This will be a rather quick Friday Night Preview for tonights action around the region. Week 8 of the regular season for teams in Nebraska and week 7 over in Wyoming.

First, heres a few scores for area teams from Thursday:

Sutherland 56, Bayard 30

Mullen 50, Maxwell 14

Paxton 63, Minatare 34

Weve got two games tonight on the RRN-Scottsbluff so lets get to those game first.

Scottsbluff (4-3) at McCook (4-2)…The annual showdown between Class B powerhouses takes the Bearcats on the road to Weiland Field. Scottsbluff comes in at No. 9 in power points and McCook is at No. 11. Scottsbluff is going for their third straight win in the series. The first thing that stands out about this Bison team is the amount of seniors they have starting on both sides of the ball. Of the 25 “starters” Jeff Gross passed along earlier this week, 23 are starters. Heres Scottsbluff head coach Jud Hall on this veteran laden team for McCook.

One of the eye popping scores in Class B last week was Aurora putting up 55 points on Hastings in a 21 point road win. This McCook defense a few weeks ago held Aurora to just 21 points.

There will be no surprises tonight for the most part with both programs well dialed into what the other wants to do, but there will be some wrinkles and McCook coach Jeff Gross says thats where both teams have to be at their best defensively.

If either teams wants a shot at hosting a first round playoff game then a win tonight is a must. Coverage on 106.9 The Trail and KHYYfm.com will start at 5:30 with kickoff scheduled for 6 pm.

Gering (0-7) at Mitchell (6-1)…Even with the Tigers having such a successful season with eyes on the playoffs, you have to imagine this game has been one theyve been looking forward to all season. Mitchell beat Class B Alliance in week one handily and tonight they get the Bulldogs at their place. Mitchell lost their first game two weeks ago at home to Gothenburg but bounced back with a 55 point showing in a win at Ogallala last week. Head coach Nick Kuxhausen says they are not overlooking Gering.

For Gering, obviously still looking for their first win of the season. Theyve dealt with plenty of adversity in the form of quarantines earlier and then some big injuries. Danny OBoyle has keys for the Bulldogs tonight.

Coverage tonight on KNEB.tv, ALLO 15, Mobius 1500, KMOR 93.3 FM, and KMORfm.com at 6:30, kickoff at 7 pm.

Other Area Games: Alliance (1-5) at Lexington (2-4), Gothenburg (4-3) at Chadron (5-1), Ogallala (3-3) at Sidney (2-5), Gordon-Rushville (2-5) at Valentine (2-3), Kimball (0-7) at Hemingford (5-2), Hyannis (2-5) at Morrill (1-6), Garden County (5-2) at Leyton (5-2), Banner County (0-6) at Potter-Dix (6-0), Hay Springs (2-4) at Sioux County (0-4), Creek Valley (5-1) at South Platte (4-2)

Canceled: Chase County at Bridgeport

Canceled: Crawford at Cody-Kilgore

Wyoming Schedule

2A- Wheatland at Torrington, 7 pm

1A, 9-man- #3 Lusk at #1 Southeast, 2 pm…SE head coach Mark Bullington won his 150th game last week.

1A, 9-man- Pine Bluffs at Lingle/Ft. Laramie, 7 pm

1A, 6-man- NSI at Guernsey-Sunrise, 5 pm

3A- #5 Douglas at Buffalo, 7 pm

Its go time for the high school football season across the region with week one games arriving tonight!

As always you can track scores throughout the night with our ScoreStream scoreboard up top here on the sports pages.

#8 Scottsbluff at Columbus: The Bearcats are coming off back to back trips to the Class B State Title game and this season theyll see some new faces in key spots as they lose a tremendous senior class from a season ago that included the likes of Sabastian Harsh, Sam Clarkson, Jasiya DeOllos, and Jacob Krul.

Taking over for Harsh at the controls of the offense will be Brett Hill. Last season at McCook when Harsh went down with an injury it was Hill coming in to keep the offense on track and he eventually threw the game winning touchdown pass. Head coach Jud Hall has plenty of confidence in his new starting quarterback.

For the first time in a long time the Bearcats are not bringing back that one name at the running back spot thats expected to rush for 1,200 to 1,500 yards. It might not matter that much with a rotation of kids ready to stake their claim behind another massive offensive line.

Columbus is coming off a 4-5 season a year ago and they lost running back Joey Braasch whos now at Wyoming. You dont want concerns up front against Scottsbluff but coach Craig Williams says this opener is going to be a test in the trenches.

Coverage tonight with Chuck Schwartz will start at 4:30 MT on 106.9 The Trail and KHYYfm.com, kickoff at 5 pm.

Torrington at Gering: Its another new era at Gering High School, one that folks hope lasts a while. Danny OBoyle is now the head coach. He played for Gering, his dad coached at Gering, his brother Pat played at Gering, Danny played at and graduated from Chadron State. He knows its a tall task trying to get Gering back on track but says it has to start with the smallest of things.

Knowing whats expected is a huge thing for high school athletes and lets coaches and players realize what page they need to be on together. Coach OBoyle says the summer months also helped in that regard.

Look for the offense to be centered around the run game and quarterback Brady Radzymski.

Gerings lone win last season came at home against Torrington, 34-0, so a chance to get off to a good start tonight appears to be a real possibility.

Mitchell at Alliance…C-1 at B in this week one opener. Mitchell finished 5-4 last year while the Bulldogs were 3-6 last year in the regular season before falling to Scottsbluff in round one of the playoffs. Alliance hoping to build some confidence tonight ahead of a matchup with York next week.

Chase County at Chadron…2019 produced a rare playoff miss for the Cardinals, they finished 5-4 losing three of their final four games.

Bridgeport at Sidney…The Bulldogs are hoping to build off of two straight wins to close out last seasons 5-4 record while Sidney went just 2-7 last year. One of those wins was a 14-13 final in week one against Bridgeport.

Hemingford at Garden County…Two perennial playoff teams tangle in week one. Coaches across the state would be willing to echo Hemingford head coach Jordan Haas, “Were pretty lucky we get to play right now.”

Morrill at Bayard…Two young head coaches in this one. Brandon Stuart is in his second year with the Tigers and its now Schyler Ferguson in his first year at Morrill. The Lions coming off a playoff appearance a year ago.

Other games on the slate…

Gordon-Rushville at Ord, Hitchcock County at Kimball, Leyton at Maywood-Hayes Center, Mullen at Sandhills-Thedford, Hay Springs at Creek Valley, Wallace at Potter-Dix, Crawford at Edgemont SD

No games: Minatare and Banner County. Those two open up against each other next week.