Greybull, Riverside rivalry at a crossroads

In addition to the playoff implications, Friday night’s Greybull-Riverside game could also have some historical significance as it could be the last time the two south Big Horn County rivals meet on the gridiron.

A merging of the football programs has been discussed in recent weeks as Riverside grapples with low numbers and the prospect of a return to six-man football for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years.

Both programs are fielding nine-man teams this season. Despite having fewer kids, the Rebels have fared well in the rivalry of late, winning the last two after Greybull reeled off eight straight between 2008 and 2020.

Two years ago, with an ADM at the time of 74.33 which would have made them eligible to play six-man football, the Rebels chose to opt up, believing at the time that nine-man was best for their program. 

As for Friday’s game, fans who show up will see more names on the right side of the program than on the left.  Greybull began the year with 34 kids, Riverside with 22.  But Riverside’s roster is top heavy with four seniors and eight juniors.  Greybull’s is much younger, with 25 of its 34 players being either freshmen or sophomores.

The new ADM figures, which the Wyoming High School Activities Association will use for 2024-25 and 2025-26 reclassification, show Greybull at 138, Riverside at 76 and Burlington at 65.

For the next two years, a nine-man football landscape is proposed with six teams in the West and seven in the East. Greybull would be in the West along with Big Piney, Rocky Mountain, Shoshoni, Wind River and Wyoming Indian, while Guernsey, Lingle, Lusk, Pine Bluffs, Saratoga, Southeast and Wright would play in the East.

St. Stephens would play either a nine- or six-man JV schedule.

Riverside has already informed the WHSAA that it will not opt up again, so for at least the next two years, the Rebels will be in the same six-man West Conference as Burlington, Hulett, Kaycee, Meeteetse, Midwest and Ten Sleep.

Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess.

Greybull Supt. Mark Fritz said Big Horn County School District No. 4 officials initiated the discussion of merging the programs and whether it would be in the best interest of both districts.

With Riverside facing a deadline to inform the WHSAA of its intent to opt up, the group was unable to come to a consensus to take to their full boards but agreed to talk again later.

“The timeline wasn’t there for us to say, ‘Let’s co-op and do this,’ but we had a good discussion,” said Fritz. “We recognized that we’re all kind of in the same boat.

“From our perspective, we have enough kids to play and have a good program, but at the same time, we want our freshmen and sophomores playing other teams’ freshmen and sophomores and our juniors and seniors playing their juniors and seniors,” said Fritz.  “When you have to play a bunch of your freshmen and sophomores against seniors, it’s not a good thing. Some decide they don’t want to play anymore after going through it.”

If Greybull and Riverside merged, however, their combined ADMs would push them into the 2A ranks and 11-man football.   For the next two years, that neighborhood will consist of Lovell, Lyman, Mountain View, Pinedale, Thermopolis, Worland, Cokeville (opting up), Big Horn, Burns, Glenrock, Moorcroft, Newcastle, Tongue River, Upton-Sundance and Wheatland.

Whether the Buffs want to return to that classification remains to be seen.  Fritz said the schools will continue to talk about it over the next couple of years, adding that recent talks “just cracked the door open a bit.”

Fritz mentioned Upton-Sundance as a good comp.  Sundance has an ADM of 127, Upton an ADM of 77.   Six weeks into this season, that co-op of schools separated by 25 miles has produced a 3-3 record and sits on the periphery of the playoff chase.

Fritz pointed to the success of the Greybull-Riverside wrestling program, which has captured one state title and been in the mix for several others, as a reason to explore a potential football collaboration.

Other sports

Football isn’t the only sports that will experience change as a result of reclassification.  In basketball, volleyball and track, Greybull will remain in 2A team and Riverside a 1A team, but each of them will see new teams join their conference.

Currently there are 16 teams in 2A and 22 in 1A. Under the proposed realignment, 2A would experience a net loss of two teams. 

While gaining Thermopolis and Moorcroft, the 2A ranks would lose Burns, St. Stephens, Lingle-Fort Laramie and Lusk.  Burns would move up to 3A; the other three would drop down to 1A.

Greybull AD Nolan Tracy said the plan is to create two four-team leagues on the western side, with Thermopolis joining Greybull, Rocky Mountain and Shoshoni in the Northwest and Wyoming Indian, Wind River, Big Piney and Kemmerer comprising the Southwest.

The remaining six 2A teams (Big Horn, Sundance, Tongue River, Wright, Pine Bluffs and Moorcroft) would form the Northeast and Southeast conferences.

The new 1A classification would consist of 22 teams: Lingle-Fort Laramie, Saratoga, St. Stephens, Lusk, Southeast, Upton, Riverside, Cokeville, Burlington, Hanna, Guernsey, Midwest, Snake River, Dubois, Farson, Hulett, Ten Sleep, Encampment, Rock River, Kaycee, Meeteetse and Arvada-Clearmont.