Red Devils burn the Blue Ponies in Glendive

Week one of the 2020 season was a tough start for the Havre High football team, who was handed a tough loss to the Laurel Locomotives. With ambitions to mend the mistakes of the first game, the Blue Ponies went into week two with a plan to get a win on the road against the Glendive Red Devils, but a victory did not come about in the end.

Friday night in Glendive saw the Red Devils spear Havre 32-14, putting the Ponies in a hard place early on in the season. With an 0-2 overall record going into week three, Havre has a lot to work toward to pick up the first win of the season. But in the Eastern A, it will not be an easy task for the Ponies.

And Havre head coach Ryan Gatch knows that his team can get to that point, despite the second loss of the year to Glendive.

“We started with the guys pushing real hard,” Gatch said. “I thought we were competing real well, but we did get down 26-0, got sacked and had a fumble on a fourth down, threw three interceptions in the game, but those kids were trying to make plays and were pushing real hard. They were able to make a couple plays and in the second half we started settling in, so I thought we played fairly well, but Glendive nailed us on some big plays.”

The Red Devils started things off in the first quarter, with a two-yard rushing touchdown to score the first touchdown of the game. After the Ponies and Glendive battled back and forth for the rest of the first, the endzone would be vacant for some time.

But then came the second quarter, where the Red Devils got hot. One three-yard passing touchdown, a nine-yard rushing touchdown and a big 44-yard rushing score put Glendive up 26-0 unanswered, leaving Havre in a rough spot to come back from as the game went to halftime.

That quarter was something that Gatch knew could be possibility from the experienced Red Devils.

“They have a good quarterback, wide receivers that are good and anytime you play a team that’s got 16 seniors and 14 juniors, there is going to be a good group of players,” Gatch said. “Was it the outcome the Blue Ponies wanted? The answer is no. But at the same time, we were able to watch our guys compete and go coach in a highly competitive game. It was a great opportunity for our players to get better.”

After the break, the two teams would find a stall in scoring, as both defenses locked down and held the opposing offense from finding the endzone. As the game went on, the Ponies worked to avoid another shut out, especially since Glendive used the fourth quarter to punch in a six-yard rushing touchdown.

That is where senior Kellen Detrick came in. After working hard on the defensive side of the ball, the running back trucked his way into the endzone twice, the first from a three-yard score and the second from six yards out. The loss may have been tough, but Detrick was an example of how the team as a whole never quits playing aggressively.

On top of that, Gatch saw some other players stand out Friday night.

“There was a lot of real positive things that happened throughout the course of the game,” Gatch said. “Some of our younger guys got to play more. We still have a lot of growing to do. No matter what the score was, it could have been real easy to hang out but we kept working and getting better. Brock Nystrom had a fantastic day at wide receiver and corner Orion Thivierge had a real nice game and he’s been one of our top defenders week in and week out. Having a guy like Kellen on our team draws a lot of attention and he was able to get his number of touches and great chances to get into the game.”

At the end of the night, the Ponies still had some shining moments. Kale VanCampen forced a fumble and had a tackle for loss, while Crawford Terry put up a tackle for loss as well. Brock Nystrom led the defense with five tackles and three assists. Trenton Maloughney put up 104 passing yards and Detrick had 59 rushing yards and 42 receiving-yards.

The Lewistown Golden Eagles (1-1) will await the Blue Ponies (0-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. in Lewistown for a classic Eastern A rivalry-game.

GLENDIVE 32, PONIES 14

Glendive 6 20 0 6 – 32

Havre 0 0 0 14 – 14

GLN – 2 run (CNV no good)

GLN – 3 pass (PAT no good)

GLN – 9 run (PAT no good)

GLN – 44 run (PAT no good)

HAV – Kellen Detrick 6 run (CNV good)

HAV – Detrick 3 run (CNV no good)

GLN – 6 run (PAT no good)

Passing – Trenton Maloughney 12-29 for 104.

Rushing – Kellen Detrick 12-59, Orion Thivierge 15-58, Trenton Maloughney 3-(-17).

Receiving – Kellen Detrick 6-42, Orion Thivierge 2-20, Brock Nystrom 2-18, Crawford Terry 1-13, Joey Byrd 1-11.