Sports
Examining Playoff Scenarios For North-Central WY Football Teams 2024
Published
7 hours agoon
One game remains in the 2024 Wyoming High School Football season.
Some teams are in the playoffs and have their spot locked up, others are in, but their spot could get better or worse, a few are still battling to get in the post-season, and the rest are done for the season after this weekend.
With one game left, 2 teams from North-Central Wyoming (Sheridan and Big Horn) are assured of going to the playoffs and have locked up #1 seeds, 2 others are on the bubble (Buffalo and Kaycee) and Tongue River has been eliminated.
For those teams that make it into the post-season, which team could be their first round opponent?
Tie-Breaker Rules:
- Head-to-head.
- In a 3-way tie, did one team beat the other 2 or lose to the other 2? If so, that team moves up or down. Revert back to head-to-head for the remaining 2 teams.
- In a 4-way tie (or more) check head-to-head record vs. other tied teams. Whichever team(s) have an advantage or disadvantage, that team(s) moves up or down accordingly. Revert back to 3-way tie, or head-to-head tie if needed.
- If tie hasn’t been resolved, check head-to-head record vs. highest team in the conference not involved in the tie (or next highest, next highest, etc…)
- Check point differential of when the tied teams each played each other (maximum 12 points…if team A beat team B by greater than 12 points, team A is credited with a +12, while team B is credited with a -12).
- 3-way coin flip. Odd flip of the coin loses. Revert back to start of tie-breaking procedure for the remaining teams.
Click here to see standings through week 7
Sheridan: The Broncs are locked in at the #1 seed for the playoffs, meaning Friday’s game at Laramie is worthless, as far as the post-season is concerned. It’s a different story for the Plainsmen, who are not yet in, but haven’t been eliminated either.
Cheyenne East and Campbell County play each other at Gillette, in a battle for the #2 and #3 seeds.
Natrona County is locked in at #4, thus nothing changes if the Mustangs win or lose at home vs. Cheyenne Central.
Thunder Basin, Kelly Walsh and Rock Springs are in a 3-way tie for the #5, #6 and #7 spots, while Laramie and Cheyenne Central are tied for #8 and #9, and trail the other 3 by 1 game in the standings.
RS and KW play each other this Friday at Casper, while TB hosts Cheyenne South, who has already been eliminated.
TB won head-to-head vs. RS, Laramie and Cheyenne Central, but lose vs. KW.
KW won head-to-head vs. TB, and Laramie, but lose vs. Cheyenne Central.
RS won head-to-head vs. Cheyenne Central and Laramie, but lose vs. TB.
Laramie won head-to-head vs. Cheyenne Central, but lose vs. TB, KW and RS.
Cheyenne Central won head-to-head vs. KW, but lose vs. TB, RS and Laramie.
Below is an examination of what the first round of the playoffs would look like, depending on which teams win and which teams lose (we’re skipping the possibility that Laramie will beat Sheridan and Cheyenne South will beat Thunder Basin).
Sheridan wins, TB wins, KW beats RS, Cheyenne Central loses:
KW is the #5 seed over TB, due to head-to-head win and will play at Natrona. TB is #6 and will travel to the Cheyenne East-Campbell County loser. RS is #7 and will travel to the Cheyenne East-Campbell County winner. Laramie is #8 over Cheyenne Central due to head-to-head win and will travel to Sheridan. Cheyenne Central is eliminated.
Sheridan wins, TB wins, KW beats RS, Cheyenne Central wins:
KW is the #5 seed over TB due to head-to-head win and will play at Natrona. TB is #6 and will travel to the Cheyenne East-Campbell County loser. RS gets #7 seed over Cheyenne Central due to head-to-head win and will travel to the Cheyenne East-Campbell County winner. Cheyenne Central is #8 and will travel to Sheridan. Laramie is eliminated.
Sheridan wins, TB wins, RS beats KW, Cheyenne Central loses:
TB is the #5 seed over RS due to head-to-head win and will play at Natrona. RS is #6 and will travel to the Cheyenne East-Campbell County loser. KW is #7 and will travel to the Cheyenne East-Campbell Count winner. Laramie gets #8 seed over Cheyenne Central, due to head-to-head win and will travel to Sheridan. Cheyenne Central is eliminated.
Sheridan wins, TB wins, RS beats KW, Cheyenne Central wins: TB is the #5 seed over RS due to head-to-head win and will play at Natrona. RS is #6 and will travel to the Cheyenne East-Campbell County loser. Cheyenne Central gets #7 seed over Kelly Walsh due to head-to-head win, and will travel to the Cheyenne East-Campbell County winner. Kelly Walsh is #8 and will travel to Sheridan.
Long story short: Assuming Sheridan and TB win, if Central loses at Natrona, then Sheridan will play Laramie. The RS-KW game becomes irrelevant.
Big Horn: The Rams are locked into the East #1 seed, meaning Friday’s game at Upton-Sundance is worthless, as far as the post-season is concerned.
Worland and Thermopolis: One of these 2 teams will be BH’s first round opponent. In the west, Mountain View, Lovell and Cokeville are jockeying for the #1, #2 and #3 seeds. Both Worland and Thermopolis and tied for #4 and can’t catch up any of those 3 teams in the standings. Worland has head-to-head tie-breaker vs. Thermopolis. Worland plays at home vs. Kemmerer, while Thermopolis plays at Pinedale. If Worland wins, the Warriors are in the post-season and will travel to BH. If Worland loses, the Warriors are out, Thermopolis is in and will travel to BH. It doesn’t matter if Thermopolis wins or loses vs. Pinedale. All Thermopolis needs is for Worland to lose. There are 2 reasons for this. If Worland loses and Thermopolis wins, Thermopolis would have a better conference record than Worland. If Worland and Thermopolis both lose, the 2 teams would be in a 3-way tie with Kemmerer (Worland beat Thermopolis, Thermopolis beat Kemmerer, Kemmerer beat Worland). Checking record vs. highest team in the conference not involved in the tie, Thermopolis would get the West #4 seed, because the team has a win vs. Mountain View, whereas Worland and Kemmerer don’t. All 3 teams lost vs. Lovell and Cokeville.
Tongue River: The Eagles have been eliminated from post-season contention. The season is over after Friday’s home game vs. Glenrock.
Buffalo: The Bison are in a do or die game on Friday at Lander. The winner is in the post-season as the #4 seed from the East, and will travel to West #1 seed Star Valley in the first round. The season is over for the Buffalo-Lander loser. Douglas, Riverton and Torrington are jockeying for the #1, #2 and #3 seed in the East, and the Buffalo-Lander winner can’t catchup to them in the standings.
Kaycee: Meeteetse and Midwest are currently tied for the East #3 and #4 seeds, with Kaycee 1-game behind. Kaycee beat Meeteetse, but lost vs. Midwest. Meeteetse beat Midwest. Kaycee plays Saturday at Ten Sleep and will know ahead of time, if they still have a shot to make the playoffs or not. Meeteetse plays Friday at Riverside, while Midwest plays Friday at home vs. Burlington. Long story short, Kaycee needs 2 things to happen in order to make the playoffs. Win on Saturday and hope Meeteetse loses on Friday. It doesn’t matter what Midwest does. Any other scenario results in Kaycee missing the playoffs.
Kaycee, Meeteetse, Midwest 3-way tie: Kaycee wins the point differential tie-breaker with a differential of +9. Meeteetse has a differential of 0 and Midwest has a differential of -9. Meeteetse would get #4 seed over Midwest due to head-to-head win. Midwest would be eliminated.
Kaycee wins, Meeteetse loses, Midwest wins: Midwest get the East #3 seed and would travel to the Little Snake River-Encampment loser. Kaycee gets the East #4 seed over Meeteetse due to head-to-head win and would travel to the Little Snake River-Encampment winner. Meeteetse is eliminated.
Kaycee wins, Meeteetse loses, Midwest loses: This creates a 3-way tie for the East #3 and #4 seeds. Kaycee wins the point differential tie-breaker for the East #3 seed, and would travel to the Little Snake River-Encampment loser. Meeteetse would get #4 seed over Midwest due to head-to-head win and would travel to the Little Snake River-Encampment winner. Midwest would be eliminated.
