EVANSTON — Evanston High School football coach Pat Fackrell credited his senior class for leading the program through the best spring session the Red Devils have had.

And when the season was over months later, he also credited them for helping pave the way to put Evanston football back on the map.

“Four and four is a great way to get us back, seniors — to get the Red Devils back to where they’re supposed to be,” Fackrell said on Tuesday evening during Evanston’s end-of-the-year banquet at the Machine Shop.

Fackrell went on.

“Now it’s up to the guys behind you to continue building that foundation and taking our football program to a level it needs to be,” he said. “That’s playing at War Memorial in Laramie.”

Evanston came up just shy of a playoff bid after moving to Class 3A this season. 

It was a 14-0 loss to Worland in Week 7, following a bye week, that sealed the Red Devils’ fate and kept them from reaching the postseason. 

“We were this close,” Fackrell said. “I always believed we had a chance to go a long way. I think if we could take back one game, we’d have that opportunity.”

With their playoff hopes tarnished in the final week of the season, the Red Devils knew they still had something to play for. Pride.

Evanston proved that by cruising to a 63-16 win against Jackson in Week 8.

“We were able to close out the season the right way against Jackson and had a lot of fun,” Fackrell said.

The Red Devils had more reasons to celebrate throughout the 2017 campaign. Perhaps their biggest accomplishment came during Week 6 when the Red Devils upset No. 2 Green River with a 27-24 road victory.

“It was one of my proudest accomplishments watching you guys play,” Fackrell said. “The emotion, the excitement on our sideline, the fire that we played with. We took a team that was going into the playoffs 7-1. That one loss was (to the) Red Devils.”

The week prior to Green River, Evanston held off Powell for a 14-7 win. Week 4 against Star Valley was something the Red Devils would like to forget. 

Evanston’s first three games of the season were close. 

The Red Devils fell to Cody 37-19 in Week 3, and suffered a heartbreaking 23-20 loss to Rawlins in the second game of the year.

Evanston began and finished the season the same way. Strong.

In Week 1 the Red Devils powered their way to a 21-8 win on the road against Riverton.

“As we moved into the season, one of the greatest things I think we could have done was come into our new league and go and play in Riverton and play as physical and do what we did in Riverton,” Fackrell said. “I think we kind of woke up the 3A conference a little bit.”

 The Red Devils will look to do the same next season. And more.

“That all starts in the offseason,” Fackrell said.