Darby dodges Plains Horsemen

PLAINS – A simple matter of youth.

The young Plains Horsemen had their chances in Saturday's game in Plains with the Darby Tigers but, in the end, Darby made a few more plays and moved to a 41-26 victory in 8-Man football action.

Horsemen coach Eddie Fultz liked the way his team competed, he just thinks his boys need to gain more game experience before they can reach their true gridiron potential.

"It came down to a few plays here and there," Fultz said. "If those plays go our way instead of theirs, maybe we get the win instead."

Now 1-2 in conference play and overall, the Horsemen will play 1-2 Arlee in Arlee Friday night.

The Arlee Warriors lost at Seeley-Swan 48-12 last week. Looking at common opponents so far, the Horsemen lost to Seeley 58-12 two weeks ago after opening the season with an 8-0 win at Charlo. The Warriors lost 28-14 to Charlo in Arlee earlier this season.

"Arlee is an interesting team," Fultz said. "They have their moments when they look good, that's for sure. They actually led Seeley 6-0 after the first quarter, and that kind of surprised me. Especially seeing how the game turned out after that." The Black Hawks flew away from the Warriors after that tight first quarter.

Fultz thinks success for the Horsemen is only a matter of time, and games played.

"We are pretty young, Esvin (Reyes) is really our only four-year football player," he said, "and we are still making youthful errors. Once we get some more games under our belts, I think we will be much more competitive."

The game with Darby was competitive all the way through.

The Horsemen got on the scoreboard first when Treydon Brouillette hit Nathan McNulty with a 42-yard touchdown pass with 7:32 left in the first quarter. After Brouillette's conversion attempt fell incomplete, Plains led 6-0.

Darby answered early in the second quarter with a 42-yard scoring strike of their own from Nelson Smith to Preston Smith, and with Nelson Smith's point after touchdown kick added on, Darby took a 7-6 lead.

After Darby's Tanner Davis scored on a 22-yard run, the Horsemen answered again with the Brouillette-McNulty connection as the Plains pair hooked up on a 17-yard touchdown pass with 1:34 left in the first half. Brouillette then passed to Gavin Regalado for the two-point conversion to send the teams into halftime with the Horsemen ahead 14-13.

Darby took the lead early in the third quarter when Nelson Smith found Jordan Anderson with a nine-yard TD pass and then hit Anderson again with the two-point conversion pass to make the score 21-14 Darby.

Early in the fourth quarter, Brouillette connected with McNulty for a 55-yard touchdown pass to draw the Horsemen to within one at 21-20 but the conversion pass attempt fell incomplete.

Darby answered with a drive culminating with a six-yard run by Davis to put the Tigers up 27-20.

Nelson Smith stopped Plains' next drive with an interception and then guided the Tigers in for what turned out to be the game-clinching score, a two-yard run he scored on, and then hit Anderson with the two-point conversion pass to make it 35-20 Darby.

Hooking up for their fourth touchdown play of the day – this one off a deflected pass – Brouillette and McNulty connected on a 15-yard scoring pass to complete scoring on the day for Plains.

Darby sealed the deal by scoring again, on a 38-yard pass from Nelson Smith to Deric Parks with 1:53 to play, producing the final score of 41-26.

McNulty's four-touchdown day brought a smile to Fultz's face. Fultz said McNulty had eight pass catches overall for the day.

"Nathan had a great day, not bad for someone who never played football until last year," Fultz said of his senior co-captain. "He is getting better every day, and really starting to catch the ball very well."

Ironically, McNulty almost had another long touchdown catch in the first half but Brouillette's throw barely eluded him on what would have been a sure touchdown. On the dead run, McNulty got his fingertips on the ball but couldn't quite pull it in.

"If that throw was just a couple inches shorter Nathan would have had it, and that could have changed the flow of the game," Fultz said, "but that's how football goes sometimes."