One Nation, Under God

Shepherd wins battle of the bands

From this point every week counts for the young Malta Mustangs who will take on their first conference opponents, the Plentywood Wildcats in Plentywood this Friday.

After losing 22-20 to Shepherd last weekend, Malta is 0-2 against the 3B South, and is likely out of contention for the wildcard spot in the playoffs.

Malta will face 2B North opponents for four out of their last five games, starting with Plentywood this Friday, then Glasgow on Friday, October 3, followed by the North's Cut Bank Wolves on October 10, then Wolf Point on Wednesday, October 15 and finally Harlem on Thursday, October 23.

In Friday's game Malta, will travel to Plentywood to take on the Wildcats, who lost 10 seniors to graduation.

"Plentywood is a tough place to play," said Mustangs Head Coach Nick Oxarart. "No matter what team or however many numbers Plentywood has, they play tough at home and play Malta tough no matter where it's at. They bring their best game for us."

He continued to say that Malta will have to be ready to go because it will be a challenge for the team.

Malta lost last year to Plentywood in Malta in a 6-0 game that lacked highlights, but Plentywood was simply just a little tougher.

The Wildcats will rely heavily on their five seniors, three of which play on the offensive and defensive line.

Justin Marsh, will lead the interior line of Plentywood, with fellow seniors Drew Friedrich and Caleb Dickey.

They have two very strong ground threats in RJ Decker and Isaiah DeTienne.

The Wildcats have not tasted victory yet and are 0-4 and have been outscored 150 to 32, with most of those points coming from loses to Baker, Forsyth and Colstrip, so they will be hungry against Malta, who at times have displayed youth and inexperience.

While the Wildcats use a Pro I-formation based offense, they have been known to try and stretch the field with an empty backfield on occasion. According to Mustangs Head Coach Nick Oxarart they love to throw the ball.

"They are going to show some similar looks to Shepherd so in practices our defense can use a lot of those same concepts," Coach Oxarart told the PCN.

Their quarterback Tyler Michels is a sophomore, but shouldn't be taken lightly. In their 39-16 loss to Baker, Michels connected with RJ Becker twice for touchdowns, one that went for 81 yards and the other for 28.

The defensive front will likely be a 4-3 defense against Malta's Power I-formation.

"It's hard to tell what they'll run against us since we have different formations than the other teams Plentywood has played," Coach Oxarart said.

After playing non conference games for the first three games, Malta will have to turn it up as they look to get back into the playoffs after missing out last year.

"This is definitely our first big test. If we want to make the playoffs we have to beat Plentywood or it'll be a tough road for us," said Coach Oxarart. "They all count but these last four out of five we gotta win."

The game kicks off in Plentywood Friday at 7:00 p.m.

In last Saturday's 22-20 loss to the Shepherd Mustangs, both teams made the game interesting and in the end it came down to one last possession,

 

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