When two evenly matched teams meet on the football field, the winner is often determined by who makes the fewest mistakes.

That factor played a key role in Park City’s hard-fought 21-12 win over Plains Friday night in Deer Lodge. The game was played in Deer Lodge as part of a movement that is gaining ground with neutral sites like Deer Lodge hosting teams where hundreds of miles of travel separate the two combatants.

It’s referred to as a “meet you halfway” policy for the Horsemen and Panthers who come from towns which, according to Google, are 396 miles of Montana real estate apart from each other.

The idea is to cut down on travel expenses as well as wear and tear on the athletes.

In any event, Friday night’s game between Park City and Plains wound up in Deer Lodge.

Whether or not the concept works as intended matters little once the opening whistle is blown. In this case, it resulted in a tight, close fight between the Horsemen and Panthers.

Neither team scored in the first quarter as both defenses were tight for a pair of teams in search of victory number one on the 2023 Class B season.

The scoring drought continued into the second quarter until, with 16 seconds remaining in the first half, Park City put some numbers other than zero on the scoreboard. That’s when Deer Lodge scored on a 16-yard scoring pass, putting the Panthers up 6-0. The extra point kick was good, and as time slipped away in the first half, the Panthers held a 7-0 advantage.

Plains got on the score in the second quarter when Will Tatum scored on a keeper from one yard out. The extra point was no good, preserving the Park City lead at 7-6 at the half.

Both teams scored in the third, with Park City picking up another touchdown and extra point at the 3:06 mark of the quarter. Plains offset the 14-6 advantage later in the third when Nick Hill snared a short pass from Darren Standeford and raced 30 yards into the Park city end zone A missed extra point put the score at 14-12 in favor of the Panthers.

Park City increased their lead to 20-12 with 6:48 left to play in the game when their quarterback found the end zone, also from one yard out, giving the Panthers an eight point lead. The extra point kick was good and neither team scored during the rest of the game, giving Park City their first win of the year, while Plains fell to 0-3.

Plains head coach Mike Tatum said the Horsemen defense played well, noting Aden West accounted for 10 tackles during the game. They also got a turnover when Wyatt Butcher caused a Deer Lodge fumble and the ball was recovered by Anaya Loberg.

Tatum said mistakes were the difference between winning and losing for the Horsemen.

“We were in the game for the whole time,” Tatum said. “But more self-inflicted mistakes kept us from any consistency”.

Next up for Plains is a home game this Friday at 7 p.m. versus conference foe Troy, which is also seeking its first victory of the 2023 season.