They played twice in 2022, and the same in 2021. They’ve played 58 times since the consolidation of Morton and Pavillion in 1969, and they’ll play again this Friday at 5:00 p.m. in Shoshoni.
The Shoshoni Wranglers and the Wind River Cougars have one of the best rivalries in all of Wyoming prep football, and this time there is a lot more at stake than Fremont County bragging rights.
The Cougars are 6-0, 5-0 in the West 9-man Conference, the Wranglers are 0-6 overall on the field, but have a pair of forfeit wins. Playoffs are not a consideration this season with the Cougars guaranteed to host in the opening round, and likely the semi-finals as well. The Wranglers are out of the playoff picture after losing to Rocky Mountain, Greybull, Riverside, and Big Piney in conference play.
Wind River has yet to play Rocky Mountain but blew out Greybull via the running clock and won close games with Riverside and Big Piney.
The series is tied at 29-29, a series that officially began on September 26, 1969, with a 44-24 Cougar win.
The game has been played on six different fields when you include the Morton Broncs and Pavillion Panthers in the series, the two schools that combined in 1969 to create Wind River.
Pavillion and Morton both had fields, with Wind River playing at Morton, then a new field at Pavillion where Wind River Elementary now sits, and finally at Leroy Sinner Field.
Shoshoni played at their present location and the original Bailey Field.
Shoshoni has a much deeper football history.
The Wranglers opened varsity football with a 26-0 loss to the Gebo Miners in 1930. Gebo is now a ghost town.
On a wet October afternoon in 1941, Shoshoni beat Pavillion 43-12 in a 6-man game in the first meeting between the two communities.
Shoshoni routed Morton in their first meeting in 1952 53-0.
Over the years the schools have played 6-man, 8-man (from 1967 to 1972), 11-man, and now the last two seasons the 9-man version of the game.
Shoshoni finished with an 8-2 lifetime record against Pavillion and a 12-7 mark with the Morton Broncs.
Shoshoni has a seven-game win streak entering this week’s game. There have been streaks throughout the years. From 1971 to 1974 the Cougars won six straight, they often played each other twice in those days.
The teams have met three times in the playoffs with all three at Shoshoni and the Wranglers winning 28-18 in 2000 in the opening round, 27-0 in the semi-finals in 2021, and 40-6 last year.
That’s the history of the rivalry, what can we expect this Friday?
“It’s been fun, it’s like reuniting the last few years we were so stacked with upperclassmen,” Shoshoni head coach Tony Truempler said. “These kids have been in the system a long time, they just haven’t had much playing time. We’ve had some bumps and bruises.”
The Cougars are looking forward to ending the Wrangler winning streak. Shoshoni “graduated the farm” as the two agricultural communities often say and are deep in a rebuilding year.
Still, it’s a rivalry game and predictions don’t often hold up to reality.
“Missing our first two games was tough, but the last four weeks our line is improving every game and every practice, our two quarterbacks are starting to mesh,” Wind River head coach Rod Frederick said.
Wind River started the season with scouts claiming the Cougars would be a one-dimensional team with just senior running back Cooper Frederick gaining all the yardage. Head coach Rod Frederick had different ideas and as the season has progressed Cooper doesn’t run the ball very much at all. He moved to quarterback and throws to a bevy of talented receivers in Joaquin Stevens, Chris Burk, Blake Snyder, Rowdy Shearer, and Aidan Ruby. He still runs the ball well, but junior Brayden Tatro now packs the mail as often as Frederick does. Stevens and Burk run well too.
“Any team can win, anyone can beat anyone in 9-man on any given Friday,” Truempler said. “It’s a new look for them because we didn’t have to worry about the pass in years past.”
Shoshoni runs behind sophomore running back Carson Kisling, but the yardage has been hard to get with Kisling averaging barely over a yard a carry in some contests. Braxton Mills has two good targets in Quinton Clark and Oakley Hicks. Wileo Philleo who played for Wind River as a freshman is a growing threat on the ground for Shoshoni this season.
Defensively, Wind River’s line and linebackers do the bulk of tackling while Shoshoni’s defense is often open field hits by the secondary.
They’ve played each other since sixth grade many times, but all records go out the window in a rivalry like this one.
“When it’s a rivalry game the kids want to get in and play, all it takes is the wrong bounce on the ball for things to change,” Frederick said.
It should be a full house Friday for a cold, wet contest at Bailey Field.