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Havre High head coach Ryan Gatch walks the sidelines during a 2017 Class A football game at Blue Pony Stadium last September. The Blue Ponies start their season in less than a month, but this week, Gatch is coaching the East Team in the 72nd annual Montana East-West Shrine Game. Gatch is an assistant to Bozeman head coach Levi Wesche, who is a former Montana State University-Northern player and assistant coach. Former Havre High star Coda Tchida is also an assistant on East squad. The Shrine Game is slated for Saturday night at Memorial Stadium in Great Falls.
The Havre Blue Ponies didn't have a player selected to the 2018 Montana East-West Shrine Game, which is slated for Saturday night but Pony Pride is still a part of what is the longest running high school all-star game in the United States.
Both the East and West teams have been practicing all week for Saturday night's game at Memorial Stadium in Great Falls, and one of the coaches helping the East squad get ready for the big night is Havre High head coach Ryan Gatch.
Gatch is entering his third year as the Blue Ponies' head coach, after coming to Havre from a stint as head coach at Forsyth High School. On Tuesday, he tweeted "Day 3 of prep in the books. Looking forward to the game Saturday night. Great people involved for an awesome cause."
No doubt, Gatch is correct in his words. The Montana Shrine Game, now in its 72nd year, helps raise money for the Spokane Shriners Children's Hospital. The game is an honor for high school seniors to be selected to play in, but it is for coaches as well, and Gatch isn't the only Blue Pony on the East staff this week.
Former Havre High star wide receiver and MSU-Northern great Coda Tchida is also coaching the East team for this year's game. Tchida is currently an assistant coach on Mark Samson's staff at Great Falls High, and, is also a Shrine Game alum.
The East team is being headed by Bozeman High coach Levi Wesche, which gives this year's Shrine Game yet another Havre connection. Wesche was a standout for the MSU-Northern Lights under Samson. He was also an assistant at MSU-N before moving to Bozeman to coach under former Blue Pony head man Troy Purcell. Wesche got the Bozeman High job when Purcell left to be an assistant coach at the University of Idaho. The East coaching staff also includes Shelby's Mike White, Bozeman's Mason Wahl and Cascade's Jay Fredrickson.
The East roster also has Havre connections, in that, several incoming MSU-Northern recruits, who are part of new head coach Andrew Rolin's first recruiting class, are also playing in the game. Those players include Laurel's B.H. Hatcher, CMR's Damien Nelson and Belt's Keagan Stroop.
The 2018 Shrine Game will take place Saturday night at Memorial Stadium in Great Falls. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on Montana SWX.
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