Cheyenne confronting hurdles as it prepares for third-ranked Arbor View

The opponent already made this a tough week for Cheyenne’s football team.

Add limited on-field practice time and the fact that the Desert Shields will be without the player coach David Cochran calls “the face of our program,” and things quickly got even tougher.

But eighth-ranked Cheyenne (4-1, 3-1 Northwest League) will try to put all those difficulties behind it when it travels to third-ranked Arbor View (5-1, 4-1) at 7 p.m. Thursday.

“Last year we went to four overtimes (against Arbor View), so we’re looking to come out ready, focused, prepared and make a game of it,” Cochran said. “That’s all I really ask of my guys, just come out ready to compete.”

The area’s Class 4A teams played on Saturday last week and had this week’s games moved to Thursday for Yom Kippur, so preparation time already was limited.

Then a thunderstorm wiped out Cheyenne’s Monday practice, giving the Desert Shields just two days of on-field prep.

“Saturday to Thursday, that’s a quick turnaround,” Cochran said. “And then with the layoff (Monday) — but we’ll get it in. We got a lot of film and board work done, so it was productive even though we couldn’t get outside.”

Cheyenne is coming off a 41-8 loss to second-ranked Palo Verde last week. Senior leader Kenneth Counts was ejected early in that game, and Cochran said that changed the complexion.

“We got off to a bad start because one of our key players got ejected from the game early in the first quarter,” Cochran said. “It kind of set off a snowball effect. Not to take anything away from Palo Verde, but when your key player goes out, it effects everything.”

Counts will have to sit out this week’s game as well, so Cheyenne will have to find a way to win without a big-play threat on both sides of the ball.

“We tried not to make it a big deal,” Cochran said of preparing to play without Counts. “We addressed it, tried to learn from it, and we just moved on.”

The presence of running backs Myloe Lewis and Tyler Spight should help pick up the slack created by Counts’ absence.

Lewis, who missed his sophomore season with a broken ankle, leads Cheyenne with 792 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns. Spight, who was Cheyenne’s leading rusher last season, has run for 405 yards and six touchdowns.

“The way Myloe’s been playing, he’s really given us a spark offensively,” Cochran said. “You’ve got Tyler and Myloe, and that’s still a good combination to go with.”

Spight said the problems last week against Palo Verde weren’t physical, and he hopes the team can overcome it’s mental errors this week.

“Our mind’s weren’t right,” Spight said. “That’s it, our minds.”

Cheyenne hopes to slow Arbor View’s double-wing offense. The Aggies feature four running backs — Roderick Eason (612 yards, four TDs), Donnie Gaskin (587 yards, nine TDs), Christian Rodriguez (326 yards, four TDs) and Steve Burns (255 yards, four TDs) — capable of breaking off long runs, and preventing those plays is Cochran’s focus.

“We’re just hoping to take away the big play and make it a grind-out game for them and not give up those long runs,” Cochran said. “We know how the double wing works. It can be 3 and a cloud of dust and then, bam, that 80-yard run. We know they’re going to get their yardage; we’re just going to try to contain them and not give up those big plays.”

The loss to Palo Verde hasn’t ended Cheyenne’s playoff hopes, but Cochran knows every game in the Northwest League is crucial. The Desert Shields are in third place, a half-game ahead of

Cimarron-Memorial. Centennial and Legacy are a game behind Cimarron. Only the top four teams make the postseason.

“Last week was for first place, and basically this week is for second place,” Cochran said. “If you come away from this week with a loss, now you’re battling for third and fourth place.

“It always comes down the final week to decide those final seeds.”