West Grand High School is tied for the A-8 East league title with Vail Christian and is on track to defend its four-year-long win/tie run in this weekend’s home game

The Mustangs take on the Elbert Bulldogs, slated for 1 p.m. on Saturday in Kremmling, with a win against Elbert already this season. They beat the Bulldogs by 30 points.

“We have a great chance at beating them,” said Mustangs Head Coach Chris Brown. “In eight-man football, things can change fast though,” he said.

The Mustang’s defense has been getting better every week, Brown said, as was evidenced in West Grand’s most recent game against Soroco, where they held the Rams well under their season average of 34.5 points scored per game.

West Grand stopped the Soroco Rams last weekend, only allowing one touchdown in the first quarter of the game, and came out on top after putting 16 points on the board in the fourth quarter. The Rams walked away with the lone touchdown to be pushed into the fourth spot in the league.

While the Mustang’s defense is on a steady track of improvement, the team’s offense needs to follow suit, Brown said.

The team’s execution is suffering, according to Brown, and dropped and overthrown passes and missed blocks aren’t letting the Mustangs put up the points they should be able to.

If the Mustangs can pull off the win against the Bulldogs this weekend, they will be on the list to be seeded among 16 of the state’s top eight-man teams.

Both teams go into Saturday’s playoff game with no injuries on the roster. West Grand is at full strength, according to Brown, and will be gunning to defend their four-year title.

Reid Tulley can be reached at 970-887-3334