Mustangs Now 8-0, To Face Fairfield in Season Finale

The Malta Mustangs Football team has clinched the Northern B's first-seed for the 2024 MHSA Class B Football Championship Series, thanks to Friday's 45-16 victory over the Cut Bank Wolves.

Their win, which took place at Mustang Field, gave Malta their eighth win to the team's undefeated season.

This week, Malta concludes their regular season by hosting the Fairfield Eagles on Friday, October 25, at 7 p.m. The night will serve as Malta's senior night. Mustangs Stockton Oxarart, Mason Simanton, Treyton Wilke, Jonah Bucks, Blaine Downing, Charlie "Chuck" Brettin, and Kohner "Chaka" Schipman will be honored.

Downing was asked what would be the key to picking up a win over the Eagles.

"The last couple games we've come out really hot, so I think that's going to be our goal going into this game," Downing said.

In Malta's game against Cut Bank, the Mustangs were led by senior quarterback Stockton Oxarart who was 10-of-16 for 166 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He had a passer rating of 102.9. Freshman Kazner Oxarart was 1-for-4 for 8 yards.

S. Oxarart, who also plays safety on defense, was asked about his favorite play of the game.

"It was definitely the last play of the game," he said. "I got to play defensive end and got a tackle for a loss, so it was pretty sweet."

Downing led Malta's run game with 105 rushing yards and three touchdowns on seven carries. Wilke had 42 yards on three carries. K. Oxarart had 17 yards on four carries.

Downing was asked about the team's key to victory.

"I think it was just to put it to them at the beginning," Downing said. "You know, we were up 14-0 in the first 2 minutes. I think that really put their spark out. When we put our JV in, they kind of caught that, so we had to go in and show them what's up."

After being up 39-0, Malta's JV surrendered 16 points to Cut Bank. Malta's varsity came in late in the fourth quarter to solidify the win.

Simanton had two touchdowns and 50 yards on two catches. He was asked about his favorite touchdown that night.

"I think it's gotta be that last one. Getting that final punch in after doing all of that, so I definitely felt that was my best," Simanton said.

The play was a 39-yard pass from Oxarart late in the fourth quarter, to seal the game after the JV squad gave up 16 points.

"They beat up our little brother a little bit," Simanton said. "So as a big brother, you gotta come in and take care of business."

Though the JV struggled against Cut Bank's varsity, senior Chuck Brettin gave them credit in the JV credit for their help in making the team better during practice.

"They're coming out hard and they're making us better day-by-day, our whole team," Brettin said. "We're just a family, I mean, there's no toxicity or anything, we're just a big family."

Trooper Stiles had four catches for 47 yards and a touchdown. Wilke had three catches for 61 yards. Hammond and Kruise Stiles both had eight yards and one catch.

Junior Landon Retan had a team-leading 16 tackles (2 TFL). Junior Straud Sims had 15 tackles (2 TFL). Downing had 13 tackles (1.0 TFL). Sophomore Kenan LaBrie had seven tackles and two sacks (3 TFL). Simanton had seven tackles (1TFL).

T. Stiles had an interception for 58 yards and Hammond had an interception for 49 yards.

Retan made two PAT kicks and freshman Zander Fuller made one PAT.

The game against the Wolves served as Malta's Little Mustang Night, where member's of Malta's team were paired with fifth graders at Malta Elementary School.

S. Oxarart had Titus Carnahan as his Little Mustang. When Oxarart was in fifth grade, he had Carnahan's cousin, Kaden Bergos.

Simanton was paired with Austin and Aiden. When Simanton was in fifth grade, his Big Mustang was Taylor Matthews. Simanton was asked how it felt to be a Big Mustang.

"It's awesome. I love it," Simanton said. "It supports the little kids in the community to make sure they have a good time. Make sure they play safe football when they grow up."

Brettin was paired with Axel as his Little Mustang. Brettin wasn't in Malta yet during his fifth grade year, but he did experience something similar during his time at Hebron.

"We had Bearcat Buddies for basketball season and I had Braden Zuroff," Chuck said. "He is playing at Dickinson."

Zuroff is a running back for the Blue Hawks. He had 110 rushing yards and three touchdowns in DSU's 49-14 win over Maryville last Saturday. Former Mustang Eli Hanson was in on a pair of tackles for DSU.