2021 Malta Mustangs Football

The The Malta Mustangs Football team is looking to pose a challenge to teams in the Northern B, after retaining plenty of talent in 2021.

"The Northern B looks to be a very competitive division again this year," Malta Head Coach Nick Oxarart said. "Fairfield is still the team to beat. Cut Bank, Glasgow, and Conrad will all be tough to beat as well."

The Mustangs ended their 2020 campaign in a playoff loss to the Manhattan Tigers, who eventually won the Class B Title. Malta went 6-2 last season, with their only other loss being to Fairfield who was the runner-up in the State Championship.

This year's Mustangs will be without a few starters from the 2020 campaign including quarterback Kooper Oxarart, who graduated, but the team welcomes a large senior class of 11 players.

"Cash Salsbery, Rex Williamson, Connor Tuss, Eion Estill, and Dylan Brown had successful track seasons last spring and they helped propel the team into our summer activities and camps," Coach Oxarart said. "Salsbery and Williamson were All-Conference and All-State players last season. Other seniors helping lead the team this fall are Shawn Gilkerson, Kyle Johannesen, Darrow Messerly, Jacob Smith, Dwight Werk, and Ashton Weston."

The team also welcomes back a few underclassmen that have been proving themselves on and of the field. These athletes include Camryn Mears, Tye Jones, Spencer Gibbs, Reese Brown, Kaden Bishop, and Brenner Moore, each of which have earned starting spots on the team.

The team earned their first win of 2021, with a 23-6 victory over the Huntley Project Red Devils on Friday, September 3. The team had a total of 281 yards, 186 of which came on the ground. Tuss threw for 95 yards and two touchdowns through the air. He was 5-of-7. The longest connection was a 43-yard toss to Williamson with three seconds remaining in the first half of the game. The pass put Malta on the goal-line, and the team scored on a two-yard run on the next play.

The previous week, Malta held their Blue and White Scrimmage, and prior to that the team held two weeks of practices.

"The first two weeks of practice we have been working on installing our offense and defense and trying to master our base set of plays," Coach Oxarart said. "We put an emphasis on the fundamentals such as proper tackling, blocking, ball security, and takeaways."

Coach Oxarart said that the team looks forward to each game this season, and the team has set a goal to use the non-conference games to prepare for conference games. Non-conference games this season includes matches against Huntley, Roundup, and Shepherd. Their next game is this Friday, September 10, against Roundup. The game will serve as the team's Homecoming Game and Home Opener.

The coaching staff this season includes Head Coach Nick Oxarart who is in his 15th season coaching Mustang football, and this will be his 6th season as head coach.

Oxarart is helped by assistants Aaron DeVries (3rd season), Zach Handley (2nd season), Ryan Wilson (1st season with the Mustangs, but has previous head coach experience and has coached at two other schools), and Jeff Van Heel (1st season with the Mustangs, but has previous coaching experience and played college football at Carroll for legendary coach Mike Van Diest. He also played high school football for another legendary coach, Jack Johnson).