It isn’t called the toughest road trip of the season for no reason.

Riding the bus for the better part of two straight days last week, coach Tyrel Allen and his no-doubt hindquarter-weary Horsemen dropped District 7B conference games in Mission 67-49 to the Bulldogs Friday and in Eureka 70-65 to the Lions Saturday.

Now 0-3 in 7B standings and 0-11 overall, the Horsemen host Flathead Home School in non-conference action Tuesday and visit Troy for another 7B conference game Friday.

Allen said the Horsemen almost cracked the code for the victory in Eureka. “We were close but played from behind the whole way,” he said. “The effort was there but we struggled with some of the same old things we have been struggling with all season, and it hurt us in the end.”

Allen said that the Horsemen have also been battling a lot of illness recently, citing the fact that Cooper Meredith did not even make the trip to Mission because of it. Not 100 percent, Meredith did return to active duty for the Horsemen against Eureka.

Ben Aldridge made the single biggest impact for Plains in Eureka, scoring 20 points, grabbing seven rebounds and three steals, and passing out three assists.

Shaking off his illness, Meredith added 12 points and eight rebounds, an also recuperating Jackson Revier chipped in with seven points, Eddie Siebert six, Chase DePoe five, Jeff Siebert four and Tristan Allen two.

Brody Chapman led Eureka with 20 points and Rowan Burrow added 17.

At Mission, Aldridge led Plains with 16 points and Revier scored nine, while Lex LaFrombois scored 23 and Vinny Shepherd 20 for the Bulldogs.

Allen looks forward to sending his boys into battle with Flathead Home School, a team the Horsemen opened the season with in Plains way back in early December.

“I’m curious to see how we match up,” Allen offered. “We didn’t have Ben playing yet then, and he has been playing lights-out for us lately. We look for a better game this time.”