Stanberry’s Dan Collins doesn’t like rankings, polls or the expectations that come along with those lists.

But the veteran coach expects his No. 2-ranked team to compete with No. 1 Mound City in tonight’s crucial matchup of perennial Highway 275 powers in Stanberry.

Whether that means a Stanberry victory isn’t Collins’ main concern. He’d just like to be in the game.

Mound City owns a five-game winning streak against the Bulldogs, the past four won by a combined 214-8. Stanberry lost 46-28 in the 2005 matchup and last beat the Panthers in 2004 when the Bulldogs reached the state semifinals.

“It’s been a few years hasn’t it?” Collins asked rhetorically. “I really look for it to be a pretty good game. I think their talent level is on the same plane as a few other teams. I don’t think they’re a level above teams like they have been.”

Mound City (2-0) enters on a 15-game winning streak and are tagged as favorites to repeat as champions.

The Panthers started this season with a win against then No. 2-ranked St. Joseph Christian before a bye in Week 2 and a comfortable win last Friday against South Nodaway. Despite the status as favorite, Mound City is still in the early stages of finding an identity to replace a slew of last year’s seniors.

“They go beyond just being a challenger,” said coach Brian Messer, in his second year at Mound City “I feel like I did in Week 1. I probably think (Stanberry) should be legitimately favored. They attack on both sides of the ball and are much more sure of what they have right now than we are.”

However, Mound City twice shut out Stanberry last year during its championship run, winning 58-0 in the regular season and 52-0 in the 8-man semifinals. Stanberry only lost three seniors from his 2008 team, but Collins knows how wide the gap was a season ago.

“We just didn’t get it done last year,” said Collins, who owns only two losing seasons with Stanberry in 15 years. “I thought we could give them a little bit of a game, I didn’t know how much, but we didn’t even challenge them.”

Although this matchup could decide the conference title, these teams could see each other again in the playoffs. And it could be competitive twice this time around.

“I don’t care if you’re ahead of them, behind them, dead even, they come out ready to fight and that’s how they play every game,” Messer said. “I’m trying to get (my team) up for this game. If you want to repeat, you have to go through a Stanberry maybe twice. If we have a legitimate chance (to repeat), we will know after this game.”