Vista Ridge was reminded of how disciplined it must be in last week’s loss to Pine Creek.

Discovery Canyon has dominated through its first four games and wants to stay perfect before league play starts.

Both teams are hoping to work on fine-tuning their games before they head into league play, and a victory for either would have them feeling strong.

The 3A Thunder will be hosting 4A Vista Ridge at District 20 Stadium on Friday night.

The Wolves (2-2) are understandably upset after blowing a two-point first-half lead to the Eagles. A lot of the credit for that loss can be pointed right at the Wolves, said Vista Ridge coach Jerimi Calip.

“Going into this Discovery Canyon game, one of the goals is don’t beat ourselves,” Calip said. “Let’s go out there and play football, let’s play between the whistles, let’s play the game the way it’s supposed to be played and everything will take care of itself.”

Discovery Canyon (4-0) takes on not only a team from a bigger classification, but a team that’s just plain bigger.

“Vista has a lot of size up on their D-linemen, they’ve got a lot of speed,” Thunder quarterback Tyler McFarland said. “Overall, they’re really athletic. We’re just going to have to play our game the way we know how to. They have a lot more size than us, so we’re going to have to execute really well.”

After splitting time with Tyler Sylvester under center, Wolves quarterback Dylan Schindele missed last week’s loss to Pine Creek with an injury. Schindele vowed not to miss this week. He knows the Wolves need to get rolling.

“Whatever mistakes we’re making, fix them now,” Schindele said. “Because league is the big one. It’ll set you up for the playoffs.”

Both teams have set themselves up with challenging nonconference schedules.

Vista Ridge opened against defending 4A champion Windsor and last week took on Pine Creek, a 4A semifinalist.

Discovery Canyon blew out two-time defending 3A champ Pueblo East two weeks ago, then put up 55 points against Palmer Ridge a 4A quarterfinalist from a season ago that has moved down to 3A. The Wolves are the third 4A team the Thunder have faced.

“This is maybe the best team we’ve played this season,” Discovery Canyon coach Shawn Mitchell said. “East is a good football team, but this team might be better than East. And they (the Wolves) have a history.”

Mitchell’s hopes for the Thunder this week were similar to Calip’s.

“For us, we are going to have to clean up our game,” Mitchell said. “We’re going to need a challenge like Vista Ridge. … We’ve got some challenging teams down the road.”

Vista Ridge would be a nice feather in the cap with league on the horizon, should the Thunder pull out the win.

“I’m kind of happy we get a crack at one of the higher-ranked 4A teams,” McFarland said, “to get an opportunity to show people who we are.”

Vista Ridge was reminded of how disciplined it must be in last week’s loss to Pine Creek.

Discovery Canyon has dominated through its first four games and wants to stay perfect before league play starts.

Both teams are hoping to work on fine-tuning their games before they head into league play, and a victory for either would have them feeling strong.

The 3A Thunder will be hosting 4A Vista Ridge at District 20 Stadium on Friday night.

The Wolves (2-2) are understandably upset after blowing a two-point first-half lead to the Eagles. A lot of the credit for that loss can be pointed right at the Wolves, said Vista Ridge coach Jerimi Calip.

“Going into this Discovery Canyon game, one of the goals is don’t beat ourselves,” Calip said. “Let’s go out there and play football, let’s play between the whistles, let’s play the game the way it’s supposed to be played and everything will take care of itself.”

Discovery Canyon (4-0) takes on not only a team from a bigger classification, but a team that’s just plain bigger.

“Vista has a lot of size up on their D-linemen, they’ve got a lot of speed,” Thunder quarterback Tyler McFarland said. “Overall, they’re really athletic. We’re just going to have to play our game the way we know how to. They have a lot more size than us, so we’re going to have to execute really well.”

After splitting time with Tyler Sylvester under center, Wolves quarterback Dylan Schindele missed last week’s loss to Pine Creek with an injury. Schindele vowed not to miss this week. He knows the Wolves need to get rolling.

“Whatever mistakes we’re making, fix them now,” Schindele said. “Because league is the big one. It’ll set you up for the playoffs.”

Both teams have set themselves up with challenging nonconference schedules.

Vista Ridge opened against defending 4A champion Windsor and last week took on Pine Creek, a 4A semifinalist.

Discovery Canyon blew out two-time defending 3A champ Pueblo East two weeks ago, then put up 55 points against Palmer Ridge a 4A quarterfinalist from a season ago that has moved down to 3A. The Wolves are the third 4A team the Thunder have faced.

“This is maybe the best team we’ve played this season,” Discovery Canyon coach Shawn Mitchell said. “East is a good football team, but this team might be better than East. And they (the Wolves) have a history.”

Mitchell’s hopes for the Thunder this week were similar to Calip’s.

“For us, we are going to have to clean up our game,” Mitchell said. “We’re going to need a challenge like Vista Ridge. … We’ve got some challenging teams down the road.”

Vista Ridge would be a nice feather in the cap with league on the horizon, should the Thunder pull out the win.

“I’m kind of happy we get a crack at one of the higher-ranked 4A teams,” McFarland said, “to get an opportunity to show people who we are.”