So Close: Panthers hold off Ponies

In the closing moments of Havre High’s football game against Belgrade, the Blue Ponies were driving for the tying score, with the hopes of keeping their conference championship dreams alive.

Yet, despite driving to the doorstep of the Panthers end zone with less than a minute on the clock, the Ponies’ final drive, and ultimately their valiant comeback attempt, fell short. Belgrade held on for the 33-26 victory at Blue Pony Stadium and because of it, the Panthers have regained Central A superiority.

“The first thing is that I am very proud of the way our students continued to battle,” HHS head coach Ryan Gatch said. “We made some mistakes early and those things are hard to overcome. But we battled back, we just didn’t make the plays we needed to. Now, we have to go play another big football game against another good team and (Lewistown) isn’t going to feel sorry for us. So we have to get back to work this week and get prepared for another good team.”

The start for Havre was less than ideal.

The Ponies opened the game with a punt, while the Panthers turned their first possession into a 63-yard touchdown drive, capped by a Zach Spady TD run on a fourth-and-goal. Soon after, following a turnover by the Havre offense, Belgrade scored again, on a three-yard run by Hayden Van Winkle, and after the first quarter, the Panthers held a 14-0 lead.

“We made some mistakes there in the first quarter and that put us behind the eight ball a little bit,” Gatch said. “It’s just hard to overcome those things against a good football team.”

In the first quarter offensively, Havre failed to get a first down, had two punts and two turnovers. Yet, in the second stanza, HHS finally got things going. After a short punt by Belgrade, Trey Murphy hit Ivar Aageson for 23 yards and a few plays later, Dane Flammond found paydirt on a four-yard run that made the score 14-7 with 7:06 left before halftime.

Belgrade answered when Spady found Trey Mounts on a 20-yard scoring strike with just over three minutes before the half, but Havre scored on a Jase Stokes touchdown run, which trimmed the deficit to 21-13 at intermission.

On the opening possession of the third quarter, Belgrade again extended its lead to double digits as Spady found Van Winkle for an 11-yard touchdown pass, making the score 27-13.

Early in the fourth, after a 23-yard pass to Nate Korb and a third-down conversion to Isaac Warp, Havre was set up with a first-and-goal. Stokes found the end zone on a four-yard run and suddenly, it was 27-20 with 10:49 to play.

“It’s too bad we just couldn’t have played for a little longer,” Gatch said. “Because I think that we could have kept score and I am not sure they (Panthers) would have. Unfortunately, we just ran out of time.”

However, like they did all night, the Panthers answered. First, Belgrade returned the ball to its own 44. Then, after converting a fourth down near midfield, the Panthers scored, when Mounts and Spady hooked up again, this time on a 16-yard touchdown to put Belgrade in front 33-20 with 6:40 to go.

Facing a double digit deficit for the fourth time, Havre didn’t flinch.

After some quick passes moved the ball down the field, Murphy found Warp for 32 yards, then he hit Aageson for a seven-yard touchdown, getting HHS within seven, 33-26, with 3:40 left in the game.

Following a stop on defense, the Ponies got the ball at their own 19-yard line with 2:40 remaining. And in a classic two-minute drive, Murphy drove Havre all the way to the Belgrade 11, before getting stopped and turning it over on downs with just 24 seconds to play, ending the Ponies attempt at a dramatic comeback.

Despite the loss, Murphy had an outstanding game for the Ponies, completing 23-of-35 passes for 308 yards and one touchdown. His receivers also had a big night. Korb finished with five catches for 108 yards, while Aageson had six for 81 and Warp had seven for 81. Jacob LaBrie also caught four balls for 39 yards.

“I thought Trey did a great job tonight,” Gatch said. “He made some great throws and he, along with a lot of others, really helped us get back into this game. I couldn’t be more proud of how our students fought back and battled. I will never question the effort of our players because, no matter what, they always, always play hard. We made some mistakes, but never quit and we gave ourselves a chance at the end, we just couldn’t quite finish at the end.”

The difference in the game may have been the rushing yards. Belgrade finished with 190 yards on the ground, compared to just 45 for Havre. Stokes finished the game with 15 carries for 37 yards and scored two touchdowns.

On the defensive end, Stokes led the way with 20 total tackles. Flammond finished with 12 total tackles and Chris Gabrielsen had seven tackles, one tackle for loss and a sack.

The loss puts Havre in a precarious position in the Central A playoff race. Belgrade, which is now 3-0 in the conference, needs only to beat Browning or Livingston to win the title. Havre (5-2, 2-1), on the other hand, still needs a win over Lewistown Friday night on the road, to clinch a playoff berth. A loss, would mean Havre would need to earn a wildcard berth in the Class A playoffs, which is far from guaranteed.

Havre and Lewistown will do battle Friday night in Lewistown. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.