Wyoming Spotlight: State Championships begin at University of Wyoming with Mountain View win in 2A (PHOTO GALLERY)

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Sykotyk | November 15, 2025

Already, some states around the country are playing for their state championships. On Thursday, South Dakota started this week. North Dakota also crown champions out west. Four games on Friday in North Dakota while Wyoming opens with a doubleheader at University of Wyoming. A tripleheader awaits on Saturday.

Before 2009, Wyoming was one of a few remaining states that played championship games at the venue of one of the teams playing. Today, only Montana and New Mexico still practice this form of championship game venue selection. Coinciding with the move to a single location, Wyoming also started 6-man football across the state. Since 2009, they’ve also added 9-man, effectively restructuring 1A as an 11-man classification into 1A 9-Man, and relabeling 6-man as 1A 6-Man. Giving teams in the former 1A 11-man the option to opt-up to play 11-man in 2A.

Overall, though, the move to Laramie has been a success in execution. Despite it’s location along the southern tier of Wyoming, roughly 90 miles from Nebraska and only a few dozen north of Colorado, the city of Laramie holds a special place for Wyomingites. As it’s the home of the state’s preeminent university, and the only Division I sports teams in the state.

This does create some extreme travel. The likes of which Pennsylvanians wouldn’t seem all that comfortable. Many talk about when Erie Cathedral Prep would make the trip to Hershey in the past, yet Big Horn (292 miles) and Mountain View (279 miles) had nearly as long trips as Cathedral Prep (309 miles). But those were run-of-the-mill distances. In the Friday night game, Star Valley traveled the furthest in the state, going 389 miles from Afton to Laramie. While Cody traveled 358 miles.

And even the old standard of hosting at the higher seed that despite their apparent location on an atlas, the two towns via roads in Wyoming’s mountainous northwestern region, would still be 367 miles. While Big Horn and Mountain View are 438 miles apart. And that’s still not the longest distance between opponents this weekend.

The people that think Pennsylvania is a ‘big state’ when compared to the other small eastern states like Delaware or New Jersey, or even Maryland, fail to realize how big the geometrically straight-lined ‘big block’ states out west really are. Wyoming is a huge expanse of land, with a population less than half that of Allegheny County in Pennsylvania.

The drive to Laramie is not the burden to appears to someone from Erie. Or Pittsburgh. Or Scranton. Or anywhere in between. It’s just a reality of the locale. If you want to go someone, you measure in hours

Another reality of Wyoming is the weather. And despite the forecast this weekend of incredibly warm high temperatures, the games are played mostly mid-day. This can allow for two things: easier travel to and from. And more games in the daylight hours when hopefully it would be warmer.

And on Friday at noon, kicked off the 2025 state championships for the Wyoming High School Activities Association.

The opening game was between the defending champion Big Horn Rams and the Mountain View Buffalos in Class 2A. The smallest 11-man classification still in the state. Big Horn are nine-time state champions, while Mountain View are six-time state champions.

Now, I didn’t get every score-update of the game, but here’s the game flow:

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Mountain View stayed toe-to-toe with Big Horn. Justus Platts was the key factor and wore down Big Horn as the game went on. Culminating with his 97 yard touchdown run that electrified the crowd and gave the Buffalos some breathing room, up 27-17 late in the third quarter.

Up 34-24 late in the game, Big Horn scored quickly, and after another Justus Platts touchdown from 32 yards out, scored again with 1:10 left on a deflection to trail by just 3. Mountain View was able to run out the clock, though, and avoided an last minute scoring dreams for the Rams. Mountain View wins, 41-38 in a classic.

In the night game, for the 3A Championship, Star Valley and Cody battled for the fourth straight year against one-another. Star Valley winning 4 straight titles now with a 26-21 victory over Cody. Between the two, Star Valley and Cody have held exclusive ownership of 3A, with either one winning the state championship since 2014.