Streaking Blue Ponies visit Sidney

The Havre High football team couldn't have asked for a better start to the 2016 season. But now, the Blue Ponies need to show they can handle success, and their first shot at doing that will come tonight, on the road against Sidney.

HHS, which defeated the Eagles at Blue Pony Stadium a year ago, will look for its second straight win over its Eastern-A rival. Kickoff between the two teams is set for 7.

"I am nervous about this one," HHS head coach Ryan Gatch said. "Sidney is a good football team. A really good football team. They are a lot better than a lot of people think. And they are going to be excited to play us. They are going off a tough loss on the road last week and they are gonna be ready to go."

While the Eagles are coming off a 14-7 loss to Lewistown last week, the Ponies are coming off a dramatic, 13-12 victory over Miles City, also of the Eastern A. At one point in the game, Havre trailed 12-0, but rallied for 13 fourth-quarter points, which gave HHS the win.

"I think that was a real confidence builder for our team," Gatch said. "Now hopefully we don't have to complete two long touchdown passes and convert some fourth downs to win. That's what we want to make our opponent do. But it was great to see the kids compete and keep battling the way they did."

One player that was key in the victory for Havre was quarterback Trey Murphy, who completed 12-of-20 passes for 236 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Murphy also engineered his first fourth-quarter comeback as the starting quarterback.

"I think that he continues to grow," Gatch said of Murphy. "I really liked how he helped rally the team and kept everyone together. We didn't have a great third quarter against Miles City, and he really helped rally everyone and got things going for us."

Murphy may have thrown two touchdowns, but he got a lot of help from his wide receivers on those plays. Michael Loftus came up big on an 85-yard touchdown and Isaac Warp caught five passes for 95 yards and a touchdown himself. Those two will play keys roles again this week, as will Nate Korb, Jacob LaBrie and Ivar Aageson, who will be back in the lineup for HHS after missing the last two games due to injury.

"All of a sudden, it's like we don't have enough footballs to go around," Gatch said. "We have a really strong group of wide receivers and that's a good thing to have."

Yet, as strong as Havre is at wideout, Gatch said his focus is still on running the football and that begins with Jase Stokes, who, despite being limited to 43 yards last week, is still averaging 158 rushing yards per game.

"I have a lot of confidence in our run game," Gatch said. "Everywhere I have been, I have had confidence running the ball. We just need to do a better job than we did last week."

As well as the Havre offense has played in three games, the case could be made that the biggest reason why the Ponies are unbeaten, is the play of their defense. So far, Havre has allowed a total of 19 points, which is barely more than six per game. And even more impressively, HHS has only allowed points in two of the 12 quarters that it has played this season.

Stokes, an All-State linebacker, has been a key part of the defense, along with fellow linebackers Dane Flammond and Mason Dionne. That group, along with a stout defensive line led by Chris Gabrielsen, Tyler Schaub and Jared Sienkowski, has helped the Ponies develop a stingy run defense that surrenders very little on the ground.

At the back end of the defense, Havre also has a slew of playmakers. Jacob LaBrie has been a steady presence at corner and Brady Ophus, who started in place of the injured Aageson, has also stood out and notched an interception in the win over Miles City. Aageson will also be back in the mix this week and as usual, Warp and Korb will man the safety spots.

"I think the biggest key for our defense this season has been effort," Gatch said. "We always seem to have a lot of guys around the football and we have some guys that just seem to have that nose for the ball."

The Havre defense has been outstanding, but it will face a new challenge this week in the form of Sidney's triple-option offense that features a number of talented runners such as Alec Lovegren and Trace Jones.

"It's rare that you see a true option offense like that," Gatch said. "So we will need to make sure we are very disciplined against them and that we tackle well."

The game against Sidney will be the last non-conference game until Polson at the end of the season and Gatch said his team is focused on closing the early part of its schedule on a high note.

"My challenge is to get our students focused for a football game," Gatch said. "We have a long bus ride and they Eagles) are a good team. They have a very strong tradition and they are expecting success, so it will be a good test for us."

Havre and Sidney will kickoff at 7. The Ponies will host Browning next week.

Tonight at 7 p.m.

in Sidney

Radio: 610 KOJM AM