Friday Night Lights: Roberts Couldn't Pass it Up

Playing high school football can be a once-in-a-lifetime experience and if it wasn't for some convincing from his teammates and family, Ethan Roberts might not be playing for the Havre Blue Ponies.

Roberts, a senior and two-way starter for the Havre High football team this season, stopped playing football when he was a sophomore as he pursued the sport of hockey. At the time, Roberts, who at one time played for a statewide all-star team, was practicing with the Glacier Nationals, a local junior hockey team.

However, after the Nationals moved away from Havre, Roberts reconsidered playing football, and following some encouragement from former starting quarterback Trey Murphy, he decided to join the team.

"Trey Murphy talked me into it," Roberts said. "He said that I would be a great asset, and so I did that and I had a great time playing."

Roberts, who earned Second-Team All-Conference honors as a safety, also turned into one of the most exciting pass catchers in the Eastern A, racking up more than 500 yards receiving. Yet, with hockey still on his mind, Roberts was unsure if he was going to play football again his senior season.

"With it being my senior year, I was just kind of committed to just playing hockey," Roberts said. "But then I had some teammates talking to me, like Mason Dionne, telling me how I could help the team and so I decided to come back."

So far, the decision has paid dividends for both Roberts and the Ponies. In the first game of the season, Roberts caught two first-quarter touchdown passes from quarterback Reese Bulkley, one that covered 46 yards and another that went for 43. The two big plays gave Havre a 14-0 lead and helped the Ponies get their first win since the 2016 season.

The 24-0 win over Hardin was a perfect way for Roberts and the Ponies to start the season, yet HHS followed that up with a 47-6 defeat to Lewistown.

Roberts still caught six passes for 81 yards after hauling in seven passes for 132 yards in the season opener, but the loss proved to be a wake-up call for the Ponies, who nearly pulled off an upset last week at Laurel, before eventually losing 49-35 to the same team that beat Lewistown 38-12 just two weeks earlier. While a 14-point loss is nothing to write home about, Havre did find itself down by 23 points at one point in the game, but thanks in part to three touchdown receptions from Roberts, the Ponies nearly pulled off an epic comeback.

"To be down by three touchdowns and have another chance to come back showed how hard we played," Roberts said. "I thought that was the hardest that we have played in my three years of football. This team just has a different feel to it. We have a different culture."

While helping the program improve was part of the motivation for Roberts to play this season, another was to follow in the footsteps of his uncle, Steven Harmon, who played for the Ponies in the early 2000s. Harmon, who was a dynamic runner/receiver under head coach Troy Purcell, was a member of the 2002 team that ended up as the Class A runner-up.

"My uncle played and he was No. 8," Roberts said, "so that's why I chose that number. They are huge football fans, his family, and they tell me that I remind them of Steven."

Like Harmon, Roberts is a multi-faceted threat, one that can make plays as a receiver and a runner and on special teams.

"My uncle wanted me to play and was asking me if I was going to do it or not," Roberts said, "so I wanted to play for him and my family here, my fellow teammates and for the town of Havre."

Tonight, Roberts and his teammates will take the field at Blue Pony Stadium for the second time this season. The Ponies are hosting undefeated Belgrade in a game that could help determine whether or not Havre has a chance to be in the playoff hunt. A win would get the Ponies back to 2-2 and put them squarely in the playoff mix. A loss would send them to 1-3, which would be a much tougher hole to climb out of.

"It would be a big win for us," Roberts said. "Belgrade is coming in here 3-0 and having a chance to play them at home, is huge for us."

You can bet Roberts will do whatever he can to help the Ponies win tonight and down the road this season, but no matter what happens the rest of the way, his decision to play football seems like a no-brainer.