Football Game Preview: Pinedale Wranglers vs. Mountain View Buffalos

Pinedale hasn't had much luck against Mountain View recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Wranglers will head out on the road to square off against the Buffalos at 1:00 p.m. The two teams have allowed few points on average (Pinedale 14, Mountain View 10.6) so any points scored will be well earned.

Pinedale is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Wyoming's top teams: Cokeville, who was ranked 13th at the time (Pinedale was ranked 21st). The Wranglers came up short against the Panthers on Friday, falling 30-7. The contest marked the Wranglers' lowest-scoring matchup so far this season.

Meanwhile, Mountain View strolled into their game on Friday with a perfect record and they left with the same. They blew past Kemmerer 61-6. The Buffalos pushed the score to 40-6 by the end of the third, a deficit the Rangers had no chance of recovering from.

Mountain View's win came from a few key players Pinedale will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Justus Platts, who threw for 319 yards and five touchdowns while completing 72.7% of his passes. That's the most passing touchdowns he has posted since back in October of 2024. Kolby Roitz was Platts' top target, picking up 37 receiving yards and one TD, while also rushing for 106 yards and one score.

Mountain View was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 298 rushing yards. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their rushing yard total in three consecutive games.

Having lost for the first time this season, Pinedale fell to 4-1. As for Mountain View, their record now sits at 5-0.

Pinedale was taken down by Mountain View 48-0 when the teams last played back in October of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Platts, who threw for 159 yards and five touchdowns, and also rushed for 107 yards and a pair of scores on only 14 carries. Now that the Wranglers know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.