Sheridan High School’s football team has a very long and dominant history. The Broncs have the most 4A state championships in Wyoming, standing at 28. The 2023 season continued this legacy, as they finished with an undefeated record for the regular season. The team went 9-0, and a huge part of this success is due to head coach Jeff Mowry. Mowry just had back-to-back undefeated regular seasons. Mowry and the seniors haven’t lost a game in two years. Despite the overwhelming success, they still show up every day, ready to give it their all and not to get too far ahead of themselves. The players and the coaches know that winning does not come easy, and that is why the Broncs have been so successful; because in order to defeat others, they have to work their hardest.
Although the season officially started in August, the Broncs started creating team culture and leadership in June, with all of them heading down to Chadron State University in Nebraska, where they are put through a week of work and dedication. Chadron’s camp not only works on skills needed to play football, it also gets the boys to work on their mental toughness, something that carries them through the season. Chadron is hard work, but the team pushes through day by day, and it shows when they get to tough moments in the season.
Another important part of the team’s success this year is the amount of seniors they have. There are 19 seniors on the football team. “Every single of them are leaders, whether it’s on or off the field,” said Mowry. Some of them fill more of that leadership role in the classroom. A few of them lead in both areas, and the perfect example of this is senior Dane Steel. He is very consistent in the weight room during the summer and takes challenging classes throughout the school year. He plays wide receiver and safety for the team and contributed a lot to the success of this team on and off of the field.
One of Steel’s goals for the season was to win a state championship with his team again, and he hoped his leadership could help get them there. “[I hope to] be able to fill a leadership role that could help our team win a state championship,” said Steel. Steel’s favorite memory of Bronc football is hugging his brother, former player Brock Steel, after winning the championship his sophomore year. Steel has looked up to both of his brothers who used to play SHS football, and through watching them, he has learned what it means to put the team first and how to encourage the people around him to have pride in their work. The seniors’ roles will be hard to fill next year, but there is no doubt that the coaching staff will have their best game plan and the younger classmen are ready to step up when asked.
Not only does Steel do a great job at leading the team, the other seniors also buy into what the culture brings as well as what the coaches expect out of them. The team is constantly watching film in their free time, having meetings at lunch discussing what they can improve on, and simply having pure dedication to reach the potential they all want. The leadership characteristics that the seniors possess have been passed down through the years of being a Bronc, and it is why the football culture is so strong.
This 2023 season will be one for the books. There was some speculation on the team’s success, primarily due to the fact that they lost back to back Gatorade Player of the Year, Colson Coon. But as the season went on, the Broncs kept rolling through their opponents. “It was harder not having him around this year off the field more than on,” said Steel. “Our coaches do an amazing job putting together a game plan, and we had the guys to fill Colson’s shoes on the field, but everyone missed hanging out with him more than anything.” The Broncs successfully made it to the state championship, and on Nov. 11, they faced the Cheyenne East Thunderbirds in Laramie, Wyo. The boys got to play at the War Memorial Stadium, which is a great experience for players in all grades. The game started off to a slow start, with the score only being 7-3 by the end of the first half. The game ended with the Broncs defeating East 31-3; the Broncs finished their season with an undefeated record of 12-0, which completed a 31-game winning streak. The senior class has not lost a game since their freshman year, and this is the team’s third straight winning championship.
The Broncs have been a fun team to watch throughout the season, and the community of Sheridan cannot wait to see the success that will come next.