• Coach Jernigan emphasizes increased numbers and weight room as factors for future success

The 2025 Kemmerer Rangers football campaign came to a close this past weekend as they faced the visiting Worland Warriors in a game that ended in a 21-12 final score. The Rangers and Warriors had both already been eliminated from playoff contention as they battled for community pride. The result dropped Kemmerer to (1-7) on the season. It was their seventh straight defeat after opening the schedule with a victory over the Moorcroft Wolves.

Coach Bart Jernigan felt the Rangers ended their season on a high note regardless of the game result.

“I thought our boys played some of our best football of the year against one of the more physical teams in our conference,” he replied. “We made some mistakes in terms of turnovers that made it hard on ourselves. I thought our defense was gritty in stopping their run game and came up with a lot of big stops deep in our own territory. Offensively we moved the ball well in some spurts and executed a lot of the key concepts we have been working on throughout the season.”

Jernigan emphasized a terrific senior night effort from Colter Krell who wrapped his final game with 27 defensive points. Noah Parks scored both touchdowns for Kemmerer as he ran one into the end zone and caught a touchdown pass from Sam Thatcher.

Although it was a season filled with adversity, Jernigan pointed out the character of the players who put on the school colors this season.

“I really appreciated this group of young men,” he said. “They are undoubtedly going to go on to accomplish great things in life and make a real difference in the world. There was a lot of growth on the field though the end results did not always fall our way. I was proud of our seniors and upperclassman for the leadership they provided and the way that they helped bring our freshmen up to speed. I appreciated the work and character of our underclassmen to step up and answer the bell at a varsity level. My assistants did a great job in growing our kids and game-planning to put ourselves in positions for success.”

In terms of growing for the future, the Rangers have a stiff challenge ahead as they play in arguably the most balanced conference in all of Wyoming high school football. Teams like Mountain View, Lovell, Lyman and Cokeville have all been in the state title game recently and this season the Thermopolis Bobcats also made strides and finished the season in the wyopreps.com rankings.  In 2025, the Buffalos claimed the top seed from the 2A West with the Bobcats placing second. Lovell and Cokeville battled to an overtime Bulldog victory this past Friday afternoon which decided the #3 and #4 seeds.

However, the Rangers have a long football history dating back over 100 years with four state championships under their belts. The last of which came in 2007, the first of back-to-back title game appearances in ’07 and ’08. Jernigan hopes this offseason can be one where the program can once again challenge for those types of finishes.

“I am excited to see what these boys can do in the coming years,” he concluded. “There’s some work to be done in the weight room and during offseason training, but if our boys attack it with the tenacity that they took on this season, they are gonna do some great things. The biggest deciding factors in the program’s future is going to be are key to keeping everyone out, getting more players out, and putting the effort in to become more skilled, stronger, and faster to compete on Friday nights. I am excited to see these boys take the next step.”