Middle School football ends tough season

Danette Eppel
Posted 10/23/24

WHEATLAND – The Wheatland Pups’ 2024 season would prove to be one of their toughest seasons to date. Not because of wins and losses, but because over the last 10 years they have built a …

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Middle School football ends tough season

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WHEATLAND – The Wheatland Pups’ 2024 season would prove to be one of their toughest seasons to date. Not because of wins and losses, but because over the last 10 years they have built a reputation of being physical and hard to beat.
Starting at the end of August and playing until the second week in October, the Pups were not able to get games scheduled. Leagues with teams from Casper to Northern Colorado, Laramie to Torrington and several towns in between said they were unwilling to play the Pups until they had their own All Star team built. Something the coaches, parents, and players all found to be very frustrating.
Coach Blaine Eppel said, “We pride ourselves on being physical, and playing football the right way, but we don’t run up scores or take cheap shots. The reality is we have one team because that’s all we have enough players for each year. The kids always work hard, and we have high expectations of them, but they always rise to the challenge and play their best. For teams to not want to play us until their Allstar teams are built is really unfortunate for our kids, the game is about more than winning and losing.”

When asked why they don’t play other towns’ All Star teams, the answer was simple. “We start our winter Middle School sports for the boys on October 14th. I don’t want the kids to have to choose between a club sport and a school sport. If those towns had their Allstar teams ready to play before then, we would play any one of them,” Eppel explained.
The Pups had several weeks to practice and learn the game this year, and while frustrating for many, the kids that stayed learned how to play the game and hone their skills. They showed grit and perseverance through an unknown adversity.
In an unexpected twist of fate, the Pups were finally offered a game the last week of their season where they would travel to Thermopolis to play a tough Bobcats team in their ninth game. The Pups would fall to the Bobcats in their only game of the season.
Coach Erik Eddington acknowledged the difficulties of playing a team with so much more game experience. “We were a little anxious. It was easy to see that the kids were pressing and just out of sync to start. Unfortunately, we didn’t have our full team able to make the game, so we had some guys in new positions and many of those guys were first year guys, playing in their first-ever tackle football game. They fought hard and did a lot of things right, we just couldn’t match the experience of Thermopolis.” The Pups will be back next year willing and ready to play anyone who’s willing.