Plains perplexes Mountain Cats

Heading into Halloween week, Plains Horsemen coach Eddie Fultz is haunted by the Darby Tigers.

If those darned Tigers had not defeated his Horsemen 41-26 way back in the third week of the season, Fultz and his Horsemen could be playing for a berth in the upcoming State 8-Man playoffs this week.

As it is, the Horsemen, now 3-4 after a very respectable 46-12 loss to unbeaten, No. 2 ranked Clark Fork Friday in Superior, will complete season play hosting 1-7 Troy this Friday.

“That Darby game is haunting us right now,” Fultz said. “If we would have won that game we would be in the playoff hunt right now, and have the advantage over some other teams in the tiebreaker.”

Convinced that the Horsemen should have corralled the Tigers back in September when they had them herded up in Plains, Fultz will instead play with the hand the season has dealt.

“We can still finish 4-4 with a win over Troy,” he said. “A winning record would be nice but I really think we are a playoff-level team and can’t help but regret the fact that we aren’t moving on.”

Last Friday’s game with Clark Fork in Superior put on display some of the reasons that Fultz thinks his team is post-season worthy.

Utilizing an unconventional defensive scheme, Fultz had his Horsemen stopping the normally high-scoring Mountain Cats cold early on. Clark Fork led only 12-6 well into the third quarter before finally breaking through for some scores late.

“We had a good defensive scheme,” Fultz said. “Tucker (Foster) and Duncan (Chisholm) were eating up their blockers on the line and we were able to force Clark Fork out of its comfort zone some.”

Plains’ thin bench came into play in the late second half. “We finally wore down some and they were able to move the ball on us,” Fultz said. “But we played really solid defense most of the night.”

Treydon Brouillette was Plains’ offensive leader in Superior, popping off a 78-yard touchdown run in the first half and throwing a three-yard scoring pass to Kade Pardee for another score in the second half.

Jake Callaway and Isaiah Kovalsky scored two touchdowns apiece for Clark Fork, which improved to 7-0 in conference and 8-0 overall with the win.

One negative from the game was the fact that the Horsemen lost the services of senior team leader Nathan McNulty for the rest of the season due to a broken collarbone. “Nathan has had a great year for us,” Fultz said. “We will miss having him in the lineup against Troy this week.”