Malta falls to Eagles 14-6, headed to Cut Bank

The Malta Mustangs Football team (4-1) is hoping to bounce back as they head west to take on the Cut Bank Wolves on Friday, October 23.

Malta suffered their first loss of the season to the Fairfield Eagles last Friday night at Mustang Field. The final score of the defensive battle was 14-6.

"I was proud of how our team handled adversity against the Eagles," Malta Head Coach Nick Oxarart said. "We battled hard until the final whistle."

Both teams struggled with penalties and holding on to the ball throughout the cold and rainy game, but Malta lost the turnover battle 3-2, with two fumbles and one interception.

"We had a lot of missed opportunities," Coach Oxarart said. "We can't turn the ball over as many times as we did if we are going to beat good football teams."

Malta's first big hurdle was overcoming an early safety scored by Fairfield on Malta's first drive of the game. Malta's defense stood up to the task.

Malta's run defense remained solid throughout, holding Fairfield to 62 yards on 25 attempts. Fairfield had 272 passing yards and two long touchdowns thrown from quarterback Guidry Giles who was 13-of-21. Giles connected with Gavin Mills on a 78-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter and an 85-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Fairfield had a total of 334 yards.

"Fairfield is a good football team and they are very well-coached and they had a great game plan to try to shut down some of our strengths," Coach Oxarart said. " Fairfield was able to throw the ball really well against us. They were able to break two long plays against us and we had trouble recovering from those mistakes."

Malta's offense was led by Cash Salsbery who had 154 yards on 20 carries and seven yards on one catch. Rex Williamson scored Malta's lone touchdown, a one-yard punch-in late in the fourth quarter. Williamson had 83 yards on 16 carries and 45 receiving yards on two catches. Shawn Gilkerson had 14 yards on three carries and six yards on two catches.

Malta's offense had been effective in their previous two games, scoring 30 or more points in their wins over Glasgow and Shepherd, but the Eagles defense stayed disciplined and didn't give up many big plays.

"Their players played extremely hard and forced us out of our comfort zone," Coach Oxarart said. "We had to make some adjustments to counter what they were doing."

Defensively, Malta's Parker Mortenson and Juliun Benson each had a fumble recovery. The Mustangs did not give up any points in the red zone, forcing a fumble during Farifield's only red zone drive.

"We were able to have a lot of success against Fairfield, we just missed too many opportunities and didn't execute very well when we needed to," Coach Oxarart said. "Our defense stepped up once again. We just have to work on not giving up the big plays."

This Friday, the Mustangs will travel to Cut Bank to take on the Wolves, who most recently defeated the Wolf Point Wolves 42-8 on Friday, October 2. Earlier this season, Cut Bank fell to Conrad 40-13, and 44-6 to Glasgow.

"Cut Bank has a real solid quarterback that is a dual threat with both the ability to run or throw the football," Coach Oxarart said. "Their running back is also someone we have to keep track of as he has the ability to break some big runs on opposing defenses."

Coach Oxarart said that the Cut Bank offensive line is not as large as Fairfield's or Glasgow's, so he is hoping that the Mustang defensive line and linebackers can keep the Wolves' run game under control.

"We need to work on shutting down the opposing teams passing game and this week provides a great opportunity for us to work on that aspect of our defense," Coach Oxarart said.

As for Cut Banks' defense, Coach Oxarart said that they run a 4-4 similar to most of the teams that Malta has played this season. Though they may be familiar with some of the defensive plays they see, Coach Oxarart said that Malta will not overlook the well-coached team.

"We have struggled in the past up in Cut Bank, so we need to come ready to play and have success early on in the game if we are to leave there with a victory," Coach Oxarart said.

The game against Cut Bank is set to start at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 23.