Week three 6-man football roundup

WORLAND - As the 6-man football season heads into week three the Meeteetse Longhorns remain the state's No.1 ranked team, according to WyoPreps, while Burlington and Riverside continue to make positive strides in their first season in the 1A 6-man class.

Meeteetse

The No. 1 ranked Longhorns (2-0) continued their dominating start to the season with a 78-27 win Saturday afternoon over the Dubois Rams (0-2).

Today Meeteetse travels to No. 4 Little Snake River (2-0) for a 1 p.m. game in a matchup up of top ranked teams.

Burlington

After starting their first 6-man season with a 76-6 thrashing of Normative Services, the Burlington Huskies battled, the then, No. 3 ranked Farson-Eden Pronghorns (2-0). Unfortunately the Huskies lost their first game of the season to the Pronghorns 40-20.

The Huskies kept it close for a majority of the game but a few breakdowns on offense and defense led to the loss. Burlington coach Trent Aagard thought his team was right there but breakdowns at inopportune times led to their defeat. "It felt like a close game the whole time but a few letdowns on defense gave them a few big plays at the end. On offense we weren't executing like we should, while defensively we were over pursuing allowing for the ball carrier to hit those cutback lanes," said coach Aagard.

The loss was disappointing but Aagard has liked the mindset his team has had in practice this week. "That first loss made them more motivated and they realize the game should have been closer, had we done a few things correctly," said Aagard.

Tomorrow the Huskies (1-1) travel to Ten Sleep (1-1) for a 2 p.m. kickoff and while the Pioneers have small numbers, coach Aagard sees an opponent with talent that can make things difficult. "They have some good athletes. Their numbers might be down but they have players we need to cover and keep contained, otherwise it will make for a long day," said coach Aagard.

Riverside

For the young Riverside Rebels and their coach Sam Buck the focus is being better than the previous week. In week one the Rebels were shut out by defending champs Kaycee Buckaroos (2-0), last week the Rebels scored 19 points but still fell to then No. 4 ranked Little Snake River (2-0) by a score of 61-19.

Like any loss it was not the anticipated result but for coach Buck he saw improvement with his young team. "Across the board we were better," said Buck. "Our approach was much better and we didn't play as young as we did against Kaycee. Offensively, we finished off drives and were executing better. Defensively, we still have work to do, we didn't play assignment football and we're going to work on building trust on that side of the ball. We had guys trying to do too much which led to breakdowns. However, we did tackle better and were more aggressive than the first game."

"Obviously, the goal is to win and that's the point, so we're not there yet but we took a big step in the right direction," said Buck.

Even though they have been involved in lopsided losses coach Buck says his team is still working hard and keeping their positive attitudes. "The team has been positive they all know progress is being made, the scoreboard has been a disappointment but they know they played much better last week. We're young and continuing to grow as a team. It is about balance, as long as we keep positive and take the right approach things will improve. We can't be can't be content with the score even though we improved but at the same time we can't be so frustrated that we give up. It's about having a good balanced approach and they have been showing that this week," said coach Buck.

"We're continuing to build after each week and have been having productive practices. So we're looking to taking another step forward against Dubois this week," said coach Buck.

The Rebels (0-2) have another home game today at 2 p.m. versus the Dubois Rams (0-2).