Blue Pony Extra: Proud Havre High seniors fought to the end

Senior night came and went this past Friday for the Havre High football team and while things didn’t do exactly as planned, there is still a group of seniors who will walk away from Friday night and from the entire 2018 season, with some great memories.

Certainly, this year’s Blue Pony football team won’t be mentioned among the greats in school history. But hey, that kind of distinction isn’t for everyone and regardless of the result, Havre never quit and a big reason why was the leadership demonstrated by the senior class and by guys like starting center Logan Twombly.

Twombly, who never started a varsity football game before this season, was one of the great stories of this Havre team. He will never be confused with an All-State standout, but he’s a hard worker and truly the essence of what high school sports are all about. Wins and losses matter, but at the end of the day they don’t matter as much as we might think.

Unfortunately for Twombly, his senior night was cut short due to a leg injury he suffered in the second quarter against Miles City. Certainly, it ended his final game in royal blue prematurely, but it won’t put a damper on a solid senior year.

“You look what he did,” Gatch said. “And I am really proud of him. He started every game for us. I am not sure that is something he expected he would do, but he worked at it and he was really proud of himself for that.”

While senior night wasn’t great for Twombly, some other seniors made their presence felt in their final home game. Ethan Roberts caught a touchdown pass; Caleb Allestad had four tackles and Tony Antley had three.

Dionne does it again

All season long, Mason Dionne has produced for the Havre at the running back position. He has also thrown touchdown passes and threw another Friday night to Roberts in the final minute of the Miles City game. If you add in his ability to play inside linebacker and Dionne is a pretty versatile player.

Well, Friday night he added special teams standout to his resume, as he returned a kickoff 95 yards for a score in the first quarter of the Ponies loss. It was the first kickoff return touchdown for Havre since Parker Filius did the same thing against Columbia Falls in a home playoff game back in 2015.

In addition to his kick-return touchdown, Dionne also earned 92 yards on the ground on 27 carries. After rushing for over 180 yards last week against Livingston, that gives Dionne over 270 yards in the final two games of the season. It also gives the Havre offense something to build on as it looks toward next season.

Eastern A playoff picture is all set

Five out of the six playoff spots in the Eastern A were already locked up going into this week, but there was still plenty to decide within the conference. The biggest game came last Thursday when Billings Central downed Laurel to take home the Eastern A championship and the top seed from the league in the playoffs.

Despite losing to the Rams, Laurel, via its win over Lewistown earlier in the year, finished second, followed by the Eagles, Belgrade, Miles City and Sidney, which beat Livingston Friday night to clinch the sixth and final playoff berth.

The Class A state playoffs will start this week and on the Eastern A side of things, Belgrade will host Miles City, while Sidney will travel to Lewistown. On the western side, Frenchtown will host Corvallis and Dillon will take on Whitefish. Columbia Falls and Hamilton both earned first-round byes.