The statewide buzz for this weekend's Wyoming State High School football championships is already generating some tangible results at the ticket booth.

UW Athletic Director Tom Burman said Tuesday 1,015 tickets have already been sold for Friday's two championship games at War Memorial Stadium, and 1,780 tickets had been purchased for Saturday's three games.

"I think that's pretty good, but we don't have anything to compare that to," Burman said. " ... We're going to have a lot of people just driving into town and buying tickets."

This is the first year Laramie has hosted all five championship games.

Class 3A

The Road to Laramie

Each day this week, we'll take a look at the individual title games and give you a glimpse of how each team made it all the way to the state title. Today we'll examine the Class 3A teams, Cody and Douglas.

Monday: Class 1A

Tuesday: Class 2A

Today: Class 3A

Thursday: Class 4A

CLASS 3A TITLE GAME

CODY VS. DOUGLAS, 10:30 A.M., SATURDAY

It was known at the beginning of the year that the path to the Class 3A championship would go through Douglas, and the defending champion Bearcats did little to disprove that notion during the 2009 season.

Douglas not only outscored its opponents 377-61 during the regular season, but when you eliminate the Bearcats' two out-of-state games, they outscored their Wyoming opponents 310-42. That's an average score of 51-7, and the Bearcats' road to Laramie hasn't been much different. Douglas drilled Lander 40-6 in the quarterfinals and Worland 56-14 in the semifinals and has yet to allow more than 14 points in a single game this year.

So when Cody and Douglas meet for the first time on Saturday, it just so happens it will be for the Class 3A state title. It will also mark the first time since 1991 (the Broncs last title) that Cody will play for a state title game.

The Broncs edged Torrington 19-6 in the quarterfinals before exorcising last year's home semifinal loss to Buffalo by beating the Bison 32-14 in the semifinals. Cody won this year behind its defense and a balanced offensive attack, led by Jeremey Tuten and Matt Frost. But will it be enough to slow down the Bearcats?

Game Tracker

Cody Broncs

Coach: Cris Williams (10th season).

Record: 8-2.

Last title: 1991 (3A; 25-7 over Star Valley).

Number of titles: 3.

Douglas Bearcats

Coach: Jay Rhoades (fourth season).

Record: 10-0.

Last title: 2008 (4A; 34-21 over Buffalo).

Number of titles: 3.