The Cook County Vikings will head out on the road to face off against the Mountain Iron-Buhl Rangers at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Cook County sitting on four straight wins and Mountain Iron-Buhl on 22 (dating back to last season).
Cook County can now show off five landslide victories after their most recent match on Tuesday. They breezed by Kelliher/Northome at home to the tune of 58-14. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as Cook County just coasted through the last quarter.
Cook County relied on the efforts of Hunter Rex, who threw for 52 yards and two touchdowns, and Macoy Fairbanks, who picked up 107 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Jordan Backstrom made the highlight reel by snagging an interception and taking it all the way to the house.
Meanwhile, Mountain Iron-Buhl never let their opponents score on Tuesday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Bigfork and snuck past 2-0. Given Mountain Iron-Buhl's advantage in MaxPreps' Minnesota football rankings (they are ranked fifth, while Bigfork is ranked 56th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Cook County's win was their fourth straight at home, bumping their overall record up to 5-4. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 52.0 points per game. As for Mountain Iron-Buhl, their win bumped their record up to 9-0.
Cook County was dealt a bruising 66-14 loss at the hands of Mountain Iron-Buhl when the teams last played back in September. Can Cook County avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
