Savage Horsemen play hard in tough game
Jamie Doran/Valley Press Plains-Hot Springs Savage Horsemen Reiley Winebrenner drops back in the pocket looking to throw the ball during the team’s 39-7 loss to Loyola Friday night. Despite the loss Head Coach Seth Pettit is still optimistic for the rest of the season.
The Plains-Hot Springs Savage Horsemen opened up their season in Plains with a loss against the Loyola Rams Friday night. While the scoreboard showed a score of 39-7, Savage Horsemen Head Coach Seth Pettit said to not let that dictate how the team played.
“Despite the score, we didn’t quit, and that is really important,” he said.
Pettit said that Loyola had their starters in pretty much the entire game, which made it difficult.
“We made some big stops against them and didn’t quit, which really shows our perseverance,” he said.
Pettit continued on to say that Loyola is one of the best teams in the state and he was really impressed that they were able to hold their own against them.
He said that there were several players who really stood out as leaders and had a really great game despite the challenges they faced against the Rams.
Reiley Winebrenner had a 35-yard rush in the second quarter and even though it didn’t pan out into a score, it helped get the crowd energized again.
Unfortunately shortly there after Winebrenner had to come out of the game with a bruised lung and Carson Lilja, who had never played quarterback before came in.
“I was really impressed with Carson,” Pettit said. “For someone who had never played quarterback before, he did a great job. He was the one who threw the touchdown pass.”
On the defensive side Trent Thompson had three sacks, with two nearly back-to-back in the second quarter to cause the Rams to have to give up the ball. Mitch Thompson had nine tackles, which really helped to solidify the defense.
For special teams, Trevor Bras had 50-yards returning and Dylan Fryxell had 42-yards returning and Seth Pettit said that if they could’ve broken loose, they really could’ve opened up the game, but that the Rams were just really tough.
“We just couldn’t catch a break,” he said. “They would get a ball tipped and just get lucky with it, and we didn’t have that luck.”
Looking ahead to their game at Florence this Friday night, Pettit said that the biggest thing they need to work on is to take advantage of opportunities.
Pettit said that he hadn’t heard back from the scouts he sent up to the Florence game, but he heard that they ran the ball more than they passed it and that is something that they’ll have to prepare for.
He also said that they’re anticipating a 5-2 defense, because it is the same defense Loyola used against the Savage Horsemen and it seemed to be rather effective.
“We’re pretty sure that’s the defense they’ll use, because any time you hear of something working against a team you’re going to be playing, you’ll want to do that,” he said.
Pettit said that he is really looking forward to the game against Florence and he thinks it will be a good one.
He also said that he is proud of how his team performed against one of the best teams in the state.
“I was happy with how the guys played, I thought we stepped up to it well,” he said. “I was just really impressed with how our guys handled it.”
The Savage Horsemen will travel to Florence Friday for their game at 7 p.m.