Mighty Savage Horsemen open up season with win

Matt Unrau

Two extremely different styles took the field on Friday night at Hot Springs for the Savage Horsemen’s first football game of the season. It was a battle between the high flying speed attack of the Plains-Hot Springs verses the brutal pounding rush attack of the Cutbank Wolves. It was the aerial attack of Plains behind three touchdown hook ups between Quarterback Riley Winebrenner and Wide Receiver Brian Green that tamed the wolves with a 33-19 win.

“It feels great,” says a triumphant Cody Hoff, “that’s what we need to do, come out and show everyone you’re for real.” Hoff plays a middle linebacker on defense and definitely showed everyone he was for real as he led the team with 13 tackles and was a key piece in containing 6’1”, 215 lb. wolf Brock Calvi.

Beside being an exhibition of two different playing styles, it was a story of two halves. Plains jumped on the Wolves early leading at half by a score of 21-7 on the three TD catches by Green. With the start of the second half, Plains then scored on their opening drive as the pass-weary Cutbank defense allowed Dillon Fryxell cut to the outside of the field and blow by the Wolves for a 30 yard touchdown.

However, after that play the game took un unwanted turn for Cutbank’s style of play, and for a few tense moments it appeared that Cutbank had worn the Plains defense down enough to make a big comeback in the second half.

Gaining the ball late in the third quarter, Cutbank drove the length of the field to bring the score to 27-13. The wolves then converted an onside kick to gain the ball. Although, Cutbank continued to convert third and fourth downs, Plains was able to slow them down to the point that the clock proved to be fatal for the Wolves who refused to start throwing the ball even with time running out.

After the wolves again scored a touchdown with an unsuccesful two-point conversion, Plains then put the game away. After recovering an onside kick attempt, Winebrenner gained 19 yards on a quarterback keeper and on the next play Hoff ran the ball into the endzone from the 15 yard line. “I just saw a hole and had one kid to beat,” says Hoff on his touchdown run. He had two total touchdowns last year and was excited to start the year with a touchdown in the first game. “It feels great. It’s pretty hard to beat that,” says Hoff.

“We don’t have a lot of size, but we have a lot of heart,” says Coach Seth Pettit who attaches special significance to the win because it gains respect for Western Montana teams against the supposedly powerhouse Eastern and Central teams.

He goes on to say that the opening win will go a long way in moving his team towards the playoffs where they haven’t been in the last few decades and never since the merger. “Whenever you start off with a win, it puts your mind in the right place,” says Coach Pettit. He also looks for big things for his seniors who started their highschool career 0-8, then 5-3 and 3-5 and now hope to put together a playoff caliber year.

Winebrenner finished the game 9-for-15 for 157 yards and three TD passes. He also rushed 14 times for 98 yards. Green snagged four catches for 82 yards. Carson Lilja also caught three balls for 48 yards and converted three PATs. Fryxell had 39 yards rushing on five carries. On defense Bryce Benson had seven tackles, one sack and a forced fumble.

The Savage-Horsemen now head to Superior on Friday to play the 1-0 Bobcats who beat Thompson Falls last Friday. It will be another defensive change against the Bobcats who like to spread the ball around the field with a powerful air attack.