When the school bell rang at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, the Big Piney football players climbed aboard a yellow school bus and set out on an 800-mile round trip across Wyoming for one football game.
The Punchers are traveling to the opposite side of the state to play the Pine Bluffs Hornets in the first round of the Class 1A 9-Man playoffs Friday.
The itinerary calls for a night in Laramie, a walkthrough after they arrive, another walkthrough Friday morning, then the final push to Pine Bluffs. After the game, they'll head to Cheyenne for another hotel stay before finally pointing the bus west toward home.
It takes two nights and 27 hotel rooms to get the Punchers there and back.
By the time they return, the football team will have traveled more than 2,000 miles this season.
For coach Jeremy Moffat, the Pine Bluffs trip is less about how far his players have to go than why they're willing to in the first place.
“We're just happy to be on the field," he said.
Three Hours Is Close
When the Punchers played in Class 2A, Moffat said their schedule included Pinedale, Kemmerer, Lyman, Mountain View and Cokeville.
Then Big Piney moved to 9-Man, putting it in a conference with schools scattered farther across the state.
“Our closest conference game is three hours away,” Moffat said.
That's changed the rhythm of a football season.
Big Piney's fall activities calendar reads like a road map, sending students to Evanston, Big Horn, Thermopolis, Jackson, Green River and Kemmerer.
Basketball and volleyball teams sometimes travel 422 miles one way to Sheridan for tournaments — even farther than the football team's trip to Pine Bluffs.
In a place like Big Piney, distance isn't an occasional complication of high school sports. It's built into them.
Activities secretary Lori Green added, "I think we are all just used to it at this point."
'It's A Grind'
The challenge for Moffat is figuring out how to get teenage football players off a bus and ready to hit somebody after hours of sitting.
“It's a grind,” he said. On long same-day trips, they try to arrive about two hours before kickoff. The bus will stop somewhere along the way — even a Walmart — to let players walk around and get their legs moving.
The ride takes a toll.
“It's pretty hard for them to get up that first quarter,” Moffat said.
The other challenge is happening between their ears.
The coach doesn't want a player spending six hours on a bus thinking about the game the whole time. Get too worked up too early, he said, and a teenager can exhaust himself mentally before kickoff.
He encourages them to nap, hydrate, talk, and think about anything besides football.
They've gotten pretty good at playing cribbage.
“I really think it builds that bond and that chemistry, and that can translate onto good play on the field,” he said.
The boys aren't always thrilled about another afternoon staring out a bus window.
“Some of them get pretty sick of it,” Moffat said. “I'll be honest.”
Still, he believes there's something valuable in learning to endure the part that comes before the game.
“I think it teaches them a discipline and a sacrifice and just a mental toughness,” he said.
Their Lucky Driver
The person watching it through the rear-view mirror is Jannie Comyford, the Punchers' bus driver.
She's driven for every Big Piney football road game this season.
“I was told when we won the first game that I couldn't leave them,” she said. “I'm their good-luck charm, so I've been everywhere with them.”
Since then, Comyford has become a fixture on the road with the team.
She wakes up early, packs a lunchbox and snacks for the team, grabs her coffee before kissing her 14½-year-old dog goodbye, and reports to the bus for a pre-inspection.
Once everything is ready, Comyford goes to pick up "my boys," as she calls them.
Pine Bluffs will be her longest football assignment yet.
“It's exciting and it's also stressful,” she said. “I have so much precious cargo on that bus."
‘They're All My Kids’
Comyford gets a perspective on the players most people don't.
She hears the noise on the way out of town fade as players fall asleep, then pick back up again as they get closer.
About an hour before a game, the phones start disappearing.
The boys have a boombox and their own pregame routines.
“They were a team in the beginning, and now they're more like a family,” she said. “The bond is just incredible.”
At games, parents who don't know Comyford sometimes ask which player is hers.
She tells them, “They're all my kids."
The Punchers, she says, are exceptionally polite. They tell her, “Thank you, ma'am,” when they get on and off the bus. They'll ask whether she needs anything when they stop at a store. They help with garbage and wash the bus windows.
Comyford chokes up talking about them.
“This team and these coaches take such good care of me,” she said. “I don't even know what to do half the time.”
When she's driving, she gets to see a side of the season few spectators ever do. The wins make for a one-of-a-kind ride home.
The losses are tough.
Not Just Big Piney
Mountain View coach and activities director Dustin Rees calculated that his football team will have traveled 2,830 round-trip miles this season after this week's playoff game at Burns.
That includes 716 miles round-trip to Lovell, 604 to Casper, 512 to Thermopolis and 708 for this week's trip to Burns.
“Long road trips are part of sports in Wyoming,” Rees said.
The Buffalos leave Mountain View at 8 a.m. Friday, stop in Wamsutter for a break, eat lunch in Laramie and continue to Cheyenne before heading to Burns for a 6 p.m. kickoff.
They'll stay in Cheyenne afterward and expect to arrive home around 1 p.m. Saturday.
Two buses will make the trip.
Rees isn't concerned that the distance will affect his players.
“We are used to long trips,” he said. “It should have NO impact on how we play.”
His bigger logistical concern is finding places to eat after the games are over.
Fortunately, he said, this time they're staying in Cheyenne.
Ten Sleep's Turn
Ten Sleep's playoff journey is another version of the same Wyoming problem.
The Pioneers left at noon Thursday for their game against Little Snake River in Baggs.
It's about 315 miles one way, but activities director Ernie Beckley expects the bus to cover roughly 650 miles by the time the trip is over.
The roster aboard is tiny: 14 players, two coaches and Beckley — who, by the way, is also the driver.
The team will spend Thursday night in Rawlins and expects to return home around 10 or 10:30 p.m. Friday.
It's roughly six hours each way in a school bus.
“The seats are not comfortable at all and it's not easy to get truly rested on a long trip,” he said.
The school expects to spend about $3,250 to $3,500 on the trip, including transportation, lodging and other expenses.
“And we're a small team,” Beckley said. “It's a significant expenditure for a small school like ours.”
Ten Sleep, like many districts, also has a limited pool of drivers.
When Beckley takes an activity trip, someone has to cover his regular route. The people who can substitute often have other jobs, meaning schedules have to line up.
This week, Beckley's relief expects to be finished hauling sugar beets before Friday, so the playoff trip shouldn't create much of a problem.
The district also has only two activity buses.
“Some juggling has to occasionally happen between available drivers,” he said.
It's one of countless little calculations behind a game that, to spectators, begins at kickoff.
“This is Wyoming and our schools are spread out over a large area,” Beckley said, “so travel is just a part of life.”
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
