2A Football Championship Preview: #1 Big Horn vs. #4 Cokeville

The eighth all-time meeting between the Big Horn Rams and the Cokeville Panthers on the football field will decide the Class 2A state champion in 2024 on Friday in Laramie at War Memorial Stadium. The kick-off is at noon. These two teams are playing in a title game for the fifth time. The top-ranked Rams are making their third consecutive appearance in the 2A championship game. Fourth-ranked Cokeville is making its’ first appearance in the championship game since 2019 when they lost to Big Horn, 55-7.

WYOPREPS CLASS 2A FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW 2024

WyoPreps spoke to both head coaches before the game, Big Horn’s Kirk McLaughlin, and Marty Linford of Cokeville, for some insight into the teams and this matchup.

Team Info & Series History:

Big Horn (10-0) – Kirk McLaughlin: 7th year as head coach; 8 state championships in school history; the last was in 2022 (8-7 vs. Lovell). Their first title was in 1985. The Rams are 8-11 in title games all-time and are making their 10th appearance in Laramie for a state championship game. They are 5-4 at War Memorial Stadium.

Cokeville (7-3) – Marty Linford: 3rd year as head coach; 22 state championships in school history; the most recent was in 2014 (26-6 over Lusk in 1A 11-Man). The Panthers are 21-8 in title games all-time and are making their 7th appearance in Laramie for a state championship game. They are 4-2 at War Memorial Stadium.

This will be the 8th meeting in the series. Overall, Big Horn has an edge of 4-3. They first played each other in a varsity game in 1983 in the semifinals of the Class 1A playoffs. All seven previous meetings have occurred in the playoffs. This will be the fifth time they face off with a championship at stake.

Team Stats per game:

Big Horn Cokeville

Rush Offense = No. 4 (174 yards per game) No. 2 (221)

Pass Offense = No. 2 (190) No. 14 (69.8)

Total Offense = No. 1 (364) No. 5 (291)

Scoring Offense = No. 1 (45.2) No. 5 (24.5)

Rush Defense = No. 1 (88) No. 8 (141)

Pass Defense = No. 6 (109) No. 9 (117)

Total Defense = No. 1 (196) No. 8 (258)

Scoring Defense = No. 2 (11.6) No. 4 (18.3)

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Key Players:

Big Horn = Cruz Hernandez – 114.1 rushing yards per game, 22 TDs, 156.7 all-purpose yards per game & No. 1 in kick return at 34.8 yards per return, 1 TD; Avon Barney 163.3 passing yards per game with 12 TDs & 4 INTs and 202.2 all-purpose yards per game; Bridger Doke – 52.3 receiving yards per game, 3 TDs; Daniel Walker – 41.1 receiving yards per game, 2 TDs; Kolby Butler – No. 2 punt return at 14.2 per attempt and 1 TD; Owen Petty – 16.2 defensive points per game – ranks No. 10.

Cokeville = Kayson Walker – 117.2 rushing yards per game, 17 TDs, 164.6 all-purpose yards per game & 19 total TDs, and No. 4 in punt returns – 11.8 per return; Kashton Walker – 69.8 passing yards per game, 6 TDs & 8 INTs; Kayson Walker – 21.5 defensive points per game – ranks No. 3.

The kick-off will be at noon on Friday in Laramie.

Series history information is Courtesy of Wyoming-football.com.