Malta wins District 2B Title

For the second consecutive year the Malta Mustangs (7-1) will host the opening playoff game at Mustang Field Saturday at 1 p.m.

Ticket prices are $7 for adults and $6 for students. SEASON PASSES WILL NOT BE HONORED. The prices are set by the Montana High School Association. Advanced Tickets are available at Malta High until Friday at 10 a.m.

This year Malta will look to defend their home-field against the 5-3 Powell County (Deer Lodge) Wardens of District 6B.

In Powell County's 84-64 win against Ronan Oct 16, the Wardens displayed a barrage of offensive plays out of the shotgun. Junior quarterback Cade Benjamin displayed not only a solid arm but blazing speed that can be an issue if Malta's defense fails to show discipline and gap control.

Junior running back John Bannon showed excellent vision, following blocks and displaying speed against the Warrior defense.

"Deer Lodge mostly runs some spread sets with one running back," Mustang Head Coach Nick Oxarart said. "Sometimes they get in an unbalanced set with two tight ends and two running backs and try to run the football. They have tremendous size on their offensive line and can push people around."

"Their running back set the state single game rushing record against Ronan with 515 yards," he continued. "Their quarterback is a great athlete as well. They run a 4-3 defense with great size up front. Their secondary isn't very big but they have great speed and tackle real well."

The Wardens are 1-2 against teams currently in the Class B Championship Series.

Their lone win against the Series teams came against 7B's Thompson Falls, which they won 26-12 in the first week.

They've lost 28-12 to 6B's Loyola-Sacred Heart and to 6B's Anaconda last Friday. The score of that game was 38-14.

Malta knows that in the State B playoffs every team is 0-0 and no detail will be overlooked.

"We will have to control the line of scrimmage and slow their offense down," Coach Oxarart said. "We need our defense to play aggressive and make some big plays and control their running game. Jase Galt sustained a season ending injury, so we will need some guys to step up and fill his role. We really need to put focus to what we are doing and have a great week of practice. We need to minimize the mistakes at this point in the season in order to have success."

Malta defeated their 2B rival, the 3-5, Glasgow Scotties last Friday in Glasgow thanks to a strong run game, excellent special teams and a tenacious defense that caused six turnovers. The win against Glasgow was the first win for Coach Oxarart against the Scotties.

"It feels really good," Coach Oxarart said. "Our guys had to battle because Glasgow came out and played us tough. They didn't give our offense much but our defense came out and made some big stops and scored a couple of times to get some momentum on our side when things weren't really going our way."

Mustang Sophomore Trace Simonson would score a game high four touchdowns, one on an interception and three rushing.

A win of that magnitude was encouraging to Malta who has struggled against Glasgow in the past two seasons.

"We wanted to beat Glasgow," Senior Linebacker / Offensive Lineman Antonio Lopez told the PCN. "For the last two years,