Ram Tough: Central runs over Havre

The Havre High football team was hoping to find a way to make things competitive against second-ranked Billings Central; however, the Rams, who have been winning by an average of 40 points, took it to the Blue Ponies after a slow start Friday night.

When things were all said and done, Billings Central improved to 7-0 on the season with a 49-0 win over Havre inside Blue Pony Stadium. It was the sixth straight loss for the Ponies, who have been held without a touchdown in three of their last four games, totaling just 16 points during the four-game span.

Early on though, the Ponies hung tough with the Rams and the Havre defense limited Billings Central to just one touchdown in the first quarter, when Joe Byorth scored on a 41-yard run on the last play of the opening stanza, making it 6-0 after 12 minutes.

"I thought we came out and fought them really hard," HHS head coach Ryan Gatch said. "We got after it; we got a couple of three-and-outs early. Obviously, the outcome is not what we want. We have to find a way to string some things together on offense, but I thought that our guys played really hard."

That effort kept things competitive early on, but in the second quarter, Billings Central blew the game wide open with two touchdowns runs from Jack Studer and another from Duncan Kraft, which made the score 28-0 in favor of the Rams at halftime.

Byorth tossed a touchdown pass in the third quarter, before Studer scored his third touchdown of the game to make it 42-0. Kraft added another rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter, giving the Rams six for the game.

When the stats were tallied, Billings Central finished the game 437 yards of total offense, including 325 yards on the ground. Havre, on the other hand, managed only 28 yards of offense and finished the game with just two first downs.

Quarterback Reese Bulkley completed 5-of-9 passes for nine yards, while Mason Dionne managed just 13 yards on 16 carries. Brock Nystrom caught one pass for nine yards as well. Studer led the way for the Rams with 82 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Byorth finished the game with 140 total yards (80 rushing, 60 passing) and two touchdowns.

Defensively, Orion Thieverge led the way for the Ponies with nine tackles, including seven solo stops. Caleb Allestad also finished the game with six tackles and Logan Twombly also pitched in with a tackle and a sack.

"I know people won't believe me, but we improved from last week," Gatch said. "We played a much better, more physical style of football. We played a lot better game than we did last week. But it's about moving forward. We are moving on to Livingston. We got the next game up and we have to play on the road. We are 1-2 playing hard on the road and we want to be able to do that again."

The Ponies will play the final road game on their schedule this Friday when they travel to Livingston. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Havre will then return home to take on Miles City in the season finale Oct. 19.

Billings Central 49, Blue Ponies 0

BC 6 22 14 7 - 49

Havre 0 0 0 0 - 0

BC - Joe Byorth 41 run (Conversion failed)

BC - Jack Studer 17 run (Conversion good)

BC - Studer 14 run (Kick good)

BC - Duncan Kraft 1 run (Kick good)

BC - Byorth 11 touchdown pass (Kick good)

BC - Studer 4 run (Kick good)

BC - Kraft 4 run (Kick good)

Havre individual stats

Passing - Reese Bulkley 5--9 9.

Rushing - Mason Dionne 16-13, Kellen Detrick 2-5, Reese Bulkley 1-1.

Receiving - Brock Nystrom 1-9, Mason Dionn 1-0, Kellen Detrick 1-0, Max Olson 1-0, Brandon Shaw 1-0.