1A 9-Man Football Champ. Preview: #1 Lingle vs. #2 Pine Bluffs

Saturday’s Class 1A-9 Man State Championship football game in Laramie is the one title game this weekend where two new teams square off. The top-ranked Lingle-Fort Laramie Doggers take on conference foe and the No. 2 Pine Bluffs Hornets for the 9-man championship. These two schools have never played each other for a state football title.

WYOPREPS CLASS 1A 9-MAN FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW 2024

Lingle is in its first state championship game since 2009. That was the first year that all five title games came to Laramie. The Doggers lost that game in a blizzard to Southeast, 27-20. By contrast, Pine Bluffs will make its fourth appearance in the Gem City. All of them have come in the last eight years.

The two SEWAC foes met in Lingle Week 7 of the 2024 season. The Doggers edged the Hornets on a last-second field goal, 30-27.

WyoPreps received more insight into both teams from the two head coaches before the game. We spoke to Brandon Gifford of Lingle-Ft. Laramie and Will Gray from Pine Bluffs.

Team Info & Series History:

Lingle-Fort Laramie (10-0) – Brandon Gifford: 4th year as head coach; 1 state championship in school history; the Doggers won the Class 1A 9-Man crown in 1990 (35-20 over Dubois). Lingle is making their 4th title game appearance (1978, 1990, 2009). They are 1-2 in championship games. It is the Doggers’ second trip to Laramie for a title game.

Pine Bluffs (9-1) – Will Gray: 14th year as head coach; 3 state championships in school history; the Hornets won the championship in 2022; that was their last title game appearance (33-27 victory over Shoshoni). It is their seventh overall appearance in a state championship game. Pine Bluffs is 3-3 all-time in football title games. The Hornets have won the last three they have played in. It is the fourth trip to Laramie for a championship game (2016, 2017, 2022).

The Doggers lead the all-time series, 41-26-2. They first played each other in a varsity game in 1949. Saturday is the second postseason meeting between the two schools. The first was in a half-playoff game (10-25-11) in Douglas. Lingle won that game 7-0. The Doggers have won the last two games in the series.

Team Stats per game:

Lingle-Ft. Laramie Pine Bluffs

Rush Offense = No. 1 (310 yards per game) No. 4 (244)

Pass Offense = No. 9 (76) No. 1 - tie (154)

Total Offense = No. 2 (385) No. 1 (398)

Scoring Offense = No. 1 (52 pts per game) No. 2 (51.3)

Rush Defense = No. 1 (101) No. 2 (117)

Pass Defense = No. 9 (102) No. 1 (62)

Total Defense = No. 2 (203) No. 1 (179)

Scoring Defense = No. 1 (10.3) No. 2 (12.2)

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Key Players:

Lingle-Ft. Laramie = Kaiden Riggs – 119.3 rushing yards per game, 19 TDs, 174.2 all-purpose yards per game & 24 total TDs, and 40.6 kick-off return yards per game, 3 TDs; Louden Bremer – 129.2 rushing yards per game, 20 TDs, 153.4 all-purpose yards per game & 22 total TDs, and 18.7 punt return yards per game, 1 TD; Brady Cook – 75.7 passing yards per game, 11 TDs & 1 INT; Cooper Smith – 23.4 defensive points per game – ranks No. 2.

Pine Bluffs = Carsten Freeburg – 149.5 passing yards per game, 18 TDs, 4 INTs, and 203.7 all-purpose yards per game, 13 rush TDs; Shawn Shmidl – 31 rec. for 629 yards, 12 TDs; Justin Lerwick – 27 rec. for 416 yards, 3 TDs; Jesus Solis – 124.1 all-purpose yards per game, 18 TDs, 28.6 punt return yards per game, 2 TDs, and 19.7 kick return yards per game; Justin Lerwick – 16.5 defensive points per game – ranks No. 12.

The kick-off is at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Laramie.

Series history information is Courtesy of Wyoming-football.com.