Mustangs Down Wolf Point 52-0 for Homecoming, To Face Cut Bank Friday

The Malta Mustangs football team posted their second consecutive win, with a dominant 52-0 win over the Wolf Point Wolves last Friday, October 6. The game served as Malta High School's Homecoming game.

The Mustangs, now 3-4, will take on the Cut Bank Wolves in Cut bank on Friday, October 13, at 7 p.m. Cut Bank most recently defeated the Fairfield Eagles 48-6 last Friday night.

The Wolves racked up 291 rushing yards and five touchdowns on the ground last week against the Eagles. Cut Bank has also shown the ability to pass the ball, racking up close to 200 yards against Fairfield, as well as 285 yards and five touchdowns in their 48-12 win over Wolf Point on Friday, September 22, according to Hudl.com.

Malta was able to move to score on both sides of the ball early in their win over Wolf Point.

Junior quarterback Stockton Oxarart had a total of 168 yards and four passing touchdowns, while going 6-of-10 through the air.

"We just came together as a team," Oxarart said. "Our line did really good. Our passing game was on point."

Oxarart was asked about homecoming week, which included a Pep Rally and Parade earlier that day.

"It feels great," Oxarart said. "All of the support that we have here is awesome. Malta is just the best."

Oxarart's first touchdown was a 15 yard connection to sophomore Dawson Hammond, who led the team in receiving with three catches for 97 yards and three touchdowns.

Later in the first quarter, Blaine Downing was able to pick up a bad snap and return it 23 yards, for a touchdown.

"I think it was a bad snap, I just took advantage of that," Downing said. "He almost had it but I think I just took it out of his hands and ran hard and scored."

Downing credited the teams' work ethic in practice for their ability to start strong the last couple of games.

"Practice hard, play hard," Downing said. "Our practices have been a heck of a lot better and that has really helped us in these games."

Downing led Malta in rushing yards with 141 yards and one touchdown on six carries. His longest run was a 65 yard touchdown midway through the third quarter.

Junior Treyton Wilke had three catches for 71 yards and a 43-yard touchdown, in which he tracked down a deep pass from Oxarart.

"Stockton threw me a great ball," Wilke said. "The ball kind of got lost in the lights but I said I gotta catch this for Stockton. So I went up, had it with one hand and came down with both. I toe-tapped weird, but stayed up and got the touchdown."

Wilke also had two carries for 50 yards, including a 39 yard touchdown, which was the last of the game.

"It's a huge win," Wilke said of winning the homecoming game. "It's fun to be around all these people."

Oxarart found Hammond for a 78-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

"Stockton likes to throw that ball deep," Hammond said. "I already knew it was coming. I had a step on the guy, caught it, put a move on him and took it to the house."

Hammond was asked about the two-game win streak.

"It feels great," Hammond said. "It feels good to start getting some wins after those four non-conference losses. It feels good to put some points on the scoreboard and shut teams out."

Freshman lineman Keenan LaBrie has been a starter for Malta, and his name could be heard on the loud speaker several times as he was able to rack up nine combined tackles.

"It was pretty fun," LaBrie said about being on the defensive line. "It is nice being next to Bow (SaintLouis). He holds down four pretty well and he helps make a lot of big plays."

LaBrie was asked what it is like to start a varsity game, being so young.

"It's kind of scary but it's fun to have older boys that can teach you and just learn a lot," he said.

Wilke, Oxarart and Mason Simanton each had a defensive interception in the win. Simanton, who had missed a couple of games due to an injury, ran his interception back 31 yards.

"It was a team effort," he said of his return. "I got some good blocks. We had a lot of picks (tonight). You just have to read the quarterback's eyes."

Statistics for the Malta's win over Wolf Point were provided by Maxpreps.com.

Scoring Summary:

First Quarter: Dawson Hammond 15 yard pass from Stockton Oxarart (run failed) 9:07 6-0

Blaine Downing 22 yard fumble recovery (Downing run) 1:11 14-0

Second Quarter: Treyton Wilke 42 yard pass from Oxarart (Downing run) 10:59 22-0

Hammond 78 yard pass from Oxarart (Wilke run) 8:30 30-0

Hammond 5 yard pass from Oxarart (Duke Williamson run) 6:29 38-0

Third Quarter: Downing 65 yard run (Wilke run) 7:00 46-0

Wilke 39 yard run (kick failed) 2:00 52-0