Getting Ready: Ponies use Blue/White Day to prep for openers

Both the Havre High football and volleyball teams will open their seasons this week, but prior to that, each team took part in its annual Blue-White scrimmage Saturday.

The football team played at Blue Pony Stadium for the first time Saturday night, as the first-team offense and defense, went head-to-head with the second-team on both sides of the ball. The HHS volleyball team did something similar as it closed its scrimmage with a three-set match between its top 12 players.

In the volleyball match, the team of Emilee Cariveau, Logan Huebsch, Cassidy Acor, Sam Oliver, Katie Donaldson and Paige Nelson won two of three games against the other Havre team of Alex Donaldson, Camryn Huston, Kadyn Acor, Jessa Chvilicek, Caitlyn Terry and Peyton Brown, by the scores of 21-25, 25-16 and 18-16.

"I thought that it went well," HHS head coach Tamecia Jarvis said. "I thought they played with a lot of intensity and that they competed really hard. When things didn't go well, they didn't get down on themselves, so that was good to see."

Both teams wore Blue during the scrimmage and all three games ended up being competitive. One team built a 13-4 advantage in the opening set, before a pair of aces by Caitlyn Terry allowed her team to rally for the 4-point win.

Yet, the combination of Cassidy Acor and Paige Nelson up front for the opposing Blue team allowed it to win the next game 25-16 and the final set 18-16 in a back-and-forth affair. Havre will open the season in Glendive Friday in the Eastern A Tip-Off Tournament.

"I think this team has really strong chemistry," Jarvis said. "They have been working really hard and I think they are excited about getting out there and playing."

Following the volleyball scrimmage, the Pony football team held its annual Blue-White game at Blue Pony Stadium. The No. 1's wore blue, while the second string wore white and while no score was kept, the starters posted two touchdowns in two drives, while the backups failed to generate anything offensively.

"I was really pleased with the effort," HHS head football coach Ryan Gatch said. "I thought it was really competitive, the kids were flying around and having fun. Of course, there are things that we need to go back and fix, a lot of simple things, but for the first scrimmage, I thought it was good. The effort was there and that's the important thing."

After the defense held the second-team offense without a first down on a couple of possessions, the first-team offense took over and also got two chances to drive the field. On the first drive, Mason Dionne opened things with a 15-yard run, before Trey Murphy connected with Ethan Roberts on 35-yard completion. Jazz Schroeder got in on the act and rushed for a first down to the 12-yard line, before Dionne finished it off with a touchdown run.

On the second drive, which also began from its own 25, the first-team offense again started with a pair of big plays. First, Murphy found Ivar Aageson for 20 yards, then Dionne ripped off a 25-yard run, putting the ball at the opposing 30.

Two plays later, Dionne burst to the outside and scored on 25-yard scamper. Max Olson made the PAT in what was the final play of the scrimmage. He went 2-for-2 in his debut as the Ponies' kicker.

"Trey did a great job," Gatch said. "He's one of our senior leaders, and he really did a good job of getting us into everything and getting the ball out of our skill guys. We still have some things we need to look at and evaluate, some things we need to fine tune, but it was a positive start. Now we need to get ready for Hardin."

Havre will open the season Friday night on the road in Hardin.