Ponies open Central A play at rival Belgrade

The tougher the nonconference schedule, the better teams get as the season progresses. That is normally the mentality in the game of football, as teams prepare for the conference schedule.

And, if that's true, the Havre Blue Ponies should be well-prepared for the Central A after facing Whitefish, Butte Central, Miles City and Sidney en route to the conference schedule.

Havre High's Justin Jensen will try to help lead the Blue Ponies to a Central A conference opening win Saturday in Belgrade.

HHS now sits at 1-3 over all and prepares for their first conference matchup of the 2011 season. Saturday the Ponies will travel to Belgrade to take on the 0-4 Panthers.

The Ponies started the season with a dominating win over Whitefish. But with a couple heart-breaking losses and week plagued with key injuries, the Ponies dropped three straight games to Butte Central, Miles City and Sidney.

Last Friday, in an attempt to prevent the three game slide, the Ponies lost to Sidney 34-33 on the road. HHS gave up 28 third- quarter points and posted 20 of their own in the fourth before being stopped just short of the comeback win.

Now headed into their first conference game of the season, the Ponies feel as if they are ready and much-improved from where they started in week one.

"I hate to say the other games didn't mean anything," Havre High head coach Jason Christenson said. "But they were non- conference. We have learned a lot over the last three games, but now we are in conference and it actually means something. The playoffs are on the line, as is seeding and who you play. We have the opportunity to win a conference championship, so now the games really mean something and the kids know that.

"Being 1-3 is almost like a sense of urgency thing," Christenson added. "We can't have any letdowns, we have to play hard for four more conference games and one nonconference game. We have 25 hard, hard quarters left this season and we have to practice with that sense of urgency and we can't have one quarter let down like we had against Sidney. Belgrade is going to be a tough contest, they are a very good team. It is always tough going to play in their house, but we are just going down their confident and we should be ready to go."

So far this season the Panthers have failed to impress.

They enter the weekend 0-4 and have scored just 14 points on the season that has brought four very tough losses their way. The Panthers started out well, but lost to Butte Central 16-8. And, in their last three contests, Polson defeated Belgrade 40-0, Laurel defeated Belgrade 56-0 and Miles City (defending Class A State Champions) defeated Belgrade 42-6.

But just like the Ponies feel confident after a tough nonconference schedule, the HHS can expect the Panthers to be ready play as well.

The Panthers are not a big team, a welcomed size matchup after Havre took on the brutes of Miles City and Sidney the last two weekends. But with a solid roster on offense and defense, housing some talented football players, the Ponies have to match up well across the board in the hopes of finding their way back into the win column.

Junior Colton Stump hasn't produced much from the quarterback position this season, but has had some tough matchups. And with Kole Satchell, Colter Devers and Nolan Kemp grabbing the majority of the carries this season, the Panthers look to have an even offensive attack. Belgrade has also used Brandon Stubbs, Daniel Thibault, Devers, Satchell and countless others in the passing attack as receivers, so the Ponies will have a hard time always knowing where the attack is going to come from.

"Other than our third-quarter let down against Sidney," Christenson added, "I think, defensively, we have been playing very well. I know the scores don't always show that, but we are playing solid defense for most of the quarters. We are just going to prepare and try to take away their best players and hopefully we can get the job done."

Casey Schaub, Kameron Pribyl and Eli Hinebauch have led the Havre defense all season long in tackles. Thurman Holdsclaw has also moved into the defensive end position nicely and Evan Flathers continues to help lead the way on the defensive line. And, if the Ponies defense can hold steady, the HHS offense could run away with this matchup. The Panthers have put up just 14 points this season, while the Ponies have put 121 on the board already.

Quarterback Justin Jensen missed the Miles City game with a concussion, and the Ponies offense suffered. But in his first game back last weekend against Sidney the offense stormed back to what fans have grown accustomed to this season. Jensen is coming off a week where he was 22-of-33 for 325 yards passing with three passing scores and one rushing.

And the better Jensen plays, the better Brayden Grimson, Ryan Brandt, Zach Plum, Holdsclaw, Schaub and Brandon Smith play as they have all earned targets this season. Schaub is also the teams leading rusher thus far and is coming off of a two touchdown game last weekend, as is Grimson.

"We have to get into a rhythm," Christenson said. "We can't wait till the fourth quarter to get it going, we have to maintain drives and put points on the board early. We just have to take care of the ball and put the opposition in some sort of straining situation."

Saturday the Blue Ponies (1-3) will face the conference rival Panthers (0-4) in Belgrade. at 4 p.m.