By KARLA POMEROY
Five Riverside Rebels earned 1A West All-Conference honors and two earned All-State honors in teams announced last week.
Coach Michael McGuire said in an interview last Thursday that seniors Bobby Anderson, Mike Herebia and Payton Vigil were among the 36 players named to the 1A West All-Conference Team, along with junior Ben Anson and sophomore Brynnt Wood. Anderson and Herebia received 1A All-State honors.
McGuire said the coaches, meeting last Tuesday, select the top 35-40 players regardless of position.
Anderson started the season handling running and punting duties, as well as playing defensive end. Midway through the season, Anderson was moved to the offensive line. Anderson led the conference in punting with 39.5 total average and 33 yards net average. He had 74 yards rushing on 28 carries on the season. He had three receptions for 22 yards.
On defense he averaged 16.8 points per game, 7.3 tackles per game with 50 assisted tackles and 24 solo tackles. He had 13.5 tackles for loss on the season.
“He was one of the best offensive linemen we’ve had,” McGuire said of Anderson’s new position this season. As a defensive end, he was always assigned the wide side of the field and did a “great job.”
McGuire said Herebia, wide receiver and running back on offense, returner on special teams and safety on defense, flourished on offense once the team moved Anderson to the line.
“Our offense took off when we made those changes.”
Herebia had 14 touchdowns to lead the Rebels, 10 rushing TDs and four receiving TDs. He averaged 64 yards per game with a total of 577 yards on 106 carries. He had 17 receptions for 330 yards. He averaged nearly 7 yards per punt return and 14 yards per kick return. On defense Herebia averaged 13.8 points per game, had 37 assisted and 24 solo tackles one fumble recovery and six interceptions.
Vigil played wide receiver and defensive back for the Rebels with this season’s highlight coming on the game-winning interception returned for a touchdown to put Riverside up over Pinedale. McGuire said he also showed the greatest improvement from his freshmen year to his senior year and played consistent this season.
He had 14 receptions for 198 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 10 defensive points per game, had 32 assisted and 20 solo tackles and two interceptions.
As tight end, Anson did a good job in catching Jordan Herman’s passes but also was key blocker, McGuire said. “It will be nice to have him back next year,” he said.
On defense, Anson was the second-leading defender averaging 14 points per game with 34 assisted and 21 solo tackles. He had nine tackles for loss and three interceptions.
He averaged 22 yards per game receiving with 11 catches for 200 yards and four touchdowns.
Wood played on both the offensive and defensive lines. “For only a sophomore he did a great job on the offensive line. He’s a talented kid and had a real good season,” McGuire said.
He averaged 9.5 points per game on defense with 35 assisted and 13 solo tackles, 3.5 sacks, one fumble recovery and one blocked kick.
McGuire said sophomore Mike Miller received an honorable mention, playing running back and linebacker for the Rebels. He had 75 carries for 355 yards and one TD. Miller averaged 12 defensive points per game with 59 assisted and 12 solo tackles, one fumble recovery and one interception.
McGuire said that while this year’s seniors tied the record for the winningest record at Riverside, he is excited for the team next year. He said it will be a tough conference again next year with many teams this year returning young squads that gained experience including Cokeville. “We’re encouraging the players to go out for other sports and stay in shape,” he said. “The future of the Riverside football program is really bright,” he said.
The Wyoming High School Activities Association announced the schedule for next year with Riverside’s opponents remaining the same, only the locations changing. Riverside opens on the road with Pinedale, hosts Cokeville, travels to Rocky Mountain, hosts Burlington and Shoshoni, travels to Saratoga and Dubois and hosts Wind River in the season finale.
McGuire said Riverside and Greybull are planning to play in a pre-season scrimmage like they did this year.
“I think it’s a great thing for both programs. Playing in that “0” week gives us a jump start to the season and hopefully will help propel both programs into the season,” McGuire said.
McGuire said while he was disappointed in how the season ended with 42-0 loss to Southeast, watching Southeast win the state title, “maybe they were a little better than I gave them credit. They handled everyone.”
Cokeville, who won the conference title had a conference-high eight players named to the All-Conference Team — Beau Peterson Conference Offensive Player of the Year Chance Maddock, Bronson Teichert, Kaden Thornock, McKay Tonga, Jordan Sparks, Andrew Henderson and Hadley Harmon. Peterson, Maddock, Thornock, Tonga, Sparks and Harmon were All-State selections.
Wind River had seven players on the All-Conference team with Trent Jordan, Doug Jordan, Lex Leonhardt (Conference Defensive Player of the Year), Matt Smith, Kyle Thoman and Zane Debuse also earning All-State honors. Colton Blankenship earned All-Conference honors.
The rest of the All-Conference team is as follows — Burlington, Shawn Christiansen (All-State), Samuel Davidson (All-State), Brian Garza and Ben Cook; Rocky Mountain, K.J. Blackburn (All-State), Casey Pickett (All-State), Luke Leonhardt, Guy Jones and Logan Friedly; Dubois, Trent Slagowski, Jarid McCabe, Ty Finley; Shoshoni, Ryan Huxtable; and Saratoga, Sam Gates (All-State), Hayden Davidson and Ransom Gates.
Todd Dayton of Cokeville was named Coach of the Year.
For the entire Class 1A, champion Southeast had the Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year in Tanner May and Dane Hanson, respectively.