Malta beats Fairfield for first time in 30 years, head into playoffs 8-0

The Malta Mustangs are headed into the 2021 MHSA Class B Football Championship Series as the first seed in the North after posting a perfect 8-0 regular-season record.

"It feels great," Malta senior quarterback Connor Tuss said on the team's undefeated season. "It's been four years, but we have been working hard every year. All of those summers, we put in the work and it has finally paid off for us as seniors."

The Mustangs were able to make history last Friday, October 22, as the first Malta Football team to defeat the Fairfield Eagles since 1991. The score was 30-14.

The Mustangs will be paired against the Whitehall Trojans in the opening round of the tournament. The game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on Friday, October 29, at Mustang Field.

The Trojans, who are fourth in the west, posted a 2-6 record this season. The team's first win of the year was a 42-0 win over the 0-9 Anaconda Copperheads. Their second win was a 21-13 victory over the Missoula-Loyola Rams in the final game of the year. The win gave the Trojans the final spot in the west and ended the Rams season.

Despite their record, the Trojans have battled hard against some of the tougher teams in the state, six of which are in the postseason, and two of which are top seeds in the tournament.

"I am really looking forward to it," Malta senior Rex Williamson said of the game against Whitehall. "I get another home game during my senior year, so it's going to be really exciting."

In Malta's win over the Eagles at Mustang Field last Friday, the team was led by senior Cash Salsbery, who ran over would-be tacklers in many of his 19 carries. He had a total of 113 yards and two touchdowns.

"The first little bit was rough," Salsbery said. "And then one of our lineman suggested that we run it up where we did and we pounded it. They (the linemen) kept doing their job and we took care of business. A lot of it was just how well our line played."

The win came on Malta High School's senior night. Salsbery was asked about being able to beat Fairfield on such a big night.

"Obviously, it feels great, but three of the past years (against Fairfield) we got beat, so it felt really great to come out on our senior night and take the win," Salsbery said.

Dwight Werk, a Mustang lineman, representing Dodson High School in the Malta football co-op, was one of the seniors honored.

"Fairfield threw something different at us every time," Werk said. "They blitzed backers and we had to pick up on that."

Williamson had 72 rushing yards on 16 attempts. Williamson also had two catches for 33 yards. Camryn Mears had 22 yards on four carries and one reception which was a five-yard touchdown.

Tuss was 4-of-10 for 77 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Defensively, Tuss had Malta's lone interception, which he returned for 18 yards.

Spencer Gibbs had one catch for 39 yards.

Fairfield was the first to strike, moving the ball downfield behind a fast and shifty run game. The Eagles gained an 8-0 advantage after their first drive.

Malta was nearly able to even the score on the ensuing kickoff, with a 77-yard kickoff return by Williamson that set Malta up at the goal line. Cash Salsbery punched the ball from two yards out, and Williamson converted the two-point conversion.

"We didn't really execute during the first drive of the game, they kind of pounded us down the throat, so I wanted to respond to that and get a good return," Williamson said

Malta would take the lead in with 1:50 left in the first quarter, thanks to a pair of well-thrown balls by Tuss, one of which was a 39-yard toss to Spencer Gibbs.

"We called the play and they (Fairfield) weren't matched up well," Tuss said. "They let Spencer get wide open. It was a good thing that Rex was yelling at me when I snapped the ball to throw it to Spencer or I never would've looked at him."

Fairfield scored off of a 36 yard wheel-route connection from Daniel Faith to Miguel Perez with 20 seconds left in the first half. The Mustangs stopped the two-point conversion.

Malta would score a pair of touchdowns in the second half, while holding Fairfield to 14 points.

Malta had a total of 286 yards of offense, 209 of which came on the ground. Fairfield had 342 yards of offense, 215 of which came on the ground. Both teams averaged 4.8 yards on the ground and each team was 3-of-11 on third down conversions.

Malta kicker Colton Mears had five kickoffs for 256 yards, two of which rolled into the back of the endzone. Fairfield's punter Kaelob Flores punted for 182 yards on four attempts, one of which went 71 yards.

Malta fumbled the ball four times, but recovered each fumble.

"We knew that this was going to be the toughest game that we were going to have," Tuss said. "We knew we were going to have to come out and play hard, be the more physical team, and that's what we did tonight."

Scoring Summary:

1st Quarter:

Daniel Faith 1 yard run (Miguel Perez run) 7:50 0-8

Cash Salsbery 2 yard run (Rex Williamson run) 6:48 8-8

Connor Tuss 4 yard run (Salsbery run) 1:30 16-8

2nd Quarter:

Perez 36 yard pass from Faith (run failed) 0:20 16-14

3rd Quarter:

Camryn Mears 5 yard pass from Tuss (Mears pass from Tuss) 2:50 24-14

4th Quarter:

Salsbery 5 yard run (pass failed) 9:21 30-14