WyoPreps Game of the Week: #1 Mountain View at #5 Cokeville [VIDEO]

It’s back to the 2A West Conference for the WyoPreps Game of the Week, small-school edition.

As chosen in a vote by the fans, top-ranked Mountain View heads to Cokeville to battle the No. 5 Panthers on Friday afternoon.

The Buffalos beat rival Lyman 31-8 last Friday. They are 5-0 on the season and 2-0 in league action.

Cokeville returned to the rankings this week after a 28-7 victory over Kemmerer in Week 4. The Panthers enter the game at 3-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference.

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WyoPreps visited with Mountain View head coach Brent Walk and Cokeville head coach Marty Linford before the big first-place and top-five showdown. Coach Walk spoke about his team’s play against the Eagles last week, how this is more of a rivalry than some fans might realize, what he sees in Cokeville, and some keys for his team. Coach Linford touched on the first half of the season for the Panthers, Jack Dayton’s ability, some other key personnel, facing Mountain View, what he expects from the Buffalos, and a couple of keys to being successful.

These are the top two rushing teams in Class 2A. The Panthers lead the division at 275 yards per game thanks to Dayton. He averages nearly 180 yards rushing per game and has scored 9 TDs. The Buffalos are at 234 yards per game and tied for second in the class. They have a one-two punch with Jayce Schultz and Justus Platts, who both average 89 yards rushing per game. They’ve combined for 8 TDs.

Defensively, Mountain View allows only 119 yards per game on the ground, and Cokeville surrenders only 134 yards per game.

Micah Peterson for the Panthers and Schultz for the Buffalos are fifth and sixth, respectively, in defensive points per game in 2A to pace each side.

Ball control, turnovers, and some plays outside of the ground game could be key in this one.

Friday marks the 63rd meeting between the two schools on the football field, according to wyoming-football.com. Cokeville leads the series at 38-23. There has been one tie. The Panthers have won two in a row, including last year’s game, which was 21-0 in Mountain View.

The kickoff is at 1 p.m. at Nate-Dayton Field in Cokeville.