Blue Ponies to face Lockwood in homecoming game

Homecoming is finally here for Havre High School and the HHS football team is ready to celebrate. Tonight at Blue Pony Stadium, the Blue Ponies will host Lockwood for their homecoming game. As the community comes together to celebrate, HHS head coach Jake Eldridge hopes to put on a good show for them tonight.

"We're really excited about the opportunity to hopefully win another ball game at home," Eldridge said. "Our kids have been working really hard so we're ready to rock and roll and we're excited about a competitive football game."

The Lockwood Lions enter the game with a 1-5 record this season. Their lone win this season came at home last month with a 49-19 win over Sidney. But in their five losses this year, the Lions allowed 47.2 points a game. In those same losses, the Lockwood offense only averaged 6.2 points a game. Just the past two weeks, the Lions have scored a total of three points. Despite their struggles, the Lions have some athletes who could cause some problems for the Ponies.

"They're really athletic across the board. They got some skill players that are shifty and fast on both sides of the ball," Eldridge said.

Lockwood's struggles this season should be expected considering the fact that this is the program's first year in varsity. The Lions have been playing junior varsity for the past few years and finally made the jump to varsity with an older roster. It should be an interesting matchup for Havre since its the first time playing the Lions. However, Eldridge expects the Ponies to approach the game like they would a team they are more familiar with.

"That's always intriguing and cool but at the end of the day, it's another football game and we're preparing for it just like we would any week," Eldridge said. "They're going to be very competitive and they're going to look to get a win."

The Ponies enter the game with a 4-2 record and are riding a two-game winning streak. In their past two games, the Ponies offense has come alive averaging 26 points a game the past two weeks. As they head into tonight's game, Eldridge hopes to keep the offense rolling.

"From week to week, we've got to be consistent and look at the things we did well and build on it," Eldridge said. "You have to be consistent to be successful and that's the major thing for us."

Quarterback Kale Van Campen has been reliable for the Ponies completing 57.6 percent of his passes for 729 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions this year. Van Campen also leads the Ponies on the ground running for 269 yards and three touchdowns on 5.2 yards a carry.

The Ponies have several other playmakers. Tate Nelson is second on the team with 195 rushing yards this season. Tre Gary has been a reliable receiver leading the team with 283 receiving yards and three touchdowns this year. Jacob Herring has 222 receiving yards and Hunter Sawdey has 142 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

Football is an emotional game and those emotions should be even higher with it being homecoming week for the Ponies. It would be easy for the Ponies to let their emotions get in the way, but Eldridge believes they have been focused and should be ready to go tonight.

"I think the kids are just understanding that they can control what they can control with how they play, what their effort is and what their focus is, play in and play out," Eldridge said. "They've come to practice and worked really hard and they've been very focused and sharp. So I'm excited to see it play out here."

The HHS football team will kick off its homecoming game against Lockwood at Blue Pony Stadium tonight at 7 p.m.