What we saw this weekend

The weekend was packed with sports action in Havre. Actually, whether it was home or away, it was one of the busiest sports weekend's of the year around these parts.

Here's a few things we saw that may not have made the Havre Daily news sports pages on Monday.

The races were excellent at Saturday's Central A Divisional cross country meet, and all the Blue Ponies did very well. But every runner who competed should be commended, because by 11 a.m. on Saturday morning, the wind was really whipping through the course on the MSU-Northern campus. Wind is not a runner's friend, but every HHS runner who competed Saturday finished the races with a personal best time. That was something that was neat to see given the weather conditions not being so ideal.

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights suffered a heartbreaking loss to the UGF Argos Friday night at the Armory Gymnasium. But the Skylights, head coach Bill Huebsch and all who showed up to watch need to be commended for putting on an excellent Dig the Pink Rally in support of Breast Cancer Awareness. Northern's pink uniforms were awesome and the fans really turned out in support of the Skylights and a great cause.

Here's a couple of things I saw during the MSU-Northern/Southern Oregon shoot-out Saturday at Blue Pony Stadium that maybe bears worth mentioning.

Northern certainly made some costly errors in the way of personal fouls on Saturday, but the referees sure missed one going the other way. In the second quarter, MSU-N quarterback Derek Lear scrambled and then slid to the ground, and was hit way late by a SOU defender, but no flag was thrown. I was standing right in front of the play and at least five seconds had gone by after the whistle was blown before Lear was hit. That was a big miss by the officials.

I was also right in front of MSU-N freshman Trevor Baum's punt that nearly sailed backwards and right back into his hands. While many in the crowd thought it was a miss-hit, I was positive I heard the ball hit a Southern Oregon rusher's fingertips before it sailed straight into the howling Blue Pony Stadium wind. So I'm not certain that play was all on Baum.

And finally, when talking about Blue Pony Stadium, I'd be crazy not to mention the spectator which got out of hand during Friday night's game between Havre High and Browning. Actually there were two, but I'm talking about the one of the K-9 variety because the other one doesn't deserve the publicity in my opinion.

The dog that ran on the field Friday night was pretty cool, in that it was obviously excited and just wanted some attention. And he obviously came to the right place. I saw many HHS and Browning players calling for him/her to stop his constant running, but he wasn't about to slow down. Being the dog lover that I am, I was glad to see him make his escape and hopefully he found his way home to his owners.

And one last thing, that dog was fast! I know Havre High's Zach Plum had a huge night against the Indians, and it was awesome to watch, but after the dog decided to make his Blue Pony Stadium debut, I'm not so sure Plum was the fastest player on the field that night. I think the dig might win in a close race.