Plains football opens in Philipsburg

Head coach Eddie Fultz is taking advantage of every practice as the season opener is close at hand for the Plains Horsemen football team.

This Friday, Fultz and crew will travel to Philipsburg for a game against the Granite County (Philipsburg/Drummond co-op) Titans, a 2019 Montana 8-man playoff team.

As he hustles to get the Horsemen ready for the challenging opener, Fultz is also facing a reduced schedule and other concerns developing from the COVID-19 situation.

This year the Horsemen will play only five regular season games as opposed to the eight games they would normally play. There will be a pair of huge holes to fill as they strive to improve on last year’s 4-4 record that left them on the outside looking in during the state playoffs.

Bouyed by an upcoming class of freshmen and sophomores, and with a good dose of returning talent, there is hope in Horsemen land.

“We have some holes to fill but I’m very confident we will be a competitive team,” Fultz said while leading pre-season drills last week. “We lost our quarterback and a solid two-way player, and we had four players from last year who have moved out of the area, but I feel good about the way these kids are getting after it.”

Graduation cost the Horsemen starting quarterback Treydon Brouillette, a skilled offensive threat. While his replacement was not set in stone as of last week, it likely will be Tristan Subatch, a 6-foot-2-inch senior who emerged as a basketball talent last season. Subatch has the quickness to take over for Brouillette if not the football experience.

As big a loss as Brouillette is, replacing two-way standout Esvin Reyes, who enrolled at Carroll College in Helena with hopes of continuing his football career, will also be a daunting task.

With the virus cancelling the Carroll season, Reyes was back in Plains watching and helping out with the Horsemen during practice.

“I’m not sure what I am going to do at this point,” Reyes said. “I left school when I found out the season was cancelled, I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how things go.”

Reyes was a punishing running back and linebacker during his time with the Horsemen.

The Horsemen return a team with good speed and size as player positions begin to take place. Approximately 20 players turned out for early practices.

In their opener Friday night, they will face a traditional 8-man football power in the Titans, who finished the 2019 season with a 7-4 overall record, including an first round playoff win over highly ranked West Yellowstone. Granite County fell to Great Falls Central in the second round.

Coach Fultz knows the shortened schedule will be challenging.

“Flint Creek is always good and of course we have the game against Thompson Falls in Thompson Falls this year,” he said.

Still on the agenda are the state playoff games, pending the fluid Coronavirus guidelines.