Ponies fall short in Miles City

The Havre High football team is not out for moral victories, instead, the Blue Ponies want to win football games. But despite losing a second consecutive game to open the season, the Ponies proved they are nobody's underdog.

Going into Friday night's game at Miles City, the Cowboys were viewed as the prohibitive favorite, yet the Ponies would have none of it, going toe-to-toe with the home team for 48 minutes before falling short in heartbreaking fashion, 27-19.

A week after dropping its home-opener to Whitefish, HHS (0-2) played inspired football and jumped out to an early 13-7 lead thanks to a Parker Filius touchdown run and a 40-yard touchdown pass from Dane Warp to Alex Drew in the first stages of the huge rivalry game.

Then, late in the second quarter, Havre had a golden opportunity to take a double digit lead into intermission, but failed to reach the endzone on consecutive possessions that ended inside the Cowboy 10-yard line.

"Overall, I thought the kids played really hard and I am proud of them," HHS head coach Jason Christenson said. "In the first half we executed very well, we had some penalties that hurt us in some key spots, but we took care of the football and that was a positive. We had opportunities in the first half in the red zone and for whatever reason we just weren't able to punch it in."

In football, failing to finish drives will cost teams, and the Cowboys made Havre pay in the third quarter, when they quickly found pay dirt and reclaimed a 14-13 edge. But, as they would all night, the Ponies fought back valiantly and reclaimed the lead when Dane Warp found Michael Loftus in the endzone to give Havre a 19-14 lead going into the fourth quarter.

However, Miles City answered promptly, re-taking the lead, 20-19, early in the fourth quarter. Then, after another Pony drive stalled, the Cowboys showed their muscle with a seven-minute drive that was capped off when Alec Haughian reached the paydirt on a rushing touchdown to make it 27-19 with just minutes remaining.

However, Warp, Filius and the Ponies refused to go down without a fight. The All-State quarterback engineered a drive that took Havre into Cowboy territory. After a costly offensive pass interference penalty pushed Havre back onto its own side of the field, Warp found Loftus for 16 yards and again for three to set up a fourth-and-one at the Miles City 36 with less than two minutes to go.

An incomplete pass ended the drive and seemingly the game before Filius gave the Ponies one more chance. The sophomore tailback/safety, forced and recovered a fumble on the ensuing Cowboy possession, giving HHS a golden opportunity to force overtime.

But it wasn't meant to be. After Warp completed a pass for 13 yards and ran for another 12 down to the Miles City 31, two sacks and an incompletion ended the game, leaving the Ponies winless two weeks into the 2014 season.

"We gave up way too many sacks," Christenson said. "The protection for Dane, again, needs to be better. He was scrambling for his life back there and we have to figure out a way to get him comfortable out there."

Warp was solid again in a losing effort for the Ponies, completing 20-of-31 passes for 310 yards to go along with two touchdowns and one interception. He was also Havre's leading rusher with 15 carries for 41 yards.

Issac Warp led HHS in receiving with six catches for 107 yards. Loftus, who was starting in place of injured All-Conference wide receiver Nate Rismon, played admirably, hauling in six passes for 61 yards. Filius finished the game with 61 total yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, Filius stood out with 11 tackles, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. Dane Warp also pitched in with 10 tackles and an interception, while Gunnar Aageson and Josh Emge each contributed with a sack.

For the second week in a row, the Havre ground game was stymied though. The Ponies ran for just 19 yards last week against Whitefish and managed just 56 Friday. Miles City, which lost to HHS in the 2013 Class A playoffs, dominated on the ground, finishing the game with 238 yards.

"There are some fundamental things that we need to get taken care of," Christenson said. "We have to start finding a way to run the ball and another thing is missed tackles, we had 30 this week and 23 last week, so those are fundamental things we need to fix."

The Ponies will look to get their first win of the season this week when they play host to Sidney at Blue Pony Stadium this Friday. Yet, in spite of their 0-2 start, Christenson believes the Ponies are not to be overlooked.

"I think we are going to be a good football team," Christenson said. "We just have to keep progressing and getting better every week. As long as the kids keep believing in themselves and keep working hard, no one should overlook us. When we are firing on all cylinders, we will be a tough team to beat."

Miles City 27, Havre 19

Havre 13 0 6 0 – 19

Miles City 6 0 7 14 – 27

Havre Statistics

Passing – Dane Warp 20-31-310

Rushing – Dane Warp 15-41, Parker Filius 8-15.

Receiving – Isaac Warp 6-107, Michael Loftus 6-61, Parker Filius 3-46, Jase Kato 3-44, Alex Drew 1-40.