Still seeking their first win of the season, the Laramie Plainsmen take on the fourth-ranked Cheyenne East Thunderbirds on Friday night.

The game will start at 6 p.m. from Deti Stadium in Laramie.

The Plainsmen are 0-3 on the season. They enter off a loss last week to Natrona County, 45-0. In that game, LHS finished with a season-high 268 yards of total offense. Laramie head coach Paul Ronga is trying to build off of that performance going into Week 3.

“I think we saw we were able to do things, but the goal now is to take what we did, what was seen, and to make it better. We have to get better. We have to get more sound in everything that we do, blocking, tackling, holding onto the ball, and just being more efficient.”

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Cheyenne East is 2-1 in 2021. The T-Birds have wins over Natrona County and Campbell County, and a loss to Thunder Basin.

Ronga feels Cheyenne East falls in line with the first three opponents. He calls them a sound football team.

“They are excellent in everything that they do. The two things that came across to me was their speed. They’re very fast, and they’re very good in what they do. They all fly to the ball defensively. Offensively, they present multiple formations; formations that we haven’t seen all year. That will definitely tax ourselves. The other thing is, ironically, their size isn’t that big of an issue in the sense of they’re a little bit of a smaller team, but smaller and deadly. Reason being is that they’re efficient in what they do, and they fly to the ball, as I said before, so that works to their advantage.”

Cheyenne East is the top passing team in Class 4A at 236 yards per game. They are led by junior QB Gavin Goff, who is throwing for 220 yards per game with five TDs and six interceptions. He’s completing 67.5 percent of his passes. Goff also adds 59.5 rushing yards per game. Junior Garet Schlabs is the top receiver in 4A with 25 catches for 325 yards and three scores. The T-Birds’ defense is anchored by Ethan Brinkman, who is at 17.7 defensive points per game. Drew Jackson is right behind him at 14 points per game. They both rank in the top four in Class 4A.

East is fourth in offense at 370 yards per game and averaging 25 points per game. Their defense is eighth and allows 346 yards and 24 points per game.

Despite their performance last week, Laramie is still last in 4A in offense at 155 yards per game. They’ve yet to score a touchdown this season. Defensively, the Plainsmen are ninth in Class 4A at 397 yards per game. Teams are averaging 50 points per game versus LHS in 2021.

Ronga adds, “We continue to work, daily, on trying to get ourselves better and put a better product out there.”

This will be the 67th meeting between the Plainsmen and the Thunderbirds. East has won the last six games in the series. The kick-off is at 6 p.m.

KOWB will provide live coverage of tonight’s game. David Settle and Aaron Lozano will call the action. You can listen on the radio (AM 1290), anywhere through the KOWB app, online, and through smart speakers. The broadcast will begin at 5 p.m.

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