Grizzlies celebrate winning season at awards night

The Rocky Mountain High School football team celebrated a successful 2025 football season that included a championship game appearance during an awards night at the RMMHS cafeteria last Monday, Nov. 24.

Head coach Jessee Wilson acted as the master of ceremonies for the night, which included a season summary, numerous words of thanks, a variety of statistics, letters, all-conference and all-state recipients and the annual Spirit of the Grizz award.

The Grizzlies rebounded from a one-win season in 2024 to forge a 7-4 record, winning four consecutive games down the stretch including playoff wins over Saratoga and Greybull before falling to Pine Bluffs in the Class 1A 9-man championship game in Laramie.

Wilson began by thanking the parents in attendance for “trusting us with your kids over the course of the season,” adding that the season was “definitely a season to remember.”

“I thought in a lot of ways this season was one where we worked to learn how to establish a winning culture in our football program again,” Wilson said. “I knew it would be a good year after our first game in Lusk (a 20-19 Grizzly win). It was not pretty. We experienced some adversity early, had three or four turnover sand found ourselves in a 14-0 hold. But, holy cow, we obviously came back to win.

“I knew after watching our guys battle back in that game that we were going to have a great year. I always tell our guys that ‘this is your program,’ and I think we saw our guys run with that mentality.”

Wilson said he appreciated the leadership and initiative his players developed, especially the seniors.

“As coaches I think that our job is more so to steer the ship, however we need our athletes to row the boat,” he said. “It is up to leaders within the team to make sure everyone is rowing in the right direction and in sync with one another. Without a doubt this senior class really took on the leadership role that they earned and really made this thing go. What a great group of young men, and we will without a doubt miss them next year.

“We fell short of our ultimate goal of a state championship. The road to that championship game was one that was full of potholes, ruts and washouts; it wasn’t a paved road that we could set the cruise control on and coast. For me, personally, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Watching these guys collectively finding a way to get it done when faced with adversity is what team sports are all about. To go from a team that won one game the year prior to a team that played for a state title speaks volumes about their character, work ethic, toughness and resiliency, and I couldn’t be more proud of this group of guys.”

Many thanks

Wilson thanked all of the parents in the room for their support, the administration for support and guidance, bus drivers, trainer Cammie Brost, managers Charlee Anderson and Whisper Isabell, the Grizzly Booster Club, the Lovell Chronicle for coverage and his wife, Dani, and his assistant coaches’ wives.

“This job takes a lot of time out of our lives,” Wilson said. “I always make the joke that, ‘yeah, we’ll get back on track in about three months when football season is over.’ But Dani does a great job, (including) taking care of our two kids. We have a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old. And you moms out there know how that can be sometimes. So I’m just really appreciative of my wife and all of the other coaches’ wives. I know how much time I ask of our coaches. …  Thank you for letting me borrow your husbands for a couple of months out of the year.”

Finally, Wilson thanked his assistant coaches – Justin Moss, Josh Sponsel, Austin Haslem and Carsyn Weber – for all of the time they put in, from practice and game-day coaching to watching film and countless hours in meetings, along with putting up with him – “I can be a little high strung sometimes” – during the season.

“I think the best thing about these guys is that they’re great with kids, and they love your kids,” Wilson said.

Coach Sponsel invited the junior varsity players to come forward for recognition, calling them the “foundation of our program.”

“Every varsity team starts right here, with you players who chose to show up, grind and get better, even when nobody was watching,” Sponsel said. “This season, you showed what it means to be teammates. You played through early mornings, late practices, long bus rides, tough losses, some great wins, and you learned how to respond when things went wrong and how to stay humble when things went right. And that’s what football is. It’s all about toughness, resilience and doing your job for the guy next to you.”

Sponsel said that, if standings were kept for JV games, the Grizzlies would be conference champions.

Coach Wilson also noted the JV team and marveled that 20 players had come forward as JV players, adding, “Watching them develop, even from the beginning of this year to next year, is really my favorite thing as a coach. It’s watching people develop.”

Looking back on the season from a statistics perspective, Wilson said the Grizzlies had the fourth-ranked offense and the third-ranked defense in the state, and the Grizz had a 2½ to 1 turnover ratio, which is “a pretty big deal.” He added that 22 players got an offensive touch this season, and nine had double-digit touches. He said 28 athletes recorded a defensive stat in a varsity game, and more than half had double-digit numbers for tackles, which he called “pretty impressive.”

Wilson ran down a list of individual statistics, noting that senior Triffen Jolley finished his career number one on the school rushing list since Rocky started nine-man football with 2,182 yards, and this year he broke the single-season record with 1,311 yards rushing. Jolley is also the career leader in tackles with 272 and the single season record holder with 124 tackles.

Wilson passed out letters to 32 players and noted post-season honors for all-conference players Tayt Beall, Colten Bitton, Jolley, Mason Moss, Masen Twomey, Landon Pruett, Juan Rodriguez, Cooper Ward; all-state players Beall, Jolley, Twomey, Moss, Pruett and Rodriguez and honorable mention all-conference selections Will Watts and Coby Wachob.

He noted that Jolley was the conference and state defensive player of the year.

Finally, Wilson presented the Spirit of the Grizz Award to Jolley, noting that it’s a team award for “someone who is a great teammate, who’s a great leader, who sets the standard and helps others get to that standard.” Voted on by players and not selected by coaches, the award is fitting for Jolley, he said, noting that the senior is the first two-time winner of the award.

Finally, Wilson said that, while a second-place trophy may seem disappointing, it’s part of a growing legacy that can be built upon next season and is something of which to be proud.

Seniors this year, who will be missed, Wilson said, were Beall, Bitton, Wachob, Jolley, Pruett, Rodriguez and Watts.