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News, notes and analysis from Star-Tribune sports reporter Dave Buck
Welcome to Wyoming Part II: High Schools and Colleges
Posted by:
Dave Buck on
November 26, 2007 at
8:48PM EST
I don’t know if I could have started my job at a better time for high school or junior college coverage.
My first weekend on the job was the high school football semifinals. On Friday, I went down to Cheyenne and saw East beat Gillette 35-34 in double overtime in the 5A playoffs. The next day I went to Lusk and covered Riverside’s 10-9 victory against Lusk in the 2A semifinals. The next weekend I wrote previews for the 2A and 5A finals and covered the 2A final between Big Horn and Riverside. Riverside won its first state title in a 21-20 game.
I covered three games and all decided by one point. I don’t think I could have had a better introduction to football in the state. Of course they were the best teams in the state, so they should have been good games, but I don’t think many people can say the first three games they covered were all one-point games.
A few notes about the games:
*It sounds cliché, but you win championships by taking care of the ball and not hurting yourself with penalties. Gillette was called for three penalties in double overtime. One was on offense, but the Camels still scored a touchdown. The others were on defense and gave East first downs. When you give a team extra downs inside the 10-yard line you are going to pay, and Gillette did. Riverside forced multiple turnovers in both games I saw them play and benefited from the turnovers.
*I put in close to 900 miles covering these games. I’m now pretty familiar with the eastern part of the state and I-25…. I saw a few tumbleweeds go across the highway and cracked up each time I saw one… Driving through a state with mountains is more entertaining and beautiful than driving through the cornfields of Illinois, Indiana and Missouri.
*I loved that I couldn't’t get cell phone reception in Lusk, but there were multiple wireless Internet networks I could pick up in the middle of town. I also enjoyed picking Chicago’s WBBM 780 AM while out there. 780 is the main Chicago news radio station. It was nice to hear some familiar voices from home.
*I’m a fan of a neutral site for state championships. In Illinois and Missouri, where I grew up and where I went to college, the state titles were at neutral sites (University of Illinois’s football stadium and at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis). Both these sites allowed ample room for fans, media and gave kids a chance to experience playing at a college or pro stadium. Going to the final in Big Horn slightly changed my view though. First, Big Horn is a beautiful setting for a game. In the fourth quarter you had the sun setting behind the mountains in the background of the field. It was a breathtaking view and I wish I had more time to take it in. Fans drove their cars right up to the field and some people were sitting in truck beds instead of the stands. I hadn’t seen a game where fans could do that and where everyone lined the field. This was a big game in a small town and you could easily tell that. The pressbox, however wasn’t big enough for the scoreboard operator, two radio stations, videographers for both teams and me. A neutral site would.
The idea of covering junior colleges is new to me, but I also haven’t lived in an area where community college had sports teams, let alone good ones. It makes sense to cover Casper College and take all the phone calls that we do from other schools around the state. People need something local to cheer for besides high schools, especially in a state where UW is the only four-year school, and that’s where the junior colleges come in. The Thunderbirds’ women’s volleyball team went to the NJCAA National Tournament a few weeks ago, and we covered it. Laramie County Community College made the NJCAA soccer tournament that same week. The teams are good, so you need to cover them. It makes sense.
Last weekend I covered the UW-Colorado State football game in Fort Collins. You can read about my experiences on YouW.
Those are a few impressions from my first month of the job. I’m not sure what I’ll be blogging about next. It all depends on what I’ll be covering. I am going to be the main high school wrestling guy, so if you have any story ideas or want to talk wrestling, shoot me an e-mail at david.buck@trib.com
Dave
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