Eagles soar in the Corral

Heading into Friday night's homecoming game between the Havre Blue Ponies and Sidney Eagles, few expected the 0-5 Ponies to challenge second-ranked Sidney.

But as the old saying goes, that's why they play the games.

For two and a half quarters, the Ponies hung right with the Eagles and after a 56-yard touchdown pass from Trey Murphy to Ethan Roberts midway through the third quarter, Havre was tied with unbeaten Eagles 14-14. But from there, Sidney took over, scoring 40 points in the final 19 minutes to beat its Eastern A rival 54-14. Havre is now 0-6 and will travel to Billings Central Friday.

"We played pretty well at times, we played physical and it was nice to see that," HHS head coach Ryan Gatch said. "The kids played with emotion and that was nice to see. They (Sidney) are just a really good football team."

Slow starts have plagued the Ponies all season long, but against Sidney, Havre started fast. After a three and out, HHS drove the ball deep into Sidney territory, before turning the ball over on downs. However, HHS burned most of the clock and at the end of the first quarter, the score was tied 0-0.

Then, after recovering a fumble, the Ponies put together a scoring drive that lasted six plays and was capped with a touchdown pass from Murphy to Ivar Aageson, which put Havre in front 7-0. By halftime, Sidney had the lead thanks to a three-yard touchdown run by Sawyor Thogersen and an 18-yard scoring run from Alec Lovegren, putting the Eagles up 14-7.

"It was solid. I was really happy with how we played in the first half," Gatch said. "We did some good things on offense and defense. We had them bottled up and had a good beat on what they were doing offensively. But they are a good football team and they really turned it on, and that's what's hard when you play big teams like that."

Early in the third quarter, Havre was still trailing 14-7, when it put together its best drive of the game. After two third-down conversions, Murphy hit Roberts, who scored a 56-yard touchdown to tie the score at 14-14.

"I told coach Leeds to get our best two-point play ready," Gatch said. "Cause I thought if we were going to continue to exchange touchdowns with them, we would go for two at some point and try to win the thing."

However, a pooch kick on the kickoff, allowed Sidney to take over the ball at the Havre 42 and the Eagles scored just 33 seconds later when Thogersen scored from one yard out. On the Ponies' next drive, Havre advanced the ball to midfield, before a fumble gave the Eagles good field position again. That eventually turned into an 11-yard touchdown run by Lovegren, putting Sidney in front 28-14 heading into the fourth quarter.

"The kick didn't go quite as far as we wanted to," Gatch said. "We try to do a lot of directional kicking and that one was supposed to go a little bit further than that. We had some other mistakes that hurt us."

The Eagles added four more touchdowns in the fourth quarter, as Jace Johnson tossed two touchdown passes. The Eagles also returned an interception for a score and had another rushing touchdown, their fifth of the game.

Despite the loss, Murphy had a stellar game for the Ponies, completing 15-of-20 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw one interception. Roberts had another standout game as a receiver, catching six passes for 127 yards and a touchdown. Aageson also finished with four receptions for 41 yards, while Mason Dionne also pitched in with 54 yards rushing.

Sidney, which ran up 475 total yards, including 355 on the ground, got 150 yards and two touchdowns from Thogersen, as well as 112 yards on 14 carries and two scores from Lovegren. Johnson also added 126 yards passing and two touchdowns, along with 55 yards on the ground.

Dionne led the way for Havre defensively with nine tackles. Dawson Kinsella also contributed with four tackles and one tackle for loss.

HHS will travel to play Billings Central in Billings Friday night, before returning to Blue Pony Stadium for its final home game, Oct. 13 against Livingston.

Sidney 54, Blue Ponies 14

Sidney 0 14 14 26 - 54

Havre 0 7 7 0 - 14

Second Quarter

H - Ivar Aageson 2 pass from Trey Murphy (Kick good)

S - Sawyor Thogersen 3 run (Kick good)

S - Alec Lovegren 18 run (Kick good)

Third quarter

H - Ethan Roberts 56 pass from Murphy (Kick good)

S - Thogersen 1 run (Kick good)

S - Lovegren 11 run (Kick good)

Fourth Quarter

S - 44 interception return Jace Johnson (Kick good)

S - 5 pass from Jace Johnson (Kick good)

S - Layne Swigart 15 pass from Johson (Conversion no good)

S - Brandan Rasmussen 14 run (No conversion attempted)

Havre Individual Stats

Passing - Trey Murphy, 15-20 186.

Rushing - Mason Dionne, 22-54.

Receiving - Ethan Roberts, 6-127; Ivar Aageson, 4-41; Brady Ophus, 1-11; Jacob Irvin, 3-4; Mason Dionne 1- (-1)