Cheyenne Central Football has ‘bought in’ heading into 2022 season

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) - Cheyenne Central is coming off a sub .500 season where they qualified for the 8th/final seed in the 4A state playoffs.

“Last year we had a lot of guys that were just looking forward to the next season, like, didn’t really want to be here,” said Central senior Jack Miller. “But I think this year everyone wants to be here and we want to win it all.”

This season the Indians had more than 100 kids come out for football.

Central returns 18 seniors from last year’s squad and the Tribe opens the season on the road against the reigning state champions Sheridan. The Broncs were also the team that knocked the Indians out of the playoffs in 2021.

“We were together all summer. I did a lot of things with camps and 7-on-7′s and weights and we pushed each other there and we’re pushing each other here,” said Central senior Auggie Lain. “We got some great leadership, we got a lot of guys who are out here to grind and here to get better.”

In January, the Cowboy State Daily first reported that players and parents had accused Central Head Coach Mike Apodaca of bullying and retaliation.

Wyoming News Now reached out to Apodaca, Athletic Director Chad Whitworth, and Principal Fred George after the report surfaced and all three men responded that they could not comment at that time.

Apodaca confirmed with Wyoming News Now on March 1 that he would return to coach at Central in 2022. The coach said the following after being asked what he learned from that situation and what he takes away from it moving forward on Aug.12:

“I think ultimately communication is important and building strong relationships is important, and, you know, not that we learned from it, it just reemphasizes how important those things are,” said Apodaca.

The Indians kick off the season on Friday, Aug. 26.

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