Sidney halts Pony winning streak

For the second week in a row, the Havre High football team spotted an Eastern A opponent 13 points to start the game. Yet, unlike last week against Miles City, the Blue Ponies couldn’t pull off the dramatic comeback.

After making the long trip to Sidney, Havre struggled early on and never recovered as HHS fell to the Eagles 28-7 Friday night on the road.

It was the Ponies' final non-conference game as they get set to take on Browning in the start of Central A conference play Friday at Blue Pony Stadium.

“They (Eagles) are a good football team,” HHS head coach Ryan Gatch said. “I didn’t think that they were the better team, they just outplayed us and we made some mistakes that came back to bite us.”

Sidney was able to jump ahead of Havre early as the Eagles grabbed the lead with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Alec Lovegren to Trace Jones to cap the game’s opening drive. The Ponies had a couple of chances to score in the first quarter, but missed a field goal, then squandered a first-and-goal opportunity after a holding call and got no points.

“They (Eagles) came out and got ahead of us there early on that first drive,” Gatch said. “And we had some chances but we missed out on some red-zone opportunities. Redzone efficiency was a problem again for us.”

Sidney held that 7-0 lead to the end of the first quarter and then added another to it, this time on a 36-yard run from Dawson McGlothlin, which left HHS trailing 13-0 at the half.

In the third quarter, the tide started to turn and the Pony defense stonewalled the Eagles and held them scoreless throughout the stanza.

Meanwhile, Trey Murphy connected with Isaac Warp on a 24-yard touchdown pass and, suddenly, Havre found itself trailing just 13-7. But, special teams came back to bite the Ponies, as a big return by the Eagles set them up deep in Havre territory. A few plays later, Lovegren scored from one yard out, making the score 22-7 with one quarter left to play.

“We were right there and gave ourselves an opportunity to win the football game,” Gatch said. “Then we gave up a big return and gave them the ball at the 3-yard-line, and it’s hard to keep anyone from scoring from there.”

The Ponies put together a positive drive early in the final stanza, but McGlothlin intercepted a Jase Stokes halfback pass and returned it 73 yards for a touchdown, putting the Eagles in front 28-7 and putting the win on ice.

“We were trying to come up with a big play,” Gatch said. “Maybe we should have dialed up something else there. But it’s disappointing, because we had a chance and gave them those last two touchdowns and all of a sudden it’s 28-7 with five minutes to go.”

Murphy was 16-of-28 passing for 103 yards to go along with one touchdown and one interception in the loss. On the ground, Stokes led the way with 78 yards on 17 carries; Dane Flammond had four carries for 32 yards. Receiving-wise, Warp led the way with four receptions for 36 yards and a touchdown. Jacob LaBrie contributed with three receptions for 26, while Nate Korb had three for 20, and Flammond had three for 17.

Defensively, Stokes led the way with 12 total tackles, while Flammond had 10 to go along with two tackles for loss and a sack. Warp added two interceptions in the secondary.

The Ponies, who are in solid position the Class A power poll for the Eastern A after three non-conference wins, will open play in the Central A conference Friday night at home against Browning. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

“Right now, I like where we’re at,” Gatch said. “I think that you have that natural feeling-out process with your players and even your coaches. And I think we still have some areas to improve and get better and that’s a good thing after four games.”

Sidney 28, Havre 7

Havre 0 0 7 0 - 7

Sidney 7 6 8 6 0 - 28

S: Trace Jones 8 pass from Alec Lovegren (Jace Johnson kick)

S: Dawson McGlothlin 36 run (kick failed)

H: Isaac Warp 24 pass from Trey Murphy (Jase Stokes kick)

S: Lovegren 1 run (Michael McGinnis pass from McGlothlin)

S: McGlothlin 73 int return (Johnson kick)

Havre Individual Stats

Passing - Trey Murphy, 16-28-103, Stokes, 1-2, 8.

Rushing - Jase Stokes, 17-78, Dane Flammond, 4-32.

Receiving - Isaac Warp 4-36, Jacob LaBrie, 3-26, Nate Korb 3-20, Dane Flammond 3-17, Ivar Aageson 3-13, Michael Loftus 1-5, Jase Stokes 1-2.