Blue/White Day marks the beginning for Pony volleyball, football

It has been a long time since Havre High football fans have watched a game at Blue Pony Stadium. But Saturday night, they will finally get their chance as the Blue Ponies will hold their annual Blue-White game at 5:30 p.m.

Of course, Blue-White day, an old sporting tradition at Havre High, isn't just about football. It's also the unofficial start to volleyball season as the Blue Pony volleyball team will also make its first public appearance of the 2018 season. The volleyball scrimmage will be held at the HHS gymnasium and will start at 2 p.m. The football game will follow at 5:30 p.m.

Havre head football coach Ryan Gatch will be taking part in this third Blue-White game and it will follow a similar format to previous renditions.

"We are looking to scrimmage for around an hour or so," Gatch said. "We are going to be mixing up some different groups so all the kids will kind of be playing around the same time. You will see some stoppages so guys can change jerseys and things like that. We are trying to keep offensive groupings together and playing them against a defense with a similar skill."

While the Ponies have a lot of young players returning from last season, one thing HHS doesn't have is a quarterback with any previous starting experience. The quarterback competition will be one of the most interesting parts of the scrimmage as Reese Bulkley, Hunter Lovenguth, Joey Bender and Trenton Maloughney are all competing for playing time.

"All four guys have been getting reps and they have been doing a good job," Gatch said. "We had a scrimmage (Thursday) morning and it went good. We saw some really good things and I think we will see some good things Saturday, too."

Gatch said that he has not made a decision about who will start at quarterback and that the scrimmage will be part of that consideration. Gatch and the Ponies are scheduled to host Hardin Aug. 24 at Blue Pony Stadium, so following the Blue-White game, there will be a quick turnaround.

"I haven't made any decisions yet," Gatch said. "But it's coming up on that time."

Prior to the football game, the Havre High volleyball team will hit the court for the first time this season under the direction of fourth-year head coach Tamecia Jarvis. Havre does return some key players from last year's team such as Cassidy Acor, Peyton Brown and Sam Oliver. Jarvis said that her varsity roster is set but that she is hoping to see a good performance from her players in a competitive situation.

"We have had some good practices so far and they have been working really hard this week," Jarvis said. "We just want to see them translate some of the things that we have been working on in practice over to the game."

Jarvis said the freshman-sophomore team will start things off at 2 p.m., followed by the junior varsity and then the varsity.

"We are hoping to get a full set in," Jarvis said of her varsity players. "But we will see how much time we have."

The froshmore team will open the volleyball scrimmage at 2 p.m. The Blue-White football game will start around 5:30 Saturday night.