Mustangs JV conclude '18 season

The Malta Junior Varsity Football team took the field for the final time in the 2018 season when they hosted Fergus last week, and though they had several solid offensive drives and dominated the time of possession, the Mustangs fell to the Golden Eagles by a 40-0 tally.

All told, the JV Mustang's quarterback Conner Tuss compiled 89-yards of passing on 14 completions on 30-attempts and 3-interceptions. As a team, the Mustangs gained 134-yards on the ground on 36-carries: Rex Williamson had 60-yards on 9-carries; Ty Murphy 49-yards on 20-carries; Tuss 9-yards on 5-carries, and Shawn Gilkerson 0-yards on 2-carries. Kanyon Stiles had 3-catches for 25-yards; Williamson had 6-catches for 25-yards; RC Skiff had 2-catches for 25 yards; Gilkerson had 2-catches for 9-yards, and Murphy had 1-catch for 5-yards.

The Mustangs were led by the day's team captains Bobby Dolphay, Marcus Woods, Murphy, and Peyton Jones for the coin toss, and though it was not clear who won the toss from this reporter's vantage point, Malta received the kickoff to start the game.

Malta got out to a quick start in the first quarter and had a 13-play drive to open the game. The drive featured a 26-yard run by Williamson as well as a 19-yard pass from Tuss to Stiles but ultimately was stopped short following an incomplete pass on 4th and 4 at the Fergus 5-yard line after chewing up nearly 8-minutes of game clock.

Malta's defense stood tall on Fergus' first drive and with the help of Williamson tackling of a Golden Eagle in the backfield, forced to visitors to punt.

For much of the contest, the wind whipped from west to east - or from the elementary school across the field toward the cemetery - and Fergus used their timeouts wisely in the first quarter to use that wind to their advantage and was able to return a Malta punt 35-yards for the first score of the game. The extra point attempt was an event unto itself as three penalties (two on Fergus, one on Malta) led to four different kicks and the fourth sailed through the uprights to give the Golden Eagles an early 7-0 lead as time ran out of the first frame. Fergus followed the scoring drive with a defensive three and out and proceeded to patch together a 2-play, 60-yard drive to take a 14-0 lead early in the second.

Malta's second solid possession of the game followed, and a 12-play drive (eating some 9-minutes of game clock) was stymied and Williamson was forced to punt (he hit his first of 2 punts on the afternoon to sail 50-plus yards.) Fergus would tack on a late touchdown in the second to take a 21-0 lead into halftime.

Fergus would score another 19-points in the second half to earn the 40-0 win.

Malta's JV team compiled a record of 1-7 on the season (all stats taken by the PCN and are not official.)