Savage Horsemen catch rhythm in 41-6 win

Matt Unrau

In their first game since clinching a postseason berth for the first time in co-op history, Plains-Hot Springs looked every ounce of a playoff caliber team as they walloped a visiting Cascade squad in a 41-6 rout.

“This is a great way to tune yourself up (for the playoffs). Whenever you beat a team by 30 plus points, 35 points in fact, that’s pretty impressive,” says Coach Seth Pettit.

Kicking off in the pouring rain with an early start time of 4 p.m. the Savage Horsemen started the game with electric defensive plays. On the first seven plays by Cascade the Savage Horsemen recovered two fumbles and snagged an interception that Safety Reiley Winebrenner returned 40 yards for a touchdown. The three turnovers in less than four minutes of play led to a remarkable 21-0 lead for the home team.

Plains-Hot Springs finished the first quarter up 28-0 over Cascade who came into the game with one win.

The second quarter was not nearly as wild as the first as the Savage Horsemen played Cascade even with each team gaining a touchdown. After the game, Pettit addressed his concerns over the second quarter letdown to his team citing the fact that in the playoffs any letdown could cause the opponent to post points in a hurry.

Senior lineback Darin Anderson, who snagged his first interception of the year in the third quarter, says the letdown is a recurring theme of these mid-game letdowns that the team is going to have to change when they face Loyola in Missoula on Saturday.

“Beginning of the second, beginning of the third there’s just a little spot where we hit a down drag,” says Anderson. “We just got to keep fired up.”

In the second half the coaching staff played a lot of the younger and lesser used players on the team, a few that had not seen any varsity playing time during the other games.

The strategy led to a touchdown and stellar running from Freshman running back Mike Gray and a couple big hits from Senior Mike Camp including a big sack of the Cascade quarterback.

After the game Coach Pettit drew a large number four on the white board in front of his team in the locker room. He then circled the number and said this was how many more wins the team would need for a state championship.

The road to the championship begins with 7-1 Loyola with their powerful rushing attack that rushed the ball 39 times on Friday against Superior for 180 yards. Pettit says the game will be won on the defense side of the ball for Plains-Hot Springs. A task that the team will focus on how effectively Anderson and fellow linebacker Cody Hoff can plug the running lanes.

“If our defense doesn’t show up they’ll put up points in a hurry,” says Pettit. But, if it comes down to a shoot out then that favors us, because of our offense.”

Thinking of entering the playoffs for the first time Anderson admitted to both nerves and excitement when thinking about warming up before the game on Saturday, a fact that will lead to many pumped up Savage Horsemen players hitting their opponents with extra power.

“Everyone is going to be so static. There is going to be so many nerves flying around,” says Anderson. “People are just going to go out and kill people.”

Comments or questions on this story can be emailed to Reporter Matt Unrau at editor@VP-MI.com or by calling 826-3402.