Down to the wire, no time outs and the home team is facing an unprecedented challenge.

"I was disappointed with these players," University of Wyoming football coach Lloyd Eaton said Saturday.

"I expected more," said Eaton, who in real life is Thomas Quinlan, a senior at Cheyenne East High School.

But the "Black 14" -- UW football players ejected from the team 40 years ago for wanting to wear black armbands to protest certain policies of the Mormon Church -- also expected more from their coach, their school and their state, according to the prosecutor who questioned Eaton.

In a mock trial set the evening before the Oct. 18, 1969, game against the church's Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, the players, through their attorneys, argued they should be reinstated.

The Wyoming and U.S. Constitutions, argued prosecutor Matthew Richards, assert the government will never abridge the rights to free speech.

"The key word is 'never,'" Richards told three lawyers who represented UW's board of trustees.

The players lost their scholarships, their places on the team, and their futures because the university denied them the right to free speech, he said.

"Constitutional rights do not stop at the doors of War Memorial Stadium," Richards said.

Two trial teams from Cheyenne East High School were the finalists in the day's final trial. Trials earlier in the day pitted the legal teams of schools from around the state, including Star Lane in Casper.

All teams were prepared to argue either side.

All teams had their own witnesses, who were students.

The prosecution called three Black 14 players: Mel Hamilton, Tony McGee, and Joe Williams.

They recounted their previous experiences with BYU such as enduring racial slurs and sprinklers on the field "to wash the demons away" after games. They also could not stay in Provo, Utah, because no hotels would have them.

But the defense witnesses -- Eaton, UW President William Carlson, and Wyoming Gov. Stan Hathaway -- emphasized the school and coach had rules, and they were paramount.

No one was stopping the students from protesting, they just couldn't do it on the field, according to the witnesses for the defense.

But Eaton, a strict disciplinarian, had written no rules about protests or factions within the team, prosecutor Richards said during closing arguments.

Nothing was resolved with meetings with Carlson or Hathaway, either.

After both sides rested their cases, the lawyers subbing as UW trustees had to weigh the merits and decide which team did the best.

The prosecution won by a close margin, said Ian Shaw, a coordinator of the mock trial program.

Before the announcement, the real Mel Hamilton spoke to the students.

Now the diversity director for the Natrona County School District, Hamilton offered some insights to the events of 40 years ago.

He never expected the request from UW's Black Student Association to wear the armbands would lead to his teammates' ejection, nor did he expect it to have such ramifications, he said.

The school and country have come a long way, Hamilton said.

"For years, I've tried to bridge the gap between black and white," he said. "It is so difficult to talk about race."

He's learned a few things about himself, too, he said.

He could dwell on Eaton's racism, such as his disapproval of on-campus housing for Hamilton and his white fiancee, and he telling the Black 14 they could go on welfare, but that's unproductive, he said.

"We've got to go on," he said.

Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at tom.morton@trib.com.