First One: Blue Ponies nip Bulldogs

The Havre High football team had hoped to get new head coach Mark Samson his first win in the season-opening game against Whitefish. But, it wasn't meant to be and in the end, Samson's first win was delayed just a week.

That's because when the Blue Ponies took the field for the first time under the lights at Blue Pony Stadium this season against the Hardin Bulldogs Friday night, they salted away their first win by way of a 14-13 slugfest with Hardin.

In wet conditions, the game came down to the final drive. After the Ponies failed to run out the clock, a botched snap on a punt had given Hardin the ball at the Havre 29-yard line with just over two minutes remaining in the game.

On the previous Hardin possession, the Bulldogs had driven the ball into Havre territory before HHS rose the occasion and turned the ball over on downs, thanks to a tackle for loss by Jase Stokes on a fourth-and-two.

Faced with a similar situation of needing a stop to preserve the win, Stokes and the Havre defense again came up with a defensive stand. Just like on the previous drive, this one came down to a key fourth-down play and again it was Stokes who made the decisive play. On a fourth-and-eight, the Bulldogs tried to throw for the first down, but the pass was intercepted by Stokes and, with that, the game was over.

"I just read the play well and the defensive line got a good push at the end," Stokes said of his interception. "We were all pretty fired up there at the end, it was our first win, it wasn't pretty, but we'll take it."

The win marked the first for Samson as a Blue Pony and also improved the Ponies overall mark on the season to 1-1. With the loss, the Bulldogs, who were playing in their first game fell to 0-1.

"It was crazy," Samson said. "I guess that's what happens when you play a team that you don't know very much about. We knew they had a good quarterback, and I was impressed with their running back and they have a big offensive line.

"We drew it up that were going to have a bad snap at the end of the game and give the ball back to them at the 20 and put our defense on the field one more time, and then we were going to hold them so everyone could get excited about it," he added jokingly. "I think what these kids need to understand is that any win is a good win right now, as long as they come back the next week and figure out that we still have work to do."

At the beginning of the night, the thought was that Havre would not have to fight so hard to defeat the Bulldogs, who went 0-8 a season ago. Yet, early on, it was Hardin that came out swinging.

After having a pass intercepted by Havre's Nate Rismon on their opening possession, the Bulldogs turned to the ground game on their second, which paid dividends immediately, as Connor Murdock ripped off a 64-yard run. The play set up a five-yard touchdown run by Murdock three plays later to put Hardin in front 7-0.

However, the lead for the Bulldogs was short-lived. On the next possession, Dane Warp got things going for Havre with a 15-yard completion to Parker Filius and a 20-yard run on a key third down. Later, Warp finished the 13-play drive with a one-yard touchdown pass to Filius to tie the game at 7-7.

But, just as Whitefish did in week one, the Bulldogs continued to hammer away at the Havre defense with the run, and on the ensuing drive, Murdock hit pay dirt again to put the Bulldogs back in front 13-7.

Facing a six-point deficit, the Havre offense went back to work and again got a spark from Warp and Filius, as the two connected on a 29-yard pass play to advance to ball into Hardin territory. Three plays later, Warp found Logan Pleninger for a 10-yard touchdown, which gave HHS a 14-13 edge. The touchdown pass was also No. 82 for Warp, which tied him with former Glacier quarterback Brady McChesney for the most in the history of Montana High School football.

Warp had another solid outing in the win for HHS as he completed 15-of-25 passes for 180 yards. He also threw two touchdown passes as opposed to just one interception. He also ran for 25 yards and a few first downs.

Filius also had a big night for HHS with five receptions for 72 yards and a touchdown to lead the way for the Ponies. Rismon also stood out for Havre on offense with four catches for 60 yards. On the ground, Stokes led the way with 14 carries for 43 yards, while Jazz Schroeder also contributed with 21 yards on nine attempts.

Stokes was all over the field for Havre on defense, registering a sack, a tackle for loss and the game-sealing interception. And, in the end, it was the defense, which held Hardin scoreless throughout the second half. That put the win on ice for the Ponies.

"I am proud of the kids," Samson said. "We had some younger kids step up and some older kids that played well, too. We are still a ways from where I want us to be. It's going to be really physical the next two weeks with Miles City and Sidney. Hats off to Hardin, they came in here and found our weakness, which is our defensive front, and that's something that we need to work on."

The Ponies will travel to Miles City this Friday in a rematch of last season's playoff game, which saw the Cowboys eliminate Havre with a 48-47 win in overtime. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Blue Ponies 14, Hardin 13

Hardin 7 6 0 0 - 13

Havre 7 7 0 0 - 14

Hardin - Connor Murdock 5 run (PAT Good)

Havre - Parker Filius 1 pass from Dane Warp (PAT Good)

Hardin - Murdock 5 run (PAT No Good)

Havre - Pleninger 10 pass from Warp (PAT Good)

Havre Individual statistics

Passing - Dane Warp 15-25 180.

Rushing - Jase Stokes 14-43, Jazz Schroeder 9-21, Dane Warp 8-25, Parker Filius 1-9.

Receiving - Parker Filius 5-72, Nate Rismon 4-60, Logan Pleninger 3-23, Nate Korb 1-13, Jazz Schroder 1-10, Jase Stokes 1-8.