Blue Ponies ready to face rival Lewistown in home opener

The Havre High football got the season started on the right foot with a tough 13-7 win over Sidney on the road last week. However, the road will not get easier for the Blue Ponies as they now face their rival Lewistown tonight in their home opener at Blue Pony Stadium.

"I think it's going to be another physical game," HHS head coach Jake Eldridge said. "Lewistown is probably one of the top teams, definitely in the conference and probably in the state right now. So we're expecting a great ballgame and understand that we probably have to be playing our best to give ourselves a chance to be successful."

Both Eastern A teams are coming off victories to start the year. While the Ponies are coming off a tight win over Sidney, the Lewistown Golden Eagles dominated Glendive for a 44-12 victory to start the year.

The Eagles are coming off a strong season last fall. Lewistown dominated the competition for a 7-1 record in the regular season, including a 33-0 victory over the Ponies early in the year. The Eagles earned a bye for the postseason and then defeated Sidney, 39-28, to advance to the semifinals. The Eagles suffered a 28-7 loss to Hamilton to end the year, but the Eagles are loaded for another run.

Several players return from last year's Lewistown squad, especially on defense. Gage Norslien returns for his senior year after an all-state season at cornerback for the Eagles. Jett Boyce is another senior for Lewistown who was an all-state inside linebacker last fall.

Mathew Golik returns to lead the defensive line after earning all-state honors as a defensive end. Also on the defense is Brody Jenness, a second-team all-conference player at strong safety last year. With all this defensive talent, the Ponies will have their hands full on offense.

"We're going to have to be really good up front on both sides of the ball," Eldridge said. "Their defensive line, they get off the football and they come at you so we got to be very good with our protection. We got to be really good with understanding where we're supposed to be in the run game and when we got to pick it up and I think if we can do that, we'll have a good shot."

Many of these players will also give the Havre defense some trouble. Golik was a first-team all-conference tight end last fall while Boyce earned second-team all-conference honors as a fullback. Norslien should also make plays at wide receiver after a second-team all-conference season last year.

"They got a lot of team speed and they got some length on the outside with the receiver positions with kids that can run and go get the football," Eldridge said. "So they're pretty dynamic, definitely athletic and very physical."

The Ponies will need their best players to have a strong performance tonight. Senior Kale Van Campen is set to start his second game at quarterback after starting the season opener against Sidney. On the road last week, Van Campen completed seven of his 14 passes for 140 yards. He also ran for 60 yards and a touchdown against Sidney last week.

Several other Ponies will look to make plays tonight. Tate Nelson comes into the game after leading Havre with 22 rushes for 69 yards and a score on the ground last week. Tre Gary only caught one pass last week, but he took it for 66 yards to lead the Ponies against Sidney.

There should be plenty of emotions tonight for the Ponies. Along with playing their home opener, the Ponies will be playing a rival whom they lost to last season. But regardless of the circumstances surrounding the game, the focus will be the same for Havre.

"I think the key for us is just to play in and play out, just do our job and do it to the best of our ability," Eldridge said. "Every week, no matter who we're playing, if we execute what we're supposed to do and win our one-on-one battles, we should have an opportunity to win the game at the end."

The HHS football team will play Lewistown tonight at 7 p.m. at Blue Pony Stadium.

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