High-powered Sidney shuts down Havre

After the win over the Hardin Bulldogs at home, there was a lot of positive energy heading into another tough matchup against a strong and stalwart team in the Sidney Eagles for the Havre High football team, where the Blue Ponies wanted to get their second win of the 2020 season, but the Eagles had different plans.

Down in Sidney Friday night, Havre and Sidney went head-to-head in a tough contest, but the Eagles came out with the win 37-14 at the end of the night, continuing the Ponies’ season woes, especially since the end of the season is right around the corner.

Still, Havre head coach Ryan Gatch was proud of the effort he saw from his team.

“We played solid at times,” Gatch said. “I thought our kids came out and played real hard. We got banged up a little bit out there, but I thought our kids competed hard. We won the turnover battle 3-1 from an interception and two fumble recoveries. We did throw one interception in the game and a couple miscues on offense that set us back a little bit, but I thought we played real hard.”

Sidney started off the game hot, putting up a strong opening drive to open the game with the lead. As much as the Blue Ponies pushed to respond, the Eagles kept the Havre offense at bay for most of the first half, giving the Ponies a goose egg going into halftime, as Sidney had kept on scoring with the strong run-game it possesses.

As the game continued, Gatch saw some tough spots, as well as some highlights from his players.

“Sidney is real physical up front,” Gatch said. “For a team that is 1-3, the losses are to Miles City, Billings Central and Laurel and their win was over Glendive, so at the time they had yet to play Havre, Lewistown and Hardin, so when we were getting ready for the game I knew we’d have to be near perfect for us to be able to give us a competitive chance. Our kids never gave up and Brock Nystrom even had a sweet kick return touchdown.”

The Nystrom kick return touchdown would come about after halftime in the second half to give the Ponies their first score of the game. From there, the Eagles would find the endzone some more times throughout the second half, while Havre managed to find the endzone once more before the game ended, with the game ended with the win going to Sidney.

At the end of the night, Gatch understood the toughness that Sidney brought to the field Friday.

“It was a solid effort,” Gatch said. “We played a real good football team. If people know Sidney, they know they’re going to run right at you. Obviously, we wanted to win. When you go to Sidney, especially in four of the last five years, you want to get a W, but it just wasn’t in the cards that day. Still, our guys played real hard throughout the whole game.”

Next up, the Blue Ponies (1-5) were scheduled to play Billings Central in a regular season finale Friday, but, that game was canceled Monday morning due to COVID-19 issues, so, the season has come to an end for HHS.

SIDNEY 37, HAVRE 14

Havre 0 0 8 6 - 14

Sidney 16 7 7 7 - 37

SID - Tate Wieferich 112 run (Ryan McGinnis pass from Boston Peters), 10::4

SID - Aden Graves 5 run (Riley Waters pass from Boston Peters), 9::20

SID - Riley Waters 1 run (Logan Jones kick), 10::4

SID - Riley Waters 1 run (Logan Jones kick)

HAV - Brock Nystrom 77 kickoff return (Orin Thivierge run)

SID - Aden Graves 1 run (Logan Jones kick)

HAV - Orin Thivierge 3 run (run failed), ::45