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THERMOPOLIS - 2017 was a big turnaround season for the Hot Springs County Bobcats football program, after going 1-7 in 2016, the 'Cats went 3-6 and qualified for the 2A State football playoffs.

With the strong bounce back, comes the regular season accolades to which the Bobcats had six named to the 2A East All-Conference team and another three selected to the 2A All-State team.

Cullen Becher, Logan Cole, Chandler Maddock, Noah Schwalbe, Jeffery VanAntwerp and Andrew Yarbrough were selected to the 2A East All-Conference team, which is voted on by 2A East coaches with a coach not allowed to vote for their own players.

Schwalbe (182 defensive points on the season) was also voted 2A East Co-Defensive Player of the Year with Glenrock's Hezekiah Sexson.

"He was consistent week-in, week-out. He led the 2A East in defensive points. He worked extremely hard in practice and on Friday nights he was consistent. Another thing that sticks out is he had 15 tackles for loss, which led all of the 2A East, which is pretty remarkable. Noah basically averaged two tackles for a loss per game. He had a fantastic season," said HSCHS football coach Matt McPhie.

Schwalbe's 15 tackles for loss (TFL) were among the best in the entire state for all classes. Only Mountain View's Hunter Gross, 18, had more TFL than Schwalbe.

Joining Schwalbe on the 2A All-State team were teammates Maddock and VanAntwerp, both juniors.

Having three seniors (Becher, Schwalbe and Yarbrough) receive recognition for their hard work and dedication is icing on the cake for the 'Cats program.

"The impact our seniors have had on the program with their commitment and character has been incredibly important. What they do on and off the field daily and the many other things they've brought to this program. Those individual awards are going to be nice but at the end of the day you only get those by having team success. Most of that starts with our leaders and those seniors certainly left their mark," said McPhie.

Then having three All-Conference and two All-State players (Maddock, VanAntwerp and freshman Logan Cole) returning for 2018's campaign shows just how healthy the 'Cats program is as they look to keep building on their success.

"We've got three kids coming back that are All-Conference and two that are All-State. What I've seen from them to this point and the expectation is to build off of it. Momentum is often characterized as short-term but I believe what we got going in this program right now is momentum these kids want and will carry over into the spring, summer and next fall as well. We certainly have some kids who have had some success and the groundwork has been laid and the map is out there. The kids are excited for next year and it was certainly a good season to build off of," said McPhie.