Eagles ground Blue Ponies in Lewistown

When it rains, it pours. And right now it is coming down hard on the Havre High football team.

The Blue Ponies, who were in desperate need of a road win over Lewistown Friday night, lost their second consecutive Central A conference game, falling to the Eagles 18-7. The loss was Havre’s first to Lewistown since the 2007 season and the Ponies first loss at Lewistown since 2002.

The loss virtually ensures that Lewistown will earn the No. 2 spot in the final Central A standings as well as the home playoff game that comes with it. If Havre does qualify for the postseason, it will be forced to go on the road.

From the outset Friday night, it was all Eagles.

After an exchange of punts to open the game, and a Lewistown defensive stand on Havre’s second possession, the Eagles went to work and struck first when James Derheim connected with Hunter Errecart on a 32-yard touchdown pass to put them ahead 6-0 with 42 seconds left in the first quarter.

Then, after Havre was unable to muster any offense early in the second quarter, the Eagles struck again. This time, it was Thad Kucera that did the damage, finding pay dirt on an eight-yard touchdown run to put Lewistown ahead 12-0 early in the second quarter.

Late in the first half, the Eagles were driving for a third touchdown, when a pass by Derheim was intercepted by Kody Pribyl, who wrestled the ball away from an Eagle receiver.

On the ensuing possession, the Ponies quickly drove the ball 80 yards down the field in just over a minute to make the score 12-7. The drive was completed when Dane Warp found Parker Filius for a 10-yard touchdown with 18 seconds to go in the first half, and suddenly Havre was in the thick of it.

However, on the opening drive of the second half, the Eagles marched methodically down the field, taking over five minutes off the clock and scoring on another touchdown run by Kucera, which gave Lewistown an 18-7 lead midway through the third quarter.

The Eagles, who already had a double-digit lead in hand, were able to sack Warp numerous times in the second half to keep Havre from scoring, and when they had the ball, it was all about Kucera, who racked up over 100 rushing, helping Lewistown run out the clock to preserve an 11-point win.

“We just didn’t play very well,” HHS head coach Jason Christenson said. “Defensively, I thought we did a pretty good job. They just did a really good job of stopping us offensively. We had a hard time protecting Dane (Warp) and they played man-to-man on our receivers and we just weren’t able to get open.”

Lewistown dominated on both sides of the ball and outgained HHS 318-214. The Eagles also held Havre to seven points, which was its lowest offensive output of the season.

Warp was under duress all night long and wound up completing 16-of-34 passes for 128 yards and a touchdown. Parker Filius was Warp’s favorite target against the Eagles and caught 10 passes for 69 yards to go along with a touchdown reception.

Defensively, the Ponies were led by Jace Billy, who registered 13 tackles and a sack. Jase Stokes also notched 13 tackles. Pribyl had a solid outing with nine tackles and an interception, while Filius had five tackles and a forced fumble.

For the second week in a row, the Ponies lost a key conference game and are now 2-5 on the season and 1-2 in conference play. The loss to Lewistown is especially tough, because Havre will likely have to go on the road in the first round of the playoffs, and that road destination will be the second-place team from the difficult Eastern A.

“Right now it’s about pride,” Christenson said. “We still have a chance to get in the playoffs but it’s important for our guys to remember they are representing themselves and their school and their community. So, we need to finish the season as strong as we possibly can and hopefully make some noise in the playoffs.”

Next up for the Ponies will be a nonconference affair against Polson this Friday night at Blue Pony Stadium. HHS will then host Browning Oct. 24 with a berth in the playoffs on the line. Both games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Lewistown 18, Blue Ponies 7

Havre 0 7 0 0 - 7

Lewistown 6 6 6 0 - 18

L: Hunter Errecart 32 pass from James Derheim (kick blocked)

L: Thad Kucera 8 run (pass failed)

H: Parker Filius 10 pass from Dane Warp (kick good)

L: Kucera 2 run (kick blocked)

Havre Individual Statistics

Passing – Dane Warp 16-34-128

Rushing – Dane Warp 9-20, Jase Stokes 5-23, Parker Filius 2-15, Kody Pribyl 1-28.

Receiving – Filius 10-69, Kody Pribyl 1-24, Jacob LaBrie 2-17, Jase Stokes 2-16.