PLAINS – The Horsemen of Plains made significant advances in team performance during their last outing against Shelby on Friday. Facing off with a team that Head Coach Juan Lulack said would most likely be a playoff contender, the Horsemen put 34 points on the board.

During the first half, the team met an enormous benchmark for the year scoring the first touchdown of the season. The Plains team discovered their offensive potential in the game finding a rhythm in the passing and rushing game.

Showing depth in the offense, three touchdowns came from the air with two scores coming on the ground. Led by quarterback Nick Barnes, the Horsemen made improvements and adjusted to conditions on the field to effectively move the ball down the field.

Coach Lulack said the team was beginning to believe in their skills on the field and accomplish some goals that were set forth at the beginning of the season. Lulack said the first score of the season was a huge morale boost for the team.

“Offensively we finally pushed through that hump and scored a touchdown,” said Coach Lulack. “It was great to get that monkey off our back. The kids were smiling and having fun so that was great to see.”

During the second half of the game, the Horsemen fell into their stride and kept the points coming.

“We had a few turnovers in the first half but we cleaned up our game in the second half and finally found our offensive stride,” said Lulack.

The score leading into the second half was 14 to 40 with Plains behind Shelby. As Shelby added another eight points to the score board, Plains stepped up their game to close in on the gap.

Trent Brouillette made a touchdown for the Horsemen, helping to even out the score. After an unsuccessful field goal attempt, the score was at 20 to 48. In the fourth quarter the Horsemen intercepted the ball for a touchback, adding another two points to the total.

Brouillette nailed down three touchdowns for Plains, while Nick Barnes added another set of touhdowns.

“This is the most cohesive I’ve seen these guys,” said Lulack. “We’ve improved a little bit every week, every game. A goal for us is to improve every game and we’ve done that.”

The final score of the game was 54 to 34, the Horsemen closing in the gap throughout the last quarter.

The Plains team has plans to continually improve and are going to be working hard at practice to prepare for their away game against Whitehall on Friday, Sept. 13.

“We are going to be working on our tackling and tightening up our defense for Whitehall,” said Lulack.