WHEATLAND and RAWLINS – WHS celebrated both military night and coach Mick Cochran’s 300th win on Thursday during the home game against Torrington. Numerous active duty and retired veterans were recognized for their amazing contributions to our country, community, and schools. Each attendee was announced and thanked by all the players and coaches, as well as a significant round of applause by those attending the games. In addition, coach Cochran was presented with a poster by WHS senior basketball players for his 300th career win as a head basketball coach.
Bulldogs put on quite the show with two extra quarters: a total of two overtimes, to send the Blazers packing. The varsity team is still short a few players due to injuries and there is hope to get them back on the court this week. However, the team worked together to overcome some inexperience in young players and tough seniors from Torrington. The final score was 56-52.
“On Thursday, we played a really good first half,” coach Cochran commented on the game. “The second we got a little careless with the ball at times and Torrington made a comeback that forced two overtimes. We prevailed in overtime, and I really felt like going 22/30 from the free-throw line was paramount.”

Clutch free throws down the stretch really helped the Bulldogs knock off a veteran Torrington squad. Stat leaders for the game were Jacob Miller with 20 points and six boards; Tate Nichols with 16 points and four boards; Kaed Coates added 10 points; Cayden Neely scored three points; and Jake Hyche with seven points and nine boards.
On Saturday the Bulldogs traveled to Rawlins to take on the Outlaws. Rawlins shot the ball really well. Their defense stifled the Bulldog’s offense and forced a lot of out of system play. The Outlaws were able to shoot outside the arc and drive to the basket against the shorthanded Bulldogs.
At the final buzzer the score was 54-38, as WHS came up short.
Coach Cochran stated, “Rawlins was playing inspired. We struggled to get anything going offensively and were once again in foul trouble. That created some obvious mismatches for us and took us out of our initial game plan. We were never able to overcome this, and Rawlins exposed us a bit. They were the better team on Saturday for sure.”
Leaders were: Miller with 16 points and three boards; Coates had seven points; Ayden Lind scored five points with six boards; Hyche had four points; and Neely scored four points.