News you can use

Blue Ponies head west to face an old rival

Update: The game time has changed to 7 p.m.

The nonconference schedule has been nothing but cruel to the Havre High football team this season, but facing their last nonconference opponent of the year, the Blue Ponies will look to ride their two-game winning streak to a victory.

Earlier in the season the Central A Ponies dropped three straight non onference games, losing to Butte Central, Miles City and Sidney. But in their last two games, both of which were conference games, the Ponies have earned a 47-19 win over Belgrade as well as a 49-20 win over Lewistown to improve to 3-3 overall and 2-0 in conference.

Now facing the Libby Loggers tonight, the Ponies will look to grab another convincing win to close out the nonconference portion of their schedule. The Ponies will face the Loggers in Libby with an early, 6 p.m. kickoff.

"This is another opponent we are excited to see," Havre High head coach Jason Christenson said. "It is nonconference, but it is against a good opponent where if we play well, we can measure ourselves against some of those teams in the west that we may see in some playoff situations. And we haven't exactly been stellar in our non conference games, and that i

Havre High senior quarterback Justin Jensen will help lead the Ponies tonight against the Libby Loggers in Libby.

s something we need to change. Every opponent we face the kids need to understand that we have to be focused and play physical and hard."

Libby is a lot like Lewistown, and for the Ponies, who are coming off of a win over Lewistown, this could be a very good thing.

The Loggers love to run the ball. And with the talents of running back Chase Hoyer and scrambling quarterback Micah Germany, the Loggers can rack up yards and touchdowns in a hurry. In a win over Whitefish earlier this season, the Loggers didn't pass the ball one time in the second half. But the Ponies proved they could successfully stop the run last weekend against Lewistown, when the Golden Eagles had just one-yard rushing. But after taking away their strength, the Ponies also allowed over 300 yards passing, a stat they weren't as proud of, even with the dominating win at home.

Tonight in Libby, HHS is looking to seemingly duplicate their win over the Eagles. The Ponies are going to take away the run if possible and force the Loggers to pass the ball. This time the Ponies are looking to also lower the oppositions Passing yards, and that will take corners Mark Vukasin and Zach Plum and safeties Ryan Brandt and Brayden Gromson stepping up their game.

"A lot of things Libby does resembles the Lewistown we just faced," Christenson said. "They have a big fullback, a speedy tailback and a decent quarterback. We are expecting a lot of running, they like to run the option, counters and so we are fully expecting a lot of that. And we don't want to give up that many yards in the air like we did against Lewistown, but if we perform the way we did as a run stop defense like we did, that increases our chances tenfold to being successful in this game."

The defensive line and linebackers were a huge part of the Ponies' win last weekend. And with Casey Scaub leading the team with 12 tackles and one sack, he will have to help lead the Ponies' defense that forced six turnover is their last outing once again.

The HHS offense has also been explosive this season and will look to maintain their level of play behind quarterback Justin Jensen. Jensen has led the Ponies to an average of 50 points in their three wins and is coming off a game that still included 11 completions for 148 yards and three touchdowns. Schaub and Brandt will also be key in the backfield, while Thurman Holdsclaw, Grimson and Brandt will once again anchor the Ponies wide receiving core.

Tonight is a very winnable game for the Ponies, and they would like nothing more than to grab a win in their last non conference game of the season. And riding a two game winning streak, the Ponies would love to turn it into a three game winning streak before heading into the last two games of the season.

"If the kids play hard and play how they have been the last couple of weeks," Christenson said. "We should be successful. Libby is a very good football team so it is going to be a tough contest, but again, if we play hard football and play our style, we can be a tough team for anybody to beat."

The Ponies and Logger kickoff at 7 p.m. tonight in Libby. The game can be heard on 610 KOJM AM.

 

Reader Comments(0)