They’ve been playing a long time. As they used to say in the introduction to the classic police drama Dragnet, “The story you are about to hear is true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.”
Friday’s tilt, make that Friday and Monday’s tilt between Riverton and Lander will go down in the history of this great rivalry as one of the greatest games between the two schools, but it’s not the first time the Wolverines and Tigers had to go to football’s equivalent of extra innings to determine a winner.
In 1997 Riverton edged Lander 24-17 in the only other overtime contest between them. There is a caveat to that statement.
When you play each other 127 times as the Tigers and Wolverines have there must have been other games ending with the score tied. Yes, there were. Dating back to the 1924 season Riverton and Lander played seven times with the game ending in a tie.
That 1924 contest ended 6-6, a year later neither team could score in a 0-0 deadlock.
Back-to-back contests in 1937 and 1938 ended deadlocked as well both 6-6. The 1938 game was played in honor of Armistice Day on November 18 to end the season.
A pair of 7-7 ties separated by two decades marked games in 1940 and 1960. The final tie came in 1963 when former sheriff Tim McKinney, quarterbacking with an injured figure kicked the tying field goal to end the game 9-9.
Riverton and Lander share some uncanny similarities when it comes to overtime and tie ball games. The Tigers and Wolverines both play 25 games each that ended in ties before the overtime tie-breaking rule came into effect.
The two schools also have the same number of overtime games played with 10 each. Riverton is 4-6 all-time in overtime and Lander reversed at 6-4.
The Tigers’ first time came in 1908 with a 6-6 decision against Natrona High School. They tied Natrona again in 1910, 0-0. That same year the Tigers had an interesting loss to Ft. Washakie 5-Lander’s last time came in 1974 in a 6-6 final against the Cody Broncs.
In those early years, both Lander and Riverton played a few vastly different teams than today. Both had Gebo, Midwest, Greybull, Basin, Ft. Washakie, and Ten Sleep on the schedule until the 1950s.
Riverton’s first tie came in the 1924 game against Lander, their final one in 1971 with a 7-7 ending against Rock Springs.
Lander’s overtime games predate the official rule. The Tigers beat Greybull 14-12 in 1931 and Lovell 8-6 in 1955. In those days teams could play an extra quarter to determine the winner, but most often decided the game-winner in the playoffs by total yards. The team with the higher offensive total was declared the winner.
The Tigers’ first modern overtime game, played by the same rules as Monday’s game was a triple overtime win over Green River 16-15 in 1979.
The Tigers fell to Green River 21-14 in 1985, beat Cody 14-7 in 1987, and Jackson 34-31 in 1992.
In one of the strangest post-season games ever played Lander, Cody, and Star Valley all came to Riverton to break a three-way tie for playoff positions at Tonkin Field. Lander beat Cody 13-10 in an extended “overtime” half to advance to the playoffs in 1995. They beat Riverton the following week 35-28 with Wolverine head track coach and stadium announcer Matt Mason quarterbacking the Wolverines. Lander advanced to a state title loss to Star Valley 32-14 the next week.
Star Valley had the Tiger’s number in overtime with a 13-7 win in 1999 and a 17-14 win in double overtime in 2009.
Riverton’s first overtime game was also a triple-overtime affair in a 1982 win over Cody 28-25.
The Wolverines fell to Powell 20-14 in 1986, and Natrona County 23-17 in 1990.
Riverton broke a scoreless regulation game with an overtime touchdown in a 7-0 over Douglas in 1996.
The Wolverines jumped back into Class 4-A for a while and went 1-2 in overtime in the larger division. They fell to Sheridan 24-21 in 2002, beat Cheyenne East in 2003 21-14 then went into triple overtime two weeks later in a 40-34 loss to Gillette. Current Riverton assistant coach Brant Nyberg was the Wolverine head coach in those games.
Closer to the modern era, the Wolverines beat Star Valley 13-10 in 2008, lost to Worland in double-overtime 38-37 in 2009, and fell to Douglas 13 years ago 13-7 in 2019.
The high school record for overtime periods played is a dozen, between two Class 4-A Texas teams, the Fightin’ Indians of Jacksonville and the Nacogdoches Golden Dragons. Jacksonville won the game 84-81 after holding Nacogdoches scoreless in the first half of the 12th overtime period. They kicked a 19-yard field goal on fourth down for the win. The game kicked off at 7:30 pm and ended four-and-a-half hours later at 12:58 am.