Ponies put up a great fight in Laurel

The Havre High football team knew winning on the road against Laurel wasn’t going to be easy. But despite that, the Blue Ponies gave it everything they had against the Locomotives and, because of that effort, nearly pulled off an upset win.

One week after getting steamrolled, on the road, by Lewistown, 47-6, the Blue Ponies paid a visit to a team that defeated the Eagles 38-12 just two weeks ago. Yet, HHS wasn’t intimidated and trailed by just eight points with a couple minutes left in the game before Laurel tacked on a late touchdown to wrap up a 49-35 victory.

“Our effort was fantastic,” HHS head coach Ryan Gatch said. “Our team went in with a lot of confidence. Our team knows that the team we were the week before is not the team we are. We wanted to show that. You don’t want to find any silver lining in a loss, but we were battling the whole time and that was good for us to get back on track like that.”

Laurel ultimately won the game, but early on though, Havre made a statement that it wasn’t going anywhere and after giving up a 12-yard touchdown pass from Gage Hull to Noah Gunther to go down 7-0, the Ponies tied the game at 7-7 on a 55-yard touchdown pass from Reese Bulkley to Ethan Roberts. Later in the opening stanza, Bulkley found Roberts again for a touchdown, this time from five yards out, putting Havre in front 14-7.

“We got off the bus with a lot better mindset than we did the week before,” Gatch said. “The kids came out and played great. They played hard and they played with a lot of heart. It was fun to watch.”

Laurel eventually tied the score before the end of the first quarter on a three-yard touchdown run by Gunther. Then early in the second quarter, Keagan Campbell caught a four-yard touchdown from Hull and suddenly, it was 22-14 Locomotives. Before halftime, Havre did manage to get back within two, when Mason Dionne found the end zone from three yards out, however a Logan Kennedy touchdown reception from Hull, which covered 18 yards, gave Laurel a 30-20 halftime lead.

Leading by double digits to start the second half, Laurel looked to break the game wide open with a pair of third-quarter touchdowns. Hull, who finished the game with five touchdown passes, connected on two more in the third to Gage Leischner and another to Campbell, putting the home team ahead 43-20.

At that point, any hopes of a victory seemed slim for the Ponies, but even then, Havre refused to go away.

Down by 23 points, Havre started to chip away at the Laurel advantage when Bulkley connected with Roberts on another touchdown pass. This time it covered 14 yards and made the score 43-27. Following a turnover on special teams, Havre got the ball deep in Laurel territory and capitalized when Bulkley found Hunter Lovenguth from four yards out for his fourth touchdown pass of the game. Bulkley hit Roberts for the two-point conversion and suddenly, the score was 43-35 Laurel with around five minutes to go.

Havre needed a defensive stop, but unfortunately for the Ponies, it never came. Ethan Renner eventually capped the Laurel drive with a touchdown with less than a minute to play, wrapping up the 49-35 win for the Locomotives.

Bulkley was stellar in the loss for the Ponies, throwing for 143 yards after completing 12-of-15 passes. He also threw four touchdowns and rushed for 48 yards. Roberts also had a big night for HHS, hauling in five passes for 84 yards and three touchdowns. He also finished with 13 tackles. Lovenguth also had a breakout night for the Ponies, catching three passes for 44 yards. Additionally, Dionne racked up 59 total yards in the loss. Dexter Beck also made a big contribution on defense with four tackles, a sack and a tackle for loss.

“We went out and competed really hard,” Gatch said. “We could have tucked tail and run but we didn’t. We competed and that showed how well when we can prepare like we did last week.”

HHS (1-2) will return to Blue Pony Stadium Friday night and will play host to Belgrade. The two former Central A rivals will square off at 7 p.m.

Laurel 49, Havre 35

Havre 14 6 0 15 - 35

Laurel - 14 16 13 6 - 49

LAU - Noah Gunther 12 yards pass from Gage Hull (pass failed)

HAV - Ethan Roberts 55 yard pass from Reese Bulkley (Max Olson kick)

HAV - Ethan Roberts 5 yard pass from Reese Bulkley (Max Olson kick)

LAU - Noah Gunther 3 yard run (Logan Kennedy pass from Gage Hull)

LAU - Keagan Campbell 4 yard pass from Gage Hull (Logan Kennedy pass from Gage Hull)

HAV - Mason Dionne 3 yard run (pass failed)

LAU - Logan Kennedy 18 yard pass from Gage Hull (Logan Kennedy pass from Gage Hull)

LAU - Gage Leischner 15 yard pass from Gage Hull (Tyler Emineth kick)

LAU - Keagan Campbell 6 yards pass from Gage Hull (kick failed)

HAV - Ethan Roberts 14 yard pass from Reese Bulkley (Max Olson kick)

HAV - Hunter Lovenguth 4 yard pass from Reese Bulkley (Ethan Roberts pass from Reese Bulkley)

LAU - Ethan Renner 2 yard run (kick failed)

Havre Individual stats

Passing - Reese Bulkley 12-15-143.

Rushing - Reese Bulkley 11-48, Mason Dionne 15-42, Kellen Detrick 7-39.

Receiving - Ethan Roberts 5-84, Hunter Lovenguth 3-44, Mason Dionne 4-15.