By Kim Staudinger
After traveling across the state of Montana over the last two weeks, the Havre football team finally gets to play at home.
"We are happy to be home," head coach Troy Purcell said. "We went one way one week and the other way the next.
"Homecoming is nice because a lot of people come back for the game. It is a great opportunity for us to perform well," he said.
The Ponies face the Glendive Red Devils tonight at 7:30 at Blue Pony Stadium.
Purcell said Glendive has some experience coming back with quarterback Tyler Buckley, a 5-foot-11, 150-pound senior, and fellow senior Tyler Hostetler. Hostetler is a 5-foot-10, 225-pound fullback/linebacker.
"They run a wide open offense and like to throw the ball all over the place," Purcell said. "They like to run a lot of screens. They run a run and shoot type of offense, doubles with motion back into the backfield and they run a lot of trips."
Purcell also said his team is "definately going to have to key on Hostetler."
Glendive brings a 1-1 record into tonight's game, losing to fourth-ranked Lewistown, 35-14, last weekend. Havre, at 2-0, sits third in this week's power poll after falling from first last week.
According to Purcell, his whole offensive line has been playing well and credits Steve Harman with his incredible play of late, saying he showed great speed against Sidney, saving a touchdown.
The Ponies have spent the whole week working on defending the type of plays Glendive will run and Purcell said his team is going to pressure Glendive like crazy.
Glendive has good size up front with big lines on both offense and defense, which should be a good test for Havre.
Purcell said he figures his team will have to win three of the four key game components offense, defense, special teams and turnovers to win the game.
"We have to play well," Purcell said. "Last week we had a lot of mental mistakes. Anytime we got anything going, we got a penalty, which was very frustrating. We need to cut back on our mental mistakes in order to win."
