Horsemen get defensive, ground Blackhawks 36-6

This one was about taking the defensive side of the field back.

The Plains Horsemen defeated the Seeley-Swan Blackhawks 36-6 in Western C football action at Seeley Lake Friday, playing the kind of defense coach Eddie Fultz likes to see his Horsemen play.

“We took the defense back, played a lot better on that side than I felt we played the week before against Charlo,” Fultz said. “I thought we were a little timid defensively last week, but really played strong in Seeley.”

Fultz said that Seeley-Swan ran a power formation on offense but that that was no match for the stellar work of his defensive front featuring Rusty Stuart, Jacob Peterson, Esvin Reyes, Tucker Foster and Malachi Paulsen.

“Our defense has been a focal point for us,” he said, “and, technically we pitched a shutout at them as the only touchdown Seeley got was on a kickoff return after our first touchdown. I was very pleased with our defensive effort, we were very strong up the middle and played good pass coverage beyond that.”

Now 1-1 overall and in Western C conference play, the Horsemen will travel to Darby for a Saturday afternoon game this week. Darby is also 1-1 after losing to Seeley-Swan the first week and coming back to defeat Victor 36-6 last Saturday.

“We will have to play good defense again,” Fultz said. “Darby has a very good quarterback and an All-State receiver, and we will have to keep those two under wraps.”

Outside of the kick return for Seeley’s only score, Fultz was pleased with what went down against the Blackhawks. The Horsemen led 22-6 at halftime and were never seriously threatened.

“We were in control most of the way,” he said, “and were able to get everybody some playing time in the second half.”

Orion Pry-Hyde turned in a monster game from his running back position, carrying the ball 21 times for 219 yards and scoring three touchdowns, including a career-long run of 76 yards for one of those scores. Pry-Hyde also caught one pass from Treydon Brouillette for 34 more yards.

Brouillette completed 5 of 9 passes form 80 yards and carried the ball 14 times for another 113 yards and scored two touchdowns.

Paulsen packed the pigskin 14 times for 76 yards and tacked on a 2-point run after one of the Horsemen’s touchdowns.

Peterson made eight tackles to pace the Plains defense which forced four Seeley turnovers. The Horsemen recovered three Seeley fumbles and Matt McCracken added an interception, in addition to forcing one of the fumbles.

Fultz said there were not many tackles to be made when Seeley turned to passing the ball most of the time. “Lots of passes and lots of incompletions,” he said, “and not many tackles to be had.”

Fultz said his Horsemen are still a work in progress. “We had some good things happen in Seeley,” he said, “but we still have a lot to work on.”