Cowboys corral the Blue Ponies

The Havre High football team had a tough game last Friday night down in Miles City. The Blue Ponies played their hardest, but ultimately fell to the Cowboys in a crushing 42-7 loss.

Havre has had a tough couple games these past weeks, with a loss to Laurel and now a loss to Miles City. The team has a lot to work on to compete with the top teams the Eastern A.

Havre High head coach Ryan Gatch commends his team for their efforts against Miles City.

"It was a good football team we played down in Miles City," said Gatch. "There's a reason they're undefeated in the league and ranked in the top five in the state."

The Blue Ponies did not start off with a good first half.

The Cowboys started off the first quarter with four touchdowns, jumping to a big lead early in the game. The first score was a one-yard touchdown run and the second was a four-yard rushing touchdown, giving Miles City a 14-0 lead.

The next score for the Cowboys was a 29-yard pass to extend their lead 21-0. Miles City did not let up, making another long 30-yard pass to add another seven points, their lead 28-0. Throughout those four scores by the Cowboys, the Ponies had no answers and struggled to find their footing.

The second quarter produced another big play for Miles City, as a 97-yard passing touchdown put the Cowboys even further in the lead 35-0. Miles City's passing game scored once again before the end of the first half on a 16-yard touchdown catch, the score at the half 42-0.

Despite the gap in the score, Gatch was proud of how his lines matched with the Cowboys'.

"They have good team speed," Gatch said. "But, we did real well up front as far as o-line and d-lines did."

The second half did not see much action from the Cowboys, but the team had a big lead over the Ponies, who still struggled to score.

The third quarter proved fruitless for both teams. Miles City did not find the endzone, as well as Havre. The start of the second half was slow and the Ponies could not capitalize on any of their drives.

The fourth and final quarter of the game was when Havre managed to find the endzone. The Blue Ponies marched down the field and the offense showed a decent spark throughout the drive, which ended with senior quarterback Reese Bulkley rushing for a one-yard touchdown. Along with a good PAT kick by senior running back Mason Dionne, Havre avoided a shutout loss and the game ended with a 42-7 score.

Overall, the offense had a very slow night. Bulkley led the team in passing yards with 39. Dionne put up the most rushing yards for Havre with 93. Senior receiver Brock Nystrom ended the night with the top spot in receiving yards with 22. The total passing yards for the Ponies was 39 and rushing yards totaled at 109. All in all, the Havre offense ended the night with 148 yards in 47 plays.

The Pony defense did their best to contain the Miles City offense.

Bulkley had three tackles and sophomore Orion Thivierge had three tackles and four assists. Sophomore Derek Olson racked up three tackles, one assist and a tackle-for-loss. Dionne put up two tackles, four assists, one sack and a tackle-for-loss. In total, the defense for Havre totaled 19 tackles, 14 assists, one sack and three tackles-for-loss.

Gatch was glad to know his team played their best and their hardest out on the field.

"We had some good plays out there," said Gatch. "I thought it was a good game. We're gonna keep working on fixing the things that caused us problems."

The Eastern A is always a tough conference to play in and the teams in the future will not be easy for Havre to play. The Ponies will have to be prepared to put forth their best throughout every second of every game in the future. HHS still has some things to improve on and the team hopes to do so before the season ends.

The Blue Ponies play a rematch against the Glendive Red Devils after the bye week on Oct. 11 in Havre,

Miles City Cowboys 42, Havre Blue Ponies 7

MCHS – 1 run (PAT good)

MCHS – 4 run (PAT good)

MCHS – 29 pass (PAT good)

MCHS – 30 pass (PAT good)

MCHS – 97 deep pass (PAT good)

MCHS – 16 pass (PAT good)

HAV – Reese Bulkley 1 run (PAT good)

Havre Individual Stats

Passing – Reese Bulkley 7-19 for 39

Rushing – Mason Dionne 17-93, Reese Bulkley 6-16

Receiving – Brock Nystrom 2-22, Kellen Detrick 1-9, Orion Thivierge 2-5, Mason Dionne 2-3.