A beautiful win

Even an ugly win is beautiful, especially if it is on the road in Charlo, traditionally one of the toughest places to play 8-Man football and win in Montana.

Winning ugly in just such a beautiful way, the Plains Horsemen opened the 2019 campaign with a gritty 8-0 victory over Charlo in Charlo Friday.

“It definitely was ugly,” Plains coach Eddie Fultz said. “Our defense was pretty good but we were all over the place on offense, made lots of miscues – dropped passes, turnovers, a fumble – we still have a lot of work to do.”

Fultz said the Horsemen were inside Charlo’s 10-yard line “6 to 8 times” but only managed to score one touchdown, on a two-yard dive by Gavin Regalado. The Horsemen’s other two points came on a safety generated by the defense, and defense was probably why they won the game anyway.

“Our intensity was good, the kids came to play,” Fultz said. “Now we just need to get dialed in better and we will be just fine.”

The fact that his Horsemen have defeated Charlo, year-in and year-out one of the best 8-Man football programs in Montana, was not lost on Fultz.

“This is a big win for us, Charlo has pretty well owned the Western C over the years,” he said. “I’m not even sure when they last lost to another team from around here, besides Flint Creek but it has to have been awhile.”

Fultz thought that the play of his defense was key to the win.

“Our defensive line handled things up front,” he said pointing to the standout work of Tucker Foster, Duncan Chisholm and Dorrey Heingartner. “We won the battle in the trenches and that may have been the difference in the game.”

Hoping the strong interior play continues, Fultz and company will host Seeley-Swan Friday evening under the lights in Plains. The Blackhawks opened their season with a surprising 34-12 win over Darby last week. The Horsemen defeated the ‘Hawks in Seeley Lake last fall in one of their better showings of 2018.

“Seeley is a much-improved team with a lot of speed on the outside,” Fultz said. “We want to keep the action inside the hash marks to take that speed advantage away.”