Braves-Broncs Rivalry is the WyoPreps ‘Game of the Week’ [AUDIO]

It’s Rivalry Week across Wyoming and the fan-voted Wyopreps.com high school football ‘Game of the Week’ is a 3A West Conference showdown.

Top-ranked Star Valley (6-0) hosts No. 3 Jackson (4-2).

The Braves are 2-0 in the conference and enter on a 15-game win streak. Star Valley is coming off back-to-back shutouts over Green River and Powell.

The Broncs are 1-1 in league games. They lost in the final minute to Cody but bounced back with a shutout of Green River last week.

Both head coaches, Star Valley’s McKay Young and Jackson’s David Joyce, took some time to visit with WyoPreps’ David Settle by phone this week. They discussed their season to this point, what’s going on with their team, the rivalry, coaching in big games, and the opposition in the video above.

This will be the 81st game in a series that dates back to 1931 according to wyoming-football.com. The series stands at 64-16 in favor of Star Valley. The Braves have won three straight.

Who to Watch for Star Valley: Senior RJ Cazier is fourth all-time in touchdowns in school history with 28. The record is 34. Chase Merrell is a Division-1 prospect at wide receiver at No. 2 in Class 3A in receiving with 25 receptions for 450 yards and 3 TDs. He’s averaging 18 yards per catch.

Who to Watch for Jackson: Running back Jeydon Cox is the leading rusher in Class 3A and already has 1,000 yards this season. He’s averaging 200 yards per game and 9 yards per rush. QB Sadler Smith is No. 2 in passing in the division. He’s completing nearly 63 percent of his passes and has thrown for 746 yards with seven touchdowns and four interceptions.

Key Segments of the Game:

Star Valley – The Braves defense is No. 1 in Class 3A and allows only 194.4 yards and 5.6 points per game. The starting defense hasn’t allowed a point in six games. Can they slow down the No. 1 offense in that classification? Also, they’ve out-scored their opposition 195-to-35 this season.

Jackson – The Broncs are averaging 417.6 yards and 35.2 points per game. They’ll need to crack the Braves tough defense to have a shot. They only allow 266 yards and 11.2 points per game, so the Jackson defense is no slouch, either. How do the Broncs react in a close game? Their two losses both came in the final minute of action against Bear Lake and Cody.

Kick-off from Braves Field is at 6 p.m.