George Ferguson Column

If I would have known what was going to transpire last Saturday, I would have loved to have the power to be in two places at once.

As I was watching the Montana State University-Northern football team trounce the UM-Western Bulldogs in Dillon Saturday afternoon, the Havre Blue Ponies were doing the same to the Whitefish Bulldogs at Blue Pony Stadium.

Yes it was quite a day for football in Havre, and it's ironic that the mascot who took the brunt of Havre's football prowess was the same, even though the games were played nearly 350 miles apart.

Even more compelling than the fact that both the Ponies and Lights crushed some Dawgs on Saturday is that neither team was expected to do so.

Instead, both teams proved annoying sports cliches like "That's why they play the games" and "On any given Saturday" to be right on the money.

Preseason predictions for both the Ponies and Lights weren't high. In fact, in Northern's case, Western was picked to finish two slots higher in the Frontier Conference. And after graduating so many seniors, with a new head coach and a new offense, uncertainty certainly surrounded the HHS football program heading into Saturday's opener.

But somebody forget to tell the Lights and Ponies they weren't supposed to do what they did on Saturday.

Instead, maybe what we all learned is preseason predictions mean very little, and both HHS and Northern proved that both teams are her to play this fall.

Bulldogs were the victim, but the winner was Saturday was Havre. Fans in both Havre and Dillon got to see their teams open the season in exciting and exhilarating fashion.

So congratulations to all the football players who took the field Saturday. Congratulations on a great start, and if I may offer a cliche of my own, the best may be yet to come.