Blue Pony football looks for revenge against rivals

With a 1-5 record last season, the Havre High football team hope to improve their record this season by avenging their losses from last fall. They already got one last week with a 12-7 win at home against Sidney to open the season. Now the Blue Ponies will look to avenge another loss from last year when they head on the road tonight to face their rival Lewistown.

"(We'll) go out and compete hard. Load up the bus down there, have a lot of fun. Enjoy playing the game of football," HHS head coach Ryan Gatch said.

Both teams enter the game 1-0 in conference play after picking up wins last weekend to start the year. While the Ponies won a hard fought game against Sidney, Lewistown defeated Glendive 41-6 on the road. Gatch believes that if Havre is going to limit the Golden Eagles' offense, they will need to make the Eagles go the length of the field to score.

"We want to make sure they don't have good field position," Gatch said.

The Eagles have several players that the Ponies will need to account for tonight. Dylan Morris helms the offensive line after being named second-team all-conference last year. The Ponies will also have to overcome returning defensive players such as Colin Gilpatrick and Ashton Grover. Both players were honorable mention all-conference last fall with Gilpatrick at defensive end and Grover at cornerback.

"They got a number of good players on their team. They got some depth around on the board," Gatch said. "They're all around a real good football team."

Havre will need its best players to step up tonight if they are going to pull out a win. Orion Thivierge should be a focal point on offense after he led the Ponies with 102 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries last weekend. He should also be a force on defense after he led Havre with 13 tackles against Sidney.

The Ponies will also need quarterback Trenton Maloughney to play efficiently and hold onto the ball like he did against Sidney. In their season opener, Maloughney completed six of his ten passes for 41 yards. Havre will also need to get on the scoreboard earlier than last week as they didn't score until the second half against Sidney. However, Gatch believes their offensive played well but could not get on the scoreboard early because of Sidney's defense.

"We were moving the ball alright in the first half. I think it just happened to be that Sidney's a pretty good team," Gatch said. "It's just a matter of getting in there and playing our football game."

Lewistown defeated Havre, 21-0, last fall. As the Ponies head into their game with Lewistown tonight, Gatch is confident that his team can get a different result this time out.

"Every time that a new year comes by, we got a brand new team, a brand new opportunity," Gatch said. "And so this year's team is nothing like last year's team for either of our programs."

HHS football will play tonight at 7 p.m. at Lewistown.