2024 Malta Mustangs Football

The Malta Mustang football team is 2-0 in their 2024-25 campaign after defeating the Baker Spartans 54-14 on Friday, August 30, and the Red Lodge Rams 21-18 on Friday, September 6.

This year's group returns plenty of talent from a team that went 5-5 and made the playoffs last season.

The Mustangs will be without Bow Saint-Louis, Clayton Hallenberg, Kyle Darrington, and Mason Sjostrom, who all graduated last spring.

Despite losing several starters from last season, the Mustangs have a lot of experience, including athletes that earned All Conference honors in 2023 including senior Stockton Oxarart, Blaine Downing, Treyton Wilke, and junior Dawson Hammond.

Oxarart, Downing, and Wilke highlight a senior class full of talent. This year's senior class includes Chuck Brettin, Jonah Bucks, Kohner Schipman, and Mason Simanton.

"This year's senior class brings a lot of experience to the team," Mustang Head Coach Nick Oxarart said. "We've been able to get more schemes in for the first few games since they have a lot of experience. They are a fun group to coach and they are doing a good job of teaching our younger players."

This year's junior class includes Hammond, Rylee Brusse, Sonny Gray, Karson Kelsey, Jayden Murnion, Landon Retan, Straud Sims and Trooper Stiles.

The Mustangs also have eight sophomores this season including second-year starter Kenan LaBrie.

The freshman class welcomes 20, giving the Mustangs 43 athletes this season.

The Mustangs have a few goals this season, but they know that their opponents early in the season will be tough.

"Our goal with our non-conference schedule is to develop our players and find what we are good at and continue to get better so we are ready for our first conference game," Coach Oxarart said. "We have a very tough non-conference schedule that will help us find our strengths and weaknesses."

In Malta's win over Red Lodge, the Mustangs were led by Stockton Oxarart who completed 7-of-11 pass attempts for 87 yards and one touchdown (118.4 QBR). Oxarart also had 86 rushing yards and another touchdown on the ground on 12 carries.

Downing had 91 yards on 12 rushing attempts. Wilke had four carries for 27 yards and a touchdown.

Wilke had three catches for 25 yards. Mason Simanton had two catches for 60 yards. Simanton also had the longest play of the reception for the Mustangs, a 51-yard catch from an Oxarart throw. Downing had one catch for a two-yard touchdown.

Downing led the Mustangs defensively with 18 tackles. Straud Sims had 15 tackles and one tackle for loss. Landon Retan had 14 tackles, and Simanton had 11 tackles.

Retan was 3-of-3 on PATs.

The Mustangs will be hosting the Jefferson Panthers this Friday, September 13, at Mustang Field. The game will serve as Malta's Homecoming game.

Jefferson is also 2-0 this season after picking up wins over Florence Carlton (21-14) on August 30 and Cut Bank (39-21) on September 6.

2023 Malta Mustangs

Varsity and JV Schedule

VARSITY

DAY DATE EVENT Time SITE

Friday Aug. 16 First Day of Practice 4:15 PM HS Field

Friday Aug. 30 Baker 6:00 PM Baker

Friday Sept. 6 Red Lodge 7:00 PM Red Lodge

Friday Sept. 13 Jefferson ~ Homecoming 7:00 PM Malta

Friday Sept. 20 Missoula Loyola (N) 6:00 PM Fairfield

Friday Sept. 27 Glasgow 7:00 PM Malta

Friday Oct. 4 Conrad 7:00 PM Conrad

Friday Oct. 11 Wolf Point 7:00 PM Wolf Point

Friday Oct. 18 Cut Bank 7:00 PM Malta

Friday Oct. 25 Fairfield ~ Senior Night 7:00 PM Malta

Postseason

Sat. Nov. 2 First Round Playoffs TBA TBA

Sat. Nov. 9 Quarterfinal Playoffs TBA TBA

Sat. Nov. 16 Semifinal Playoffs TBA TBA

Sat. Nov. 23 State B Championship TBA TBA

JUNIOR VARSITY

DAY DATE EVENT Time SITE

Monday Sept. 2 Glasgow 5:00 PM Malta

Monday Sept. 9 Havre 5:30 PM Havre

Saturday Sept. 14 Jefferson 10:00 AM Malta

Monday Sept. 16 Fergus 5:00 PM Malta

Monday Sept. 23 Wolf Point 5:00 PM Wolf Point

Monday Oct. 7 Glasgow 5:00 PM Glasgow

Monday Oct. 14 Havre 5:30 PM Malta