Pony Extra: Havre defense stands strong

There are no moral victories at the varsity level of high school football, especially when you're a proud football program like the Havre Blue Ponies are.

But, if the Ponies can take anything away from their bitter 14-13 loss to the Sidney Eagles Friday night at Blue Pony Stadium, it's that they have a strong and physical defense, capable of shutting down a powerful offensive attack.

Sidney was that attack Friday night. Prior to their game with the Blue Ponies, the Eagles had racked up over 600 yards rushing in two games combined. Sidney's vaunted attack, led by fullback Logan Thiel and speedy running back Bridger Coffman, had been so effective in games against Livingston and Williston, North Dakota, that the Eagles had only attempted 17 passes coming into Friday night's bout with the Blue Ponies.

And though Sidney got the win, Havre certainly stood up to the Eagles' powerful running game. In all, Havre's defense allowed Sidney to rush for just 159 yards, and that's with the Eagles running right at Havre. A whopping 59 times on the night.

"The defense played great," HHS head coach Jason Christenson said. "I thought we did a good job of limiting the big play. It was a group effort and we did a great job of rallying to the ball and wrapping up."

Havre's defense did play great, time and time again, stopping Sidney on third down, or bottling up the Eagles on first and second down, which forced them into a situation a ground-and-pound team like the Eagles don't want...third and long. And for most of the night it worked. The Eagles did catch the Ponies off guard on one big pass play, and they did barrel into the endzone once, but those things will happen against a team that runs the ball as much as Sidney does.

Still, it was a magnificent effort by a Havre defense, both as a unit, and individually. Sophomore Jase Stokes racked up 13 tackles from his linebacker position, and he and fellow backers Jase Kato and Gunnar Aageson did well to plug gaps and stop Sidney from gaining yards inside. Jace Billy, who was moved just this week to defensive end, also had a big game, with eight stops and a tackle for loss, while Tyrell Pierce played well on the other side. He had three TFL's on the night.

"When you can get a tough kid like Jace Billy on the defensive line that makes a difference," Christenson said. "I thought the changes we made putting (Billy) and (Kato) in on defense helped. They both played well."

And so did the entire HHS defense. Again, it wasn't a moral victory as Havre wanted nothing more than to win the game Friday night. But, against one of the most vaunted running attacks HHS has seen, and possibly will see this season, the Pony defense shined.

And, with some good running teams still to come, the HHS defense made a loud and clear statement Friday night.