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The next three days are a football junkies dream. Especially if you have any sort of connection to football in Havre.
Tonight, Saturday and Sunday, the town might as well be the mecca of football on all levels.
That's because on one rare weekend, you have three connections to football in three days with Havre High kicking things off tonight, the Montana State University-Northern Lights playing at home on Saturday, and Marc Mariani playing in his first regular season NFL game on Sunday morning.
To any football fan with any sort of connection to those three events, it just doesn't get any better than this. And it also illustrates just how great football is in these parts.
I wasn't able to be there for the Blue Ponies' home opener two weeks ago, so I'm excited to see them tonight.
I've covered several of the Havre/Miles City games in the past, and although the two teams don't meet that often, the games are usually very good.
Then there's the Lights. Northern is off to a great start having beat Western on the road two weeks ago. Like HHS, the Lights had a bye last week, and they are anxious to get back on the field this weekend.
Perhaps even better is the fact Northern is playing its home opener against a bitter rival in Montana Tech Saturday. The Lights and Orediggers have played some great games which have come down to the wire the last few years, and both teams come into Saturday's showdown with some momentum and plenty to accomplish.
The game will also feature a pair of Blue Pony starters for the Lights. Jordan Van Voast gets the nod at linebacker Saturday, while Jared Weigel is a star at defensive end for Northern. The Lights have several other former Ponies on the roster, as does Tech, which has freshman Mitch Schnittgen on the offensive line.
Those former Ponies and the rest of the Lights will help bridge the gap from Friday night's Pony game to Mariani's debut on Sunday when the Tennessee Titans play the Oakland Raiders in Nashville.
One way or another, I imagine there will be few TV sets in Havre which will be tuned to anything but the Titans/Raiders clash.
Mariani's rise from a former Blue Pony great all the way to the NFL has captivated an already prideful Havre community, and while seeing him play in the preseason was big, Sunday's game is the real deal, the NFL's regular season, and for any football fan from a small town like Havre, having one of your own step into an NFL Stadium and play at the highest level, well it just doesn't get much better than that.
And for a fan of football, or anyone who is about Havre, it just doesn't get much better than this weekend.
Three games in three days will showcase football in our community in a way rarely seen anywhere. High school, college and the NFL, there's no doubt this weekend is a big one around here, and I wouldn't miss it for the world.
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