Tigers edge out win in Plains

It looked as though the Plains Horsemen football team was going to have their second consecutive victory of the season, but the second half of the game said otherwise.

The Horsemen had a 20-point lead going into the third quarter, but with three key players injured - two out for the game - and a pumped up and revitalized Darby team, the Tigers clawed themselves to a 36-34 conquest.

Both teams were undefeated at the beginning of Friday's game. The Horsemen had claimed a 51-8 triumph over the Victor Pirates the previous week. The Tigers drew first touchdown blood, along with getting the two-point conversion. But the Horsemen battled back and snatched a 46-yard Darren Standeford to Wyatt Butcher touchdown pass to put Plains on the board. They failed on the two-point conversion.

Seven seconds into the second quarter saw Standeford, a senior, dash in for another Plains touchdown. That was soon followed by a Standeford pass to senior Zayden Allen, who took the ball in for a 74-yard touchdown. The score was 20-8 with the Horsemen on top. Midway through the quarter, sophomore Cody West intercepted a Tiger pass. A 30-yard pass to the senior Butcher took the ball to the Darby 12-yard line. Senior Caleb Lakko then barreled through the middle to make it 26-8, followed by the extra point kick by junior Jamie Martinez.

With less than a minute to go in the first half, Darby scored, but then Standeford ran one in for another touchdown and Martinez kicked in another extra point for a 34-14 score at halftime.

The third quarter began with problems. Standeford was hurt and temporarily out. Allen was soon out, along with senior Jayden Lapierre, both taking hard hits.

Darby scored on a short run into the end zone. It was 34-22. Plains got close to the end zone and tried a field goal, but failed.

The Tigers took over with nearly 10 minutes in the final quarter and to put the Tigers two points behind the Horsemen. And then, with just under three minutes of game, Darby did it again, except their two-point conversion failed this time. It was a 36-34 Darby lead with 2:30 in the game when the Horsemen took over, taking it to the Tiger 30-yard line with 17.8 seconds on the clock. A completed pass took the ball to just inside the five-yard line with 3.5 seconds to go. The Horsemen tried for a field goal, but the Tigers quickly trampled through the Horsemen defense to block the kick.

"They totally put up a good fight. We for sure thought we could pull it out in the end. It just didn't go our way," said head coach Mike Tatum. Standeford finished the game with 398 all purpose yards and three touchdowns. Tatum said he passed for 306 yards and rushed 70 yards and had a 22-yard return.

On the receiving end, Butcher had 89 yards and a touchdown. Allen had 76 yards and a touchdown. Tatum noted that the team chalked up 485 total yards. On defense, Butcher and Allen led with eight tackles apiece. The coach said that the injuries definitively had an impact on the game. He added that they need to work on blocking during field goal attempts.

The Horsemen will travel to St. Ignatius for a game against the Mission Bulldogs at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21. Their next home game is Friday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. The Horsemen homecoming game is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m. against the Troy Trojans.