell swag before the game was over.

More Six-Eight-Eleven images HERE.

Valier: And Other Six-Man Outposts

Driving north on I-15 out of Great Falls to attend the Class C Six-Man semifinal game between Valier and Westby-Grenora (MonDak), I can’t tell you how many times I thought to myself, “Geeze, I hope I got it right. That this is indeed where the game is going to be and this is the day it will be played on.”

This stretch of highway is somewhat of a geographical limbo. It feels a little alien—probably because it’s in close proximity to Canada. There’s a lot of yellow and white—the yellow of wheat field stubble and the white of snow. I always tell my graphic design students that if you want your graphic design to fail, use yellow and white because there’s really not much contrast between the two colors, and whatever message you try to convey, it’ll likely be lost. But oddly, it works up here in Montana’s hinterlands.

One of my goals for attending the game in Valier was to get an aerial (drone-based) shot of the football field and surrounding town. I arrived about 15 minutes before the kickoff, but—like no other time—the software for my drone insisted that I logon to my account before it could take off. However, because logging on requires some kind of internet connection, I was unable to successfully logon because I had only one bar of cell phone service. Needless to say, I was cursing madly about DJI (the drone manufacturer). Luckily, I also happened to have one of my toy-based drones along, so in desperation, I flew my lowly Syma drone (see image below). Although a reliable flyer it is equipped with a primitive system compared to the other. I didn’t have any kind of “FPV” (first-person view) on board for accurate positioning. So I could only spot the aircraft based on my observation from below and hope that one of the shutter clicks every five seconds recorded a worthy image. By the time I completed this “simple” task, the MonDak Thunder had already established a three-touchdown advantage. Lesson learned: like cameras, always have a backup drone too.

Over Valier

Although the battle of undefeated teams was a bust in terms of being a competitive game, I’m still glad I made the long drive (391 miles one way—my longest drive of the season) as I’ve never attended a game in Valier. Because the game was easily over by the half, with plenty of light still remaining in the day, I did something I rarely do—I left the game after halftime to answer the call from the cold and abandoned football fields in nearby Brady and Dutton. I had driven by them on my way to Valier and thought I should get some imagery from these two remote locations (for me) while I was in the neighborhood.

The school and football field at Brady are now abandoned, but on this particular sunny Saturday afternoon, the town seemed vibrant. The Brady Bulldogs once played six-man football on the field there. In the earliest years of six-man football play in Montana, Brady made its first appearance in the 1984 chipper but fell short to another Bulldog team—Moore. Then in 1996 and 1997 they appeared again in the title games, but never recorded a “W” as they lost to the Choteau County-juggernauts of Highwood (21-19) and Geraldine (56-26) respectively. As enrollments dwindled, the team and school were joined with nearby Dutton. And not long after that, Brady-Dutton co-oped with nearby Power to create an eight-man team—the Titans. Even after the unification, enrollments continued to drop in both schools, and now the co-op of Power-Dutton-Brady is at the end of its rope as a six-man team that commenced this season (2017).

Over Dutton Gridiron

Down the road from Brady, the football field and school in Dutton are still occupied. In the case of the gridiron, it appears to see at least two home games per year sharing the home schedule with Power. However, there are no lights in Dutton, so the Titan home games played there are on Saturday afternoons. As the shadows grew longer with the sun’s approach to the horizon (like Brady), Dutton seemed vibrant and glorious in this last light of the day.

And this… Just before leaving the game at the half, the announcer reported the score of other six-man semifinal between Bridger and White Sulphur Springs—a lopsided score in favor of Bridger. However, when I stopped for gas on the way out of town, one of the clerks at the convenience store indicated that the lopsided score was in favor of White Sulphur Springs. It was only much later in the day that I found out that it was indeed Bridger that notched the win.

And then I started getting a little excited, because I knew they’d be hosting the title game and Bridger is only a 45-minute drive from my home. Even with Daylight Savings Time vanquished, I should still get home before dark—a first for me on a title-game-day.

Football Footnote: What is it about the mascot “Titans” and football co-ops in Montana? Tri-Cities (Hobson, Moore and Judith Gap), Power-Dutton-Brady, and most recently Flint Creek (Drummond/Phillipsburg)… all Titans.

Git Along Little Dogies, Git Along…

I know a majority of the populace out there see me as the guy who photographs six-man football, but as the title of this blog states, “Six-Eight-Eleven,” I have also been known to attend, photograph, and write about eight-man and eleven-man venues as well. When it comes to eleven-man, I typically gravitate to the smallest classes. In Montana, it’s mostly Class B games (and a couple of Class A game years ago), while covering 1A and 2A in Wyoming.

With that said, although I’ve never been to Forsyth for a game, the Dogies have never played in too large of a class for me to cover a game there. However, given their arrival to the eight-man level (down from eleven-man play this year), it seemed timely that I visit for one of their games this season.

And so, there I was for their first round playoff game against Choteau—another team, like Forsyth, from Class B that moved down to eight-man this year. As it turns out, Forsyth is the ideal distance for me to travel; just under one full tank of gas to get there in my not-so-fuel-efficient 1990 Ford F-150 (despite its 300-straight-six engine).

Because it was the last weekend in October, the weather was absolutely devine in Forsyth. I don’t know if it hit the 70° mark, but it was sunny and certainly in the 60s. So warm was it that some of the players were experiencing muscle cramps like those during the first games of the year when the weather is outright hot. However, the Forsyth team didn’t seem as prone to this condition. I spied a couple of the Dogie players drinking pickle juice. I had to ask. Apparently pickle juice is a good remedy in the prevention of muscle cramps. What would the marketing teams at Gatorade or Powerade make of this grassroots electrolyte insurrection?

Of course, it depends on who you talk to. Perhaps it’s a magnesium thing… 

When it came to the actual contest between Forsyth and Choteau, the Dogies assembled a strong argument for a title game appearance. I suspect they’ll advance to the semifinals and the championship game, but no one team is a sure bet this year. Choteau kept it close for almost two quarters, but late in the second quarter when it was 22-8 and the Bulldogs were threatening to make it 22-14, Forsyth picked off a pass and returned it for a touchdown (“pick-six”), making it 30-8 at the half instead. The Bulldogs never recovered.

With all the Forsyth scoring going on, it’s band played several rounds of the Dogie fight song. And, like many high schools that “acquire” their fight song from some famous college, Forsyth’s fight song is Michigan’s “Hail to the Victors.” Had I closed my eyes, I could almost project myself into an Ohio State game where Michigan was kicking their ass. As a kid who grew up following the Buckeyes, it was a bit disconcerting in hearing that particular fight song over and over.

Now that Wibaux has moved down to six-man, one has to wonder if Forsyth is the new incarnation of “The Beast from the East,” or will Fairview have something to say about that.

Ramblings From Bridger

Zentner to Zentner Touchdown

It was the battle for the South, and even the mascot names provided a battle imagery—the Scouts vs. the Rangers. In this case it was the battle for Montana’s Class C six-man football Southern Conference. Grass Range-Winnett was paying a visit to Bridger to decide who would earn the number one spot heading into the upcoming playoffs. The last time I saw these two teams clash was in 2006 at Grass Range when both were competing in eight-man play. How things quickly change in Montana high school football.

* * *

When the weather is not cooperating or when I simply can’t psyche myself up for a long drive, Bridger is my go-to destination. Oh sure, there are other venues closer such as Meeteetse and Burlington, but for whatever reason I lean toward Bridger. Perhaps it’s the easy terrain of getting there and the lower elevation of 3,600 feet (compared to Meeteetse’s 5,751 feet)—meaning less likely to snow. And, unlike Burlington, they never play Friday afternoon games which is difficult to attend if I have a Friday afternoon class. At 57 years of age, I’m not much for driving at night either, so if I have to, I think returning from a Bridger Friday night game is easier on my aging eyes. 

* * *

It was Bridger’s “Senior Night.” I was surprised to hear over the public address system that four of their senior football players were planning to attend Northwest College—my employer. I even called my division chair during the pregame ceremonies to share this unexpected news. I found out later that senior members of their esteemed volleyball team had a couple players heading for Powell as well.

* * *

I set up camp behind the east end zone, but I wasn’t alone. Two men where studying the field and the players with a little more attention than the casual spectator. As my camera was working on a time-lapse series, I walked over to them and said, “You guys are either reporters or scouts for another team.” When they looked up, they recognized me before I recognized them. It was the Geraldine-Highwood coaching tandem of Rod Tweet and Brandon Gondeiro. No doubt, they were in town to gather some information knowing there was a good chance they’d see one of these two teams in the second round of the playoffs. Later on it dawned on me that the two coaches were scouting the Scouts (of Bridger).

As it turned out, the game wasn’t as competitive as I thought it might be. Bridger shined brightly and made a statement by easily securing the conference’s number one seed to the tune of 49-14 over the Rangers.

* * *

The Scouts weren’t only brighter because of their talent and athleticism, but the new field lights made everything three aperture stops brighter than the old bulbs when I last photographed a game there. I asked a Bridger fan if they were indeed new and was told the lights were installed during the 2016 season. Yet, one more reason to keep Bridger as my default destination.

* * *

Jim Goltz is the principal at Bridger, but in another life, I first knew him as the assistant coach at Custer back in 2003. I managed to catch him running errands in his school golf cart before the big game. During the half, he invited me up to his office to see a print he had made from one of my drone shots last year over the school. And if that wasn’t flattering enough, he has since started flying a drone himself.

* * *

Maybe I’ll buy a little place in Bridger when I retire.

* * *

Staff Sergeant David Thatcher was the last survivor of the “Ruptured Duck” crew during World War II’s Doolittle Raid and was born in Bridger.

Burlington Is Just Right

The Huskies and their extra goal post in Burlington.

Burlington, Wyoming is probably the most centrally located town of the Big Horn Basin. Yet, despite this geographical attribute, it doesn’t get much traffic because the only road that goes through the community is rather secondary unlike the other thoroughfares that pass through communities located on the fringes of the Basin.

Burlington weighs in with 288 residents according to the town limits sign as you enter. This count is in the “Goldilocks” region when it comes to supporting a six-man high school football team. But, there’s a lot of pride in Burlington which has allowed for this town to field an eleven-man team for years. But as mathematics go, even a town/school determined to play eleven-man football has to face the facts of dwindling enrollment numbers. So, last year, Burlington started playing six-man football and from the looks of things, there have been no regrets. According to head coach Trent Aagard, “I think the community is excited about six-man football. I hear a lot of positive response to it. They like the fast paced feel to it, and I think they like that we are playing teams that have similar size to us.”

They have a new football field (and track) at Burlington with permanent goal posts still spaced out for an eleven-man game (120 yards including end zones). For the six-man field, they have a portable goal post to designate the south end zone for the shorter-sized field. However, according to Aagard, the reason why the goal posts have not been permanently moved to the six-man field as of yet is, “We felt that we needed to wait and see what the state is going to do with us moving forward. I would imagine if it looks as though we will be in six-man long term, we will move it.”

Then there’s The Burlington Place (formerly the Burlington Bar). Four years ago Mike and Melissa purchased the bar and transformed it from just another watering hole in another tiny Wyoming town to a pub known throughout the Basin for its pizza and wide selection of beers. This might be the first time in a long time that people are driving to Burlington for something other than an athletic event or to visit a relative that lives there.

So, come to Burlington for great six-man football, and stay for the pizza and beer.

Shoshoni: Remakes, Rattlesnakes, and Milkshakes

Like many of Wyoming’s smaller communities throughout the state, the town of Shoshoni has a new school these days. It opened for the 2016-2017 academic year with a complex that includes all grades on the same site (albeit different entrances for K-5 and 6-12).

The old school was built in 1937 located in the center of town included many add-ons. However, the new $38-million-school is out on the edge of the small town of 649.

There’s nothing glamorous about this dirty, little town that popped up in its middle-of-nowhere location around 1905. Perhaps it’s abandoned Main Street with its dilapidated store fronts is what most people remember when they pass through town today. Once famous for its milkshakes at the Yellowstone Drugstore, even that started fizzling out in 2002 upon being relocated where it eventually folded in 2012. 

When we stopped off in Shoshoni during the total solar eclipse this past August, while having a cold one in the Lucky Five Lounge, my friend and I were educated by one of the locals regarding the rattlesnake den that was discovered on site during the construction of the new building. Even after the school was finalized and holding classes, rattlesnakes were turning up a little too frequently.

Although the rattlesnake news was nearly a year old by the time I arrived for the first home game of the season against the Lovell Bulldogs, I was ever-so-careful as I navigated the football field and the adjacent areas of the school.

As far as the game’s outcome with Lovell… it wasn’t close at all. The Lovell Bulldogs came into town and schooled the Wranglers on what it’s like to play a 2A team (Shoshoni plays at the 1A level). For years now, I have been anticipating Shoshoni joining the six-man ranks as it is the quintessential six-man football town in my mind, but somehow their enrollments continue to remain high enough to compete at Wyoming’s smallest class of eleven-man football.

On another football note as it relates to Shoshoni: Years ago I was told by a colleague that the Left Tackle Bar on the east end of town as you head toward Casper was started by a former NFL football player (who played left tackle), but even in the age of Google, I’ve never been able to verify that account.

Away Game Logistics

It was just another ordinary regular-season game between foes that see each other nearly every year on the gridiron, but there is nothing ordinary about the travel arrangements for the visiting team when it comes athletic contests between Rocky Mountain and Cokeville High Schools. In this case, Cokeville made the journey to Cowley for its fourth game of the season against Rocky—a rival in the same conference. When you think of teams within the same conference, you probably think of relative close proximity. Even in Wyoming, that distance can be easily over 100 miles. A two-three hour drive to any game is not unusual. But for Cokeville, almost every road game is an adventure.

It’s 230 miles as the raven flies from Cokeville to Cowley, but with major mountains serving as obstacles between the two small communities, it’s 378 miles—typically a six-hour drive (with no sight-seeing along the way). Go ahead, Google it or go to your distance calculator web site and see for yourself (on the map) how far it is.

The game at Cowley started at 6:00 on this particular Friday night, and by time the game was over and the bus was back on the road, it was nearly 10:00 p.m., and if you do the math, you know what time that puts the Panther football team back in Cokeville.

Yet, there is more than just determining that is was sometime after 4:00 in the morning when the Cokeville busses breached the home town limits.

Speaking with Lenn Johnson, one of the two bus drivers for the Cokeville cause, he recounted how the two busses departed Cokeville at 8:30 that Friday morning and arrived just after 4:00 in Cowley with short stops in Farson and Thermopolis along the way. However, the day before, two other bus drivers drove a car to the area as they were designated to work the return trip—trading their car for the bus with the Johnson and the other Friday-morning driver. Such extensive logistics and coordination are required now as school budgets continue to be cut year after year. There was a time when the team would overnight in a motel somewhere on the way home after playing a road game this far away.

The handful of Cokeville fans that attended told me of their travel follies as well. Although they didn’t leave from Cokeville as early as the team, all of them had overnight stay locations after the game. One party was staying in Cody, while another party was going to stay in Riverton.

Lastly, you might wonder, how does a 378-mile bus ride affect a football team’s performance? Well, in Cokeville’s case, it wasn’t detrimental, but any fan or player of the team will tell you they had a pretty sluggish start even if they notched a win to the tune of 26-6 and remained undefeated.

Over The Mountain

Despite the flooding in Houston, the North Korean acquisition of a thermo-nuclear device, and the ongoing and everyday FUBARs by our President, I made a beeline for Dayton, Wyoming following my class that ended at 2:50 on this first Friday of September. Although it wasn’t the first week of the football season, it was my first week of the season. The truck was packed and gassed up before class and I was looking forward to the drive over the scenic Big Horn Mountains via the ten-percent grades of the “Oh-My-God Highway” (i.e., U.S. Highway 14-A).

The 6:00 start time worried me regarding my ability to arrive on time even though my navigation app told me it was a two-hour drive. Whatever travel time such apps say, I’m pretty sure such estimates should be multiplied by 1.5 when I’m driving since I’m not a fast driver, and I stop often to photograph along the way.

I’d been looking forward to revisiting Tongue River for some time as I haven’t been there since they built the new school and repositioned the gridiron. Standing on the sidelines, I was stumped in this real life “Where’s Waldo” puzzle as I scrutinized the area to detect what had exactly changed when comparing the location of the old field vs. its new location. I would likely need some aerial photography that provided a before and after image of what surely must be subtle changes in the landscape.

Speaking of aerial photography, one of my main objectives in this outing was to capture a strong aerial image of the field with my “high-end” drone—with the Big Horn Mountains as a backdrop. Unfortunately, I was presented with a “firmware upgrade required,” so this drone never left the ground. However, the mission was somewhat salvaged in that I also brought along one of my toy-grade drones and managed to get the attached image included in this post. So, a big sarcastic “thanks” goes out to the DJI firmware upgrade crew for crippling this photo opportunity.

Along with revisiting one of the most scenic locations for a Wyoming high school football game, the Wright Panthers were in town as a worthy opponent for the Eagles, and I’d never seen a game featuring their yellow and black colors with the oversized “W” on their lids.

Wright gave the Eagles a good game, and appeared to have a size advantage, but couldn’t get the win. From my vantage, they seemed to lack the confident and the preparation that is so critical for a first-game of the season. If the two teams meet in the playoffs later this season, I won’t be surprised to hear of Wright winning the second contest.

Perhaps the biggest story of the day was smoke. Forest fires from distant locations to the north and west of Dayton made this quaint little community known for its clean mountain air feel like a typical large city with an inversion problem. I wondered how the air quality was affecting these young adults full of testosterone, playing their first game of the season, while bashing wildly into each other all night. Given such conditions, I concluded they probably didn’t even notice a little air pollution.

Following the game, I queried the staff at the Dayton Sinclair Quick Stop about overnight car camping and followed their advice on the Community Center parking lot. A drive back over the Big Horns in darkness these days is out of the question for a 57-year-old like myself. So, I processed images as I devoured a sandwich and a bag of chips in the dark parking lot before retiring around 10:30.

Early in the morning, I found refuge at the Branding Iron Café in the form of French Toast and coffee before heading over the Big Horns. As I climbed the 14-A mountain road, I concluded that small town high school football trips don’t get much better than this.

Postscript: You can purchase Maltesers (chocolate-covered malt balls that are ten times better than Whoppers) at the Dayton, Wyoming, Sinclair for 49 cents per 1.3 oz. bag. The same bag goes for over $2 at the World Market Store in Billings.

Meeteetse: It Can Be Complicated

The Pronghorns of Farson-Eden made the 200-mile-plus trip to Meeteetse only to find themselves down 53-0 at the half. Hullet and Little Snake River made even longer trips (290 and 306 miles respectively) with results that weren’t quite as lopsided, but nevertheless, lopsided. And to travel that far and lose surely makes for a long and gloomy bus ride back home—arriving in the early morning hours of a Saturday following a Friday night contest. Let’s hear it for the bus drivers as well.

Yet, if some schools have to travel great distances to play Meeteetse on their home field, at some point The Longhorns’ schedule demands they return the favor. So, next week they have a road game in Dubois which will require a three-hour bus ride (and another three hours home). Yet, the ’Horns have two things going for them. First, they are expected to easily win. Second, Dubois doesn’t have lights, so the game will be Friday afternoon providing Meeteetse’s players and coaches a civil arrival time back home in their town of just over 300 residents. Further, if it wasn’t for the high peaks and mountainous terrain of the Shoshone National Forest between the two towns, it would be even a shorter trip (see map sans the longboard advertisement). Such is high school sports in states like Wyoming and Montana.

On a lighter note, Meeteetse is the most misspelled town name in America, but you won’t find it misspelled here. Stick that in your Funk and Wagnalls.

How to pronounce Meeteetse? Check this out.

Ignored, Rejected, or Misunderstood

When I have time, I try hard to put this project out there. Magazines that might be interested for an upcoming issue, publishers that could be enticed, agents that might see some potential, and museums or galleries that are looking for something different—they are all legitimate targets when it comes to pitching them a proposal.

As these things go, most of the time I never get a reply about a query or submission—for all I know, no one ever received what I sent in. Which strikes me as odd in this modern day of easy and abundant communications systems at our disposal—a rant for another day.

Yet, every once in awhile, I actually do get a response. Most of the time it’s just a simple form rejection letter. You know, “Thanks for your submission. Your work is very impressive, but after careful thought we decided it’s not quite right for our …whatever.”

Even less frequent, a real person will write back and specifically mention what I’ve sent. These are the next best things to someone saying, “We want it.”

The other day I received one of those cherished replies from an editor at High Country News and even though a real person replied back, it was clear they didn’t really grasp what my Six-Eight-Eleven project is all about in saying, “We haven’t traditionally run stories about team sports in High Country News, because there often isn’t a distinction about what it means for the Western U.S.”

Sometimes when someone distills this body of work down to something as simple as “team sports” or “sports photography,” I just want to hit them like a tackling dummy. But in this case, after I cool down and compose myself, I try to correct their vision with something like the following:

Your response is what I’m used to hearing, but, let me at least correct you that this body of work is as much about life and living in the West as it is about “team sports.” I tell people that the small town high school football project is simply a lens for looking at the lives and culture of these by-passed and overlooked communities. For example, look at how the dwindling populations lead to declining enrollments in today’s rural schools. This leads to football teams moving from a traditional 11-man game to an 8-man or 6-man game (as with many schools in Wyoming and Montana). Some school enrollments are getting so low in Montana that they form co-ops with schools down the road (20-30 miles often) just to have a six-man team! And beyond these games, there is little else that brings these communities together in one event with the exception of a summer rodeo (if they even have one). Typically, once the high school sports teams are gone, the closing of the school isn’t far behind. And then, what remains for such a town to be a community? I suppose this is what I see in the game of football (no matter how many players are fielded) as an important element in a small town’s struggle to be vibrant and thus viable.

Next year, of Wyoming’s five classes of football—the most competitive will be the smallest with 16 teams. Most of the other classes are lucky to have 12. In Montana, six-man and eight-man play have more teams competing than the other three classes of eleven-man (69 vs. 67).

I'll go as far as to say that the growing number of high schools (and their enrollments) in the largest cities of Montana and Wyoming along with the shrinking enrollment in the smaller schools is a barometer that Western living is becoming more urbanized despite the growing trend that we can work from anywhere in today’s “connected” world.

I see Paonia plays in Colorado’s smallest class of 11-man football. I wonder if you’ve attended a game there to have a look around—beyond the gridiron. Better yet, you might want to wander up the road a ways to a town like Collbran where they play eight-man or if you get over the other side of the hill, check out a six-man game in La Veta or Weston. I think you’ll know what I’m talking about... it’s a bit more than just about “team sports.”

And sometimes—rare as it is, they’ll actually reply back to my reply with something like this:

Thank you for giving me a little more context to the story. With that background I can see how it might fit in as an online gallery (I’m full through the end of this year, but it could work next year.) Can you put together an edit that depicts the culture of these small communities in relation to the field and the teams? These two photos from your flickr page (links to my flickr page) tell quite the story, as well as the photo at the link you just sent. Then I’ll take your edit to the editorial meeting to see what the rest of the team thinks. 

Now, if I can just figure out what they mean by “putting together an edit.”

Photo: Meeteetse Longhorn Starters for 2015

Wibaux: Beyond the Gridiron

Colton Tousignant

During any given week of any given year of the Montana eight-man football season, there’s a good chance the Longhorns of Wibaux are sitting near the top of the polls—if not in the poll position. However, ending the season as owners of that top spot has been rather elusive for the ‘Horns in the past 13 years. So, after seeing them drop title games at Centerville (2006), Chinook (2010) and Ennis (2013), I was delighted to see them crowned champions this year. Honestly, I was starting to think their title-game bad luck had something to do with me. But, they haven’t always come up short when I was around.

In 2006 I made the long trip to Wibaux (342 miles) for the Class C semi-final game between the Longhorns and the visiting Trojans from Drummond. Two years earlier Drummond had stunned visiting Wibaux in a quarterfinal matchup and hadn’t lost a game since the 2002 season. The Longhorns repaid the Trojans that weekend, but beyond the excitement of that particular contest, I also remember the town of Wibaux itself.

***

To say that Wibaux is a rich football town is an understatement. Located on the extreme eastern plains of Montana, there’s no nearby college or professional football venues to distract. Throw in a program with a storied winning tradition and you have the likeness of an Odessa, Texas, or Massillon, Ohio condensed down to a community of 600 or so (and just over 1,000 in the entire county).

Because Veterans Memorial Field at Wibaux is without floodlights, home games are on Saturdays—which means many of the locals are talking football come Friday night. So, just imagine a rich football town like Wibaux on the night before their team hosted the three-peat defending champions. It was pretty crazy as I recall, especially at the Rainbow Club where various TVs were hooked up to VCRs playing back old Wibaux title games that they won in the not-so-distant past. It seemed like everyone came in that night, even one of the coaches. There was a feeling in the air like no other eve of a big game. In short, The Rainbow Club could have hung with any joint on High Street in Columbus, Ohio the night before Michigan comes to town.

This past season, I made the long trip again to witness another rematch—the 2010 title-game between the Longhorns and Sugarbeeters from Chinook—and, once again, for all the marbles.

A Wibaux fan prepares the back of his truck for the big

title game agains Chinook.

After my 2006 visit, I expected the town of Wibaux to be every bit as electric given this was another opportunity to exercise revenge.

I headed out around 6:00 that Friday evening with a visit to the football field for a count of vehicles already parked around its perimeter for Saturday’s game (small town high school football’s equivalent of loge seats). Fifty-seven unoccupied vehicles surrounded most of the field, but there were still openings on the Chinook side. Later I learned that most of the cars and trucks had been there since Monday. This validated what I already knew about Wibaux: they were crazy about their football.

By 6:30, I drove down to the Beaver Creek Brewery expecting to find a line of patrons outside the door, but it looked and felt like “business-as-usual.” The brewery and attached restaurant were operating at a healthy hum, but it wasn’t the hum of a night before a title game as much as it was simply the hum of a typical Friday night when more people dine out. Nevertheless, I rationalized that it was simply too early in the evening, so I took advantage of the civil setting and treated myself to the barbecue brisket on homemade bread from the menu. It was out of this world along with the special Irish cream ale on tap.

I took my time at Beaver Creek and by 8:00 I walked into the Rainbow Club to find it hauntingly subdued. Oh sure, there were folks in there, but like the brewery, it felt like just another Friday night rather than a title-game Friday night. I ordered a Coors (regular) and a pack of wasabi almonds as I waited for the crowd to follow, but an hour and a half later, I was already back in my motel room at the Beaver Creek Inn.

For all I know, perhaps things didn’t really get going until 10:00 that evening, and I can chalk my experience up to the fact that I’m just too old now to be out late. Yet, laying in bed, I wondered… Those TV sets showing old state title games were gone, replaced by cable TV coverage of various sporting events happening in real time. I considered the Internet and cable TV’s prolific reach into our smallest and most remote communities. I was reminded of franchise stores and restaurants and how they homogenize any given community to the point that they all start looking the same. And, those were my last thoughts before I drifted off to sleep.

It’s very possible that Wibaux is a little more subdued these days on Friday nights before a game than say, 2006, but I don’t doubt the victory celebration that followed the title game was anything less than memorable in every conceivable way. With threatening weather forecasted, I decided to make my way home after the game rather than linger and watch the town carry on in its celebration. Though I made it home without incident, it was a regrettable decision.

*** 

For the most part, I’m always pretty neutral given any game I attend—some have argued that, but really, I’ve never had a dog in any of these fights. Yet, in this 2014 eight-man championship game, I found myself pulling for the ’Horns. I know there are those Chinook faithful who believe this to be true because they gave me so much grief back in 2010 on this same blog, but I would have been backing the Longhorns no matter who opposed them in this title contest.

Here’s where I’m coming from: Some would argue that Wibaux has won plenty of state titles over the years and certainly doesn’t need more hardware for their overstuffed trophy case. But when a team consistently returns to the chipper almost like a perennial flower, and comes up short more often than they succeed, it’s easy to get behind them. And, unlike most folk, I’ve seen Wibaux lose more than they’ve won since I started this project in 1997.

A few years ago a friend of mine lectured me on why Jack Nicklaus—and not Tiger Woods—is the greatest golfer of all time. His rationale: when Nicklaus didn’t win, he was right there with the leaders in most tournaments he played. Contrary to that, Tiger Woods wins, but when he doesn’t win, he’s nowhere in sight of the leader board. With that in mind, it’s easy to see how Wibaux is the Jack Nicklaus of Montana football.

Head coach Jeff Bertelsen and sophomore Angus Lund

The truth be known, in my small town travels of Montana and Wyoming, I’ve come to like a lot of teams and almost all the ones I favor have a coach that has served for years. And the best thing about those coaches is they couldn't care less if someone like me favors them or not.

Lastly, I typically cheer for underdogs and Wibaux is constantly an underdog when it comes to enrollment numbers. There are several schools that play six-man with more students than Wibaux, but the Longhorns continue to play eight-man. According to the Montana High School Association, in 2013–14, the two schools that faced Wibaux in the semi-final and championship games this year—Ennis and Chinook—had 108 and 142 students (9–12) respectively while 57 students were enrolled at Wibaux. The only other school to have lesser numbers playing eight-man is Hays-Lodgepole with 51 students. Of those 57 Wibaux students, 28 were listed in the title game program roster, and as far as I could tell, the same number (or close to it) were in uniform too.

So call me a ’Horns fan—I’m OK with it because I like winners and I like underdogs.

Note: As of the time of this writing, I did not find such statistics for the 2014-15 school year, but the numbers are likely similar.

Watching From Afar

This is probably the earliest I’ve ever posted to my football blog. Of course, there’s a reason for it… I cheated. I stayed in the warm confines of my home and listened the the web-based radio broadcast of the Wibaux-Ennis semi-final—a rematch of last year’s title game compliments of KBOW in Butte. Of course, I don’t have any images from the game either, but I didn’t have to make that long drive back in the darkness that comes so early this time of the year when Daylight Savings Time is banished.

Some may have noticed, but for the most part I sat out this season of small town high school football with the exception of attending two games early in the season at nearby Bridger and Fromberg. It was a semi-conscious decision. I even received a couple emails from nice folks who have noticed my absence from the scene. Such correspondences give me hope in all of humanity.

I could blame this sabbatical on my rejuvenated passion for longboarding, or maybe I just needed to take a year off. There were also a few projects around the house that needed attending to as well and the approximate $100/week required to attend any specific contest certainly came in handy. 

I have to say, listening to the game on the radio wasn’t all that bad. I could almost see the game—of course the images burned into my memory from having attended the matchup last year surely helped my radio experience this year.

Despite my resignation from the season, there hasn’t been a week that I haven’t checked the scores from around the two states of Wyoming and Montana. Further, I found myself earlier this week considering the drive to Ennis, but the cold weather turned me back in those final moments of my decision. Even if better weather had been on the scene, I’m unsure if I really would have made the trip. In the back of my mind, there was this little voice that was accusing me of being a hypocrite if I attended—in the same light as someone who attends church on Easter Sunday, but hasn’t attended regularly during the past Sundays. That’s the kind of stuff that goes through my mind.

For now, there’s next week to consider: The MonDak Thunder make another long road trip as they face the defending six-man champs in the Rivals of Geraldine and Highwood. At the same time, Wibaux will be hosting and looking to avenge yet another nasty title-game-loss in the eight-man chipper against the Sugarbeeters of Chinook. To top it all off, the weather forecast looks a little better for next weekend too.

You know, sometimes I can feel incredibly cozy in the shoes of a hypocrite.

Photo: Ennis fans watch the 2013 Montana Class C Eight-Man title game from a house adjacent to the Ennis football field.

Imitation, Flattery, Coincidence, or Outright Plagiarism

Imitation, Flattery,Plagiarism, or Coincidence, a photo by mdt1960 on Flickr.

Parasite:

An organism that lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host’s expense.

• derogatory a person who habitually relies on or exploits others and gives nothing in return.

Some might consider it a light case of plagiarism. I’m too close to the subject at hand, so I’ll leave it up to others.

On the left: my humble and modest self-published book from December of 2011.

On the right: SB Nation’s story on Wibaux and eight-man football in Eastern Montana.

Of all the typefaces available in this digital world (hundreds of thousands), Rockwell Extra Bold (or a clone of it) also landed on the SB Nation piece too... and across the sky.

Coincidence? Maybe. But, SB Nation’s Chris Mottram (see below) who produced the piece comes across as an arrogant tool when the likenesses of these two are presented to him.

Regarding parasites... they are usually small intities feeding off of larger bodies. Perhaps SB Nation represents a model that works the other way.

Broadus To Farson, And No Ketchup

End of the Season

This was a good year in terms of attending small town high school football games in Wyoming and Montana—better than the last two anyway. When it comes to the title game weekend—the last weekend of the season—there is a certain bittersweetness about it all. Despite the anxiety and excitement of that last game, being on the road for eleven of the thirteen weekends that constitute Wyoming and Montana high school football can take its toll on a guy, especially if he’s juggling a full-time job on the side. I’d put it right up there with finishing a marathon (and yes, I have run a marathon).

For the record, I covered 5,623 miles in those eleven weekends. That comes out to 511 miles per weekend. Given there were some years when I covered more ground while other years were less, it’s safe to say this was probably a pretty “normal” year of travel. As one of my colleagues once told me, “That’s a lot of windshield time.”

On a related note, despite their nearly identical distances from my hometown of Powell, Wyoming, why did it seem that Broadus, Montana (261 miles away) was so much farther than Farson, Wyoming (258 miles away)?

Of course those last games of the playoffs also translate into more night-time driving thanks to the end of Daylight Savings Time. During those times, I usually don’t get too far down the road from that Saturday venue before I’m pulling over and calling it a night from the comforts of my car and sleeping bag. My eyes aren’t what they used to be. And, it seems like there’s more big pickups pulling heavy trailers than ever—none of which have adjusted their headlights to their loads (does anyone even do that anymore?). Yet, after that last game, there’s something in me that just wants to get home, despite the excessive darkness and bright oncoming headlights... along with a little voice that says, “C’mon, you can drive in the darkness just this one time.”

Now the season is a memory, and the days keep getting shorter. With no more six-man or eight-man games to live for in the near future, these are the bleakest days of the year for me. At least until December 22 when the days start getting longer again. And, when I stop to think about it, that’s a pretty short period of “downtime” in the course of a year. Perhaps I’ll try increasing my intake of ketchup (with its “natural mellowing agents”) as the commercial on NPR’s Prairie Home Companion suggests.

I’ve already been thinking about next year. Because it has been so long, perhaps I really should try to attend a Wyoming playoff game, but not the title game at that behemoth stadium in Laramie… that’s no place for small town high school football! The semi-final perhaps would be best. Hopefully there will be some good match ups instead of rematches. If a Wyoming playoff game does materialize for me, it’ll be a huge sacrifice given the excitement and drama of the Montana C-8 and C-6 playoffs.

I've got the wheels to ride and the wheels to run,
Some say I got ramblin' in my blood
No pretty girl can slow me down
I'll travel 'till my country home is found…
—“Traveling Song” by The Avett Brothers

Postscript: I’d like to tell you that I meticulously recorded the mileage and other details of each trip, but the truth of the matter is I used distancescalculator.com.

Ennis Passes The Wibaux Acid Test

 It’s a “season” that begins with the fighting of heat and mosquitos, but near its completion, the fight is with a growing cold while each new week brings a stronger opponent.

One could make an argument that either team was deserving of this year’s title. Ennis hadn’t won it all since 1982 (coincidentally against Wibaux). Yet, Wibaux has been knocking on the title door five different times since winning it last in 2001.

In my camp and beyond, there was worry of a title game blowout. Ennis had been playing invincible football all season long. The Billings Gazette’s Slim Kimmel said of the title game, “It’s the matchup we wanted, but Ennis is playing at a completely different level than the rest of Class C 8-Man. Ennis 44, Wibaux 20.” And so for once, the Longhorns were the undisputed underdog coming into the season finale.

As it turned out, Kimmel was right about the winner, but there was no doubt that the Longhorns from Wibaux were playing at the same level as the Mustangs. Every time it appeared the Mustangs were going to put the game out of reach, Wibaux would come back to pull within a touchdown or less.

It was gut check time for Ennis, and from behind their green facemasks, it showed—especially in the second half.

Along with their army of football players, Wibaux brought the wood and heart—and Ennis would need some of their own including their talent and high-octane athleticism to claim the title.

Wibaux had done their homework when it came to keeping talented players like Connor Sullivan, Roy Moen and Reid Farnes out of the end zone, but the Wibaux defense had no answers for Ennis junior quarterback Walker McKitrick—neither his running or passing game (in particular his hookups with senior Chad Johnerson). Johnerson and McKitrick were both slippery and elusive to the Wibaux defense and that was significant. Yet, the Longhorns made the scoring look effortless as well in tallying 56 points on their side of the scoreboard.

Trench warfare between the Mustangs and Longhorns.

Credit the Ennis coaching staff for not resting on their laurels by resorting to a conservative game once they established the lead. They made sure the high-octane Ennis offense maintained their killer instinct, and in turn, that maintained the team’s confidence.

Looking back on the game, I doubt anyone was too surprised in how the Longhorns measured up to the Mustangs. Pound for pound, season after season, Wibaux continually rises to the top; and if not outright on top, certainly near the top. Look at it this way: how long has it been since Wibaux wasn’t in the playoffs?

…sometime in the Dark Ages I’m guessing.

I’ve contemplated this before, but Wibaux is simply the (as in “thee”) standard when it comes to eight-man football in Montana. (I can hear my select Chinook critics now.) Despite any bragging that goes with being a member of championship team, surely there’s a little extra bragging if one of those victories in route to the Montana state title includes vanquishing a Wibaux team—especially if it occurs in the championship match.

Not long ago, some guy in some bar—say Havre, Montana—likely just told someone that he was on the 2002 Scobey state championship team. You can almost hear him say in the same breath, “…and we beat Wibaux in the title game!”

But the day will surely come—maybe even next year—Wibaux will win another title. After falling short in the past, might this future Longhorn championship team be any more special then these past runner up teams? Probably not. Win or lose, they have all served as bearers of a standard that is quintessential Montana eight-man football.

So, congratulations are in order to the Ennis Mustangs. They were victorious over a bona fide and formidable Wibaux team. They have passed the acid test. They have earned the badge. They have passed “GO” and can now collect their $200. Without question, the Ennis Mustangs earned the title of “State Champs.”

Postscript: Here's a nice story on SB Nation about Wibaux's season and eight-man football in Eastern Montana by Jamie Rogers.

Geraldine, Montana: a football Elysium

Savage at Geraldine playoff action.

In the muted light of the Geraldine High School gymnasium, Rivals coaches Rod Tweet and Brandon Gondeiro sat quietly in the bleachers before their Montana Class C Six-Man semi-final game with Savage. It felt like the calm before the storm. Players of the undefeated and number-one ranked Geraldine-Highwood Rivals were casually throwing footballs back and forth to stay loose—dressed in their t-shirts and football pants, sans shoulder pads and helmets.

“They match up with us pretty evenly,” came the subdued response from Tweet when I asked him about undefeated Savage. Their was no over-the-top optimism or impending doom in his voice. Tweet’s comment came across simply as matter-of-fact.

It’s always exciting when two highly touted teams from two different conferences battle in the playoffs, but such meetings don’t always result in an exciting game—as in the Class C Eight-Man quarterfinal game I attended the week earlier between Ennis and Simms.

A couple of hours after that brief visit in the gym, when Savage roared back from a 22-8 halftime deficit to tie the the game at thirty and send the game into overtime, perhaps the least surprised person attending the game was Rod Tweet.

The Savage rally transported me back to 2003 when Geraldine (before their co-op with Highwood) and Custer-Melstone met on the same field for the six-man final. Instead it was the Tigers of Geraldine who ended up rallying from a significant halftime deficit, and winning the title with a final score of 80-78. Coincidentally, in both games the team that was wearing orange and black was the team that overcame their slow, first-half beginnings. However in this semi-final game with Savage, Geraldine-Highwood would survive the rally and answer it with their own rally in the two overtime periods.

It’s always somewhat bittersweet when two football programs of such high caliber play each other in such a fierce and closely battled contest. As a relatively neutral spectator (but fan of the game), I hate to see anyone lose in such conditions.

In those last moments of overtime, after the Rivals secured their second touchdown and PAT, and Savage’s quarterback Paxton Miller was forced out of bounds ending the game, the snow came on cue, like a curtain signaling the end of a theatrical play. As the mayhem of the game’s final seconds was replaced by a post-game hush, both teams circled in the middle of the field and offered up their thanks with the snow coming harder and faster.

I know not every game played on the Geraldine field is an exciting or magical one, but in my little universe I have to wonder if there’s something exceptional about that gridiron ...out there on those high wheat fields of Montana with its dramatic skies and crisp air.

Recently I read a story about the best high school football towns in America. For the most part, they were places I would expect given my slight obsession on this topic. Ranging from Ohio to Texas to the South, the top ten football programs were listed by rank. Yet, after reading the article, I couldn’t help but say to myself, “But they’ve never seen a game in Geraldine.”

…or Savage.

…or Centerville.

…or Denton.

…or Wibaux.

…or Alberton.

…or Drummond, etc.

Postscript: A special thanks goes out to Ty from Savage… you know who you are. He let me borrow a pair of gloves for the game when I realized I was without mine prior to the start of the game.