Ponies unable to slow down Locomotives

Heading into its final game of the season Thursday night, the Havre High football team had a chance to make the postseason. However, the Blue Ponies had to win on the road against an undefeated and defending state champion Laurel team. At the end of the night, Laurel remained undefeated with a 42-7 victory over the Ponies. Despite the loss to end the season, HHS head coach Ryan Gatch was proud of his team’s effort, especially his seniors.

“Our seniors went out and played their hearts out. Left it on the field like what you want from your guys who have played hard all four years,” Gatch said. “Real proud of their efforts. Unfortunately, it didn't go our way.”

With the loss, the Ponies season is now officially over. Havre finished the year with a 3-6 record and 1-3 record in the Eastern A. After starting the season 2-1, the Ponies lost four straight games before winning on senior night last week. Havre finished the year 3-1 at home at Blue Pony Stadium and 0-5 on the road.

The Ponies looked to take control early as they got the ball to start the game. After they picked up a first down, they had to punt the ball to the Locomotives. Thanks to a good punt return, Laurel started the drive at the Havre 48-yard line. Running back Beau Dantic then made some big plays on the ground to get Laurel deep into the red zone. On second and goal at the Havre one-yard line, Dantic carried it in to give Laurel a 7-0 lead with 7:07 left in the first quarter.

Havre’s offense tried to keep pace with the Locomotives on its next drive. The Ponies were able to reach Laurel territory after some strong carries from running back Orion Thivierge. At the Laurel 43-yard line, the Ponies decided to go for it on fourth down. However, Trenton Maloughney’s pass over the middle went incomplete.

With the ball back, the Laurel offense did not slow down. Dantic continued to carry the load for the Locomotives including a 28-yard touchdown run to give Laurel a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

After a Havre three and out, the Locomotives went right down the field again. Laurel quarterback Kyson Moran capped off the drive with a 34-yard touchdown pass to Dalton Boehler deep down the left sideline for a 21-0 lead near the halfway point of the second quarter. While he commended his team’s defensive efforts, Gatch knows that Laurel is a hard team to slow down.

“They’re a good football team. There’s a reason why they’re defending state champs,” Gatch said. “Defensively, we got after it. We brought everything and the kitchen sink at them and they were able to make some plays.”

Later in the half, Moran threw his second touchdown of the night with a 16-yard pass to Emmet Renner to extend Laurel’s lead to 28-0. The Ponies finally got their offense on a roll but they fumbled and lost the ball near the end of the half in Laurel territory.

Laurel had little time left before the half but tried to add to the lead. Moran completed three straight passes to get the Locomotives down to the Havre 17-yard line. Instead of trying a field goal, the Locomotives wanted to score a touchdown. With time expiring, Moran scrambled right and found Konnor Gregorson in the end zone to give Laurel a 35-0 lead at the half.

On their opening drive of the second half, the Locomotives continued to roll even with their backups in. Just past the halfway point of the third quarter, Owen Wilcox ran for a 4-yard score to make it 42-0 in favor of Laurel.

With a running clock, the last quarter and a half went quickly. However, the Ponies did put together a scoring drive on their final possession of the season. After the Ponies got to the Laurel eight-yard line, Maloughney connected with Brody Nanini for the score with just a few minutes left in the game.

With the season now coming to an end, so too do the careers of seniors such as Maloughney and Thivierge. As his seniors move on to the next chapters of their lives, Gatch hopes that they built resiliency and learned a lot that will help them down the road.

“Our kids never gave up. They kept fighting hard till the end,” Gatch said. “The relationships that we built with our young men to get them ready for competitive games in adverse situations. Trying to build young men to be good fathers, good role models for their brothers and sisters and to be contributors to their families.”

Laurel 42, Havre 7

HAV - 0 0 0 7 - 7

LAU - 7 28 7 0 - 42

LAU - Beau Dantic 1 run (KyleDesmet kick)

LAU - Dantic 28 run (Desmet kick)

LAU - Dalton Boehler 34 pass from Kyson Moran (Desmet kick)

LAU - Emmet Renner 16 pass from Moran (Desmet kick)

LAU - Konnor Gregerson 17 pass from Moran (Desmet kick)

LAU - Owen Wilcox 4 run (Desmet kick)

HAV - Brody Nanini 8 pass from Trenton Maloughney (Lukas Fahl kick)