Breann Lujan-Halcon
blujanha@uwyo.edu
It was a game some only dream of. Under the stadium lights, in brown and gold end zones, surrounded by stadium seats they had sat in themselves, on a field some may soon make a college career on- it was the championships.
Wyoming 4A High School State Championships were hosted in Laramie at War Memorial Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Sheridan Broncs began the season with a dream, that they would end their season as champions, a feat that had not been met in school history since 2011. On Saturday, the Broncs left Jonah Field achieving that dream and bringing home the 24th championship trophy for Sheridan since 1921.
“They’ve wanted this since they were in seventh grade,” Broncs head coach Don Julian told the Star Tribune, “and they battled and worked and dug, so I’m real proud of them. That’s a great reward for their work.”
Ending the regular season 11-1 overall the Broncs took their victory lap with a nearly perfect record and went home with gold. In a storybook ending made for the big screen, the Broncs faced the Gillette Camels in championship match, the only team they had faltered to all season.
“They came back and left it all on the field and that’s all we asked of them,” Gillette Camels head coach Vic Wilkerson told the Tribune. “Even though the scoreboard didn’t turn out in our favor, this group of young men are going to be winners.”
In week 5, the Broncs fell to the Camels 20-14 on the Camel’s home turf in Sheridan’s only loss of the season. The victory in the championship marked the Broncs first win over the Camels since 2012, Gillette has came out victorious the last five matchups against Sheridan.
“This is mission accomplished, I don’t care,” Sheridan senior quarterback Blake Godwin said. “Undefeated would’ve been good, but ultimately a state championship is what we were trying to get and I don’t think being undefeated would feel any better than this.”
Wyoming Cowboys freshmen, tight end Josh Harshman and strong safety Logan Wilson, both Casper Wyoming natives, know the road from 4A champions to Wyoming Cowboys quite well. Having helped lead the 2014 and 2012 Natrona Mustangs to an undefeated season and the 4A state championship, Harshman and Wilson share a very similar story to the seniors of Sheridan.
On November 15, 2014, the Natrona Mustangs beat the Gillette Camels in the 2014 4A Championships, 30-7 in War Memorial Stadium. This year Harshman has played in 10 games, has 39 yards, and one touchdown for the Wyoming Cowboys.
“At the time I didn’t [see myself being a Cowboy],” Harshman said, reflecting back to his high school champion days under Memorial Stadium’s lights. “I was being recruited at the time but I never really envisioned myself playing there in college. Wyoming was my first choice, I didn’t have many other offers but once I received the offer, I couldn’t pass it up.”
Boasting a varsity roster of 19 seniors bound to graduate in the spring, the chances of seeing one of these Broncs as a future Cowboy is increasingly high.
Rising stars on the Broncs senior roster include Riley Sessions, Blake Godwin, Zach Campbell, Evan Coon and Dante Crow.
Crow, named the championship game player of the game, is also Broncs leader in receiving. Crow, had 10 catches of the championship game and two touchdown receptions one of which was a 75-yard touchdown catch for the 175 yards off of caught passes. Crow finished the game with 288-all purpose yards.
Coon and Sessions are both offensive threats in the Broncs run game. Sessions also tips the leaderboard in Broncs defensive points averaging 10.5 per game.
Quarterback Godwin leads the team in passing with 30 touchdown passes.
Meanwhile, the Wyoming Cowboys football season is still underway but expect to see some former Sheridan Broncs in brown and gold in the very near future.
“I do feel a sense of pride, I’m playing my home state and this is the only division one school in the state,” Harshman said boasting his Cowboy pride. “People around the state care about this team and as a Wyoming native I want to do everything I can to make everyone in the state proud.”
