Stampede the Corral: Blue Ponies make their home debut tonight against Glendive

Another week of Havre High football is here, and the game will present a major test for the Blue Ponies.

Havre will look to defend its home turf against a familiar adversary, the Glendive Red Devils, tonight inside Blue Pony Stadium.

The Red Devils have a history with the Blue Ponies, especially at Blue Pony Stadium. Glendive played the Ponies last season at home, defeating them 15-13.

Glendive moves into week two of Eastern A play with a 0-1 record after being struck down by Miles City 38-7 last Friday night. The Red Devils' loss last week has them hungry for a first win tonight in Havre.

Glendive hosts a group of talented players. Senior running back Matt Dufner scored Glendive's only touchdown against Miles City and will look to use his skills to assist the offensive push. Senior tailback Nelson Crisafulli is another standout player on the Red Devil offense, and one that the Blue Ponies will watch out for in tonight's game. Much of the Red Devil's offensive core consists of experienced players.

The Blue Ponies also came out of week one with an 0-1 record. The team is especially looking for a win this week, as well as defending their home turf. After falling short in a close game against the Sidney Eagles last Friday, Havre is ready to rebound in tonight's game, and is hoping to come away with their first win of the season.

The Ponies are ready to give their home fans a showcase of their talent, as well.

Senior running back Mason Dionne looks to have another strong game and run over the Red Devil defense. Quarterbacks Reese Bulkley and Trenton Maloughney look to use their multitude of talent to drive the offense. Receivers like Orion Thivierge and Brock Nystrom also look to use their skills on the field to help the Pony offense move to the endzone. Overall, the offense is looking to improve from their previous game and they surely have the pieces to do so.

The defense has a good stack of players, too. Against Sidney, the defense racked up a total of 3 sacks, 21 tackles, 11 assists, and a fumble recovery. The Pony defense will look to repeat their good performance and make it even better. Havre's defense has the potential to stuff Glendive's offense and make it another tough challenge.

The Blue Ponies go into week two of the season looking to improve on what they did at Sidney last week. The team knows they let Sidney slip away on them and they plan on not letting Glendive off the hook so easily. Havre has a positive and intense mindset going into tonight's game.

Havre High head coach Ryan Gatch knows the struggles his team has had against Glendive but looks for this game to be different.

"They've (Red Devils) been able to get us the last couple years," says Gatch. "It's gonna be a real tough task when they come to town."

Even with the difficulties against the Red Devils, Gatch also has confidence that the team will be amped up on their own field, surrounding by the community.

"Good news is that they (Glendive) get to come up here to Havre," Gatch continued. "We love playing at Blue Pony Stadium. It's gonna be a lot of fun for us to be able to play at home and especially after we did so many positive things this past weekend, to build off of that to play our next opponent. That's what we look forward to each week, being 1-0."

The Blue Ponies will look to put on a show for the fans and play tonight's game with everything they have. It's going to be a close match for Havre, but the team has the ability to push through and make an early statement win. After all, it's go big or go home.

The game between the Havre Blue Ponies and the Glendive Red Devils kicks off tonight at 7 inside historic Blue Pony Stadium.

Havre (0-1) vs Glendive (0-1)

Tonight at 7 p.m.

Blue Pony Stadium

Radio: 610 KOJM AM