After win, Scotties look to fix mistakes against Wolves

Still riding high from its 13-7 win over Malta, the Glasgow football team is heading back to work to prepare for its homecoming matchup with Wolf Point on Friday.

The Scotties relied heavily on their defense in the Malta game, forcing the Mustangs into eight turnovers in the game, including an interception by Drew Croy that was returned for a touchdown.

“The defense saved this ball game,” head coach Dan Dale said. “Our defense won this ball game … they basically shut (Malta) down when they had opportunities.”

The defense will have to make a stand again Friday with Wolf Point in town. The Wolves have scored the second most points in conference behind Glasgow and are coming off a 20-6 victory over Harlem. Now 3-2 overall and 2-0 in conference play, the Wolves will be carrying plenty of confidence into the game on Friday.

After holding Malta scoreless in the second half of last week’s game, the Scotty defense has plenty confidence of its own.

“Now our defense knows they have the capability of just shutting people out,” Dale said. “But everybody has to keep doing their job. That’s the reason why they were so successful.”

But for as good as the defense was against Malta, the special teams were nearly cost the Scotties the game. A missed extra point, a punt return for a touchdown, botched long snaps and a fumble on a punt return deep in the Scotty zone all gave the Mustangs a shot at pulling off an upset.

“We’ll just keep working at it,” Dale said. “We just have to do a better job at execution. The defense executed wonderfully. We have to do a better job on special teams and on offense.”

Dale took some of the offensive woes on his own play calling, saying that he had gotten “pass happy” in the game.

“Our offense, we have to be able to run the ball effectively if we’re going to be able to throw the ball effectively,” Dale said. “I’ve got to go back to that. I’ve got to go back to what’s in my gut. I know we’ve got to run the ball.”

Late in the game against Malta the Scotties were able to run the ball a lot better, which kept the Mustang offense off the field for long periods of time, helping Glasgow eke out the win.

“When we needed them to run the clock in the third and the fourth (quarters), we didn’t score but we were able to keep the ball away from them as long as we could and then our defense won the game.”

The Scotties, who are now 4-1 overall and 1-0 in conference games, would take sole possession of first place with a win on Friday.