Saturday's marquee matchup features the top teams in their respective conferences as the Panthers travel to take on the Frisco Fighters.

Bay Area is 8-4 after Saturday's win at Vegas while the Fighters are 10-2 with a one game lead in the Eastern Conference.
 
In the first meeting on May 20, Bay Area held on for a 62-55 win –finally getting some second-half separation when Trae Meadows picked off TJ Edwards which set up Justin Rankin's 6-yard run and a two lead.
 
The interception was the first of the year thrown by Edwards who has emerged as one of the top candidates for league MVP.
 
Rankin scored five touchdowns against his former team—four on the ground and another on a 25-yard reception on the team's second play from scrimmage.
 
The Dalton Sneed acquisition from Sioux Falls continues to be a stroke of genius.  Sneed leads the league in touchdown-to-interception ratio and has thrown 63 passes with 13 touchdowns since the last pick in the first quarter of the win in Tucson.  For the year, he's completing two-thirds of his throws and is huge threat in the running game.

Strong cases can be made for both Sneed and Rankin in the MVP discussion.  Frisco's Edwards is certainly in the mix leading the top team in the east.  He's completing 61 percent of his throws with 23 touchdowns along with a league-leading 41 scores on the ground. 

The Fighters are 5-0 at home, including wins over Arizona and Massachusetts.  The Panthers are 3-3 on the road, all against the West.  Frisco leads Massachusetts by a game in the East after three straight on the road. 

Although the Panthers and Arizona share first in the West, Bay Area has the edge by playing one more conference game.  The Panthers have three games against the East while the Rattlers played Quad City, Frisco, Tulsa and have one home game left with Massachusetts.  After the game with the Fighters, the Panthers have a bye before a home game with San Diego and go on the road to face Duke City.

Frisco is second in the league in scoring at 54.4 points per game while Bay Area is fourth at 51.7.  The Fighters are second in scoring in defense at 41 points per game with the Panthers number five at 45.2.  Bay Area leads the league in offensive efficiency with Frisco tops in defensive efficiency.

Kickoff is set for 5:05 Pacific from Frisco on Saturday.  Watch the stream on YouTube or listen on 95.7 The Game