Ponies face dangerous Rangers tonight

Winning on the road is never easy. It’s even harder when you have to play a team that’s hungry for a win and right now, the Livingston Rangers may want a win more than any team in Class A football.

That could mean a tougher game than expected for the Havre High football team, which will hit the road to take on the Rangers tonight at 7.

“I told our guys that,” HHS head coach Ryan Gatch said. “These guys are hungry. I know that their record says they are 0-5, but they have only got to play three games, so they are going to be really excited about playing us and it’s their homecoming game so they will be wired up.”

Livingston, which had an incident with its head coach at the start of the season, was forced to forfeit its first two games. The Rangers have played the last three, losing to Glendive 18-0, Hardin 53-30 and Lewistown 35-0 just last week.

“They are a team that is getting better,” Gatch said of the Rangers. “They have dealt with more adversity this year than any team I have ever heard about having as far as being able to come out and field a team and forfeiting a couple games. They have had enough adversity for probably about a decade down there. But we are watching their team getting better game in and game out. I believe they have some good players, they have just had a hard time putting it together.”

While the Rangers are hoping for their first win of the season, and to avoid an 0-2 start in conference play, the Blue Ponies (4-1, 1-0) are trying to win their second straight game and improve their Central A mark to 2-0.

Offensively, the focus will be much the same for the Ponies and after rushing for more than 300 yards and six rushing touchdowns in a win over Browning last week, expect HHS to stick with the ground-and-pound style of offense.

“The thing that is important for us is to go down and execute our offense,” Gatch said. “We have a couple of new wrinkles and we had a lot better execution of our plays last week. Good teams don’t have guys going around to the wrong spots and we did that some against Sidney. We got back on track last week, but we need to keep building on that.”

Jase Stokes, who rushed for three touchdowns against Browning, will be lead back once again for the Ponies, but both Dane Flammond and Mason Dionne should each be in the mix.

When it comes to the passing game, quarterback Trey Murphy has now thrown a touchdown pass in four straight games and wide receiver Isaac Warp, his top target, has hauled in a touchdown reception in three straight. Yet Warp isn’t the only talented receiver Murphy has to target as Ivar Aageson, Nate Korb and Jacob LaBrie are all capable of creating big plays.

Havre may try to run the football and Livingston will, too, but the Rangers aren’t afraid to throw the football and Gatch said they will look to do exactly that behind quarterback Rydell Floyd and receivers Thad Hampson, John Waddell and Brock Peterson. Running backs Dalton Walker and Warren Hanson are the other threats on the Livingston offense.

“They like to try to throw the football and throw a lot of short passes,” Gatch said. “They have a good, left-handed quarterback and their receiver is leading the league in receptions with 16 and he has only played in three games. I think they want to be about 50-50 when it comes to run-pass, but they have gotten behind in a few games and just haven’t been able to put it all together. But it’s our job to make sure that they don’t put it all together this week against the Ponies.”

Defensively, Gatch said the Ponies would make only slight adjustments to handle the Livingston offense, but mostly, he said Havre would stick with what’s worked for a defense that two shutouts in five games.

Leading the way for Havre on the defensive side of the ball is Stokes, an All-State linebacker, who is joined by Flammond and Dionne, who each play outide. The defensive line is led by Tyler Schuab and Chris Gabrielsen at defensive end, along with Jared Sienkowksi at defensive tackle.

In the secondary, Warp is having a stellar campaign with four interceptions on the season. He will be the starting safety along with Korb. Aageson, LaBrie and Brady Ophus, who has two interceptions, will handle the cornerback duties.

“Right now, I think we are a good team, but we want to be a great team” Gatch said. “And we need to do all the little things it takes to be a great team and hopefully that’s something that continues this week.”

Havre and Livingston will go head-to-head tonight at 7. The Ponies return home for homecoming against Belgrade next Friday night.

Tonight at 7 p.m.

in Livingston

Radio: 610 KOJM AM