Blue/White Day returns to Havre High to kick off fall sports

A reminder that fall sports have finally arrived on the Hi-Line is the return of the Blue/White day for the Havre High School sports teams. This Saturday, the HHS volleyball and football teams will compete in scrimmages that pit the Blue Ponies against their teammates.

Blue/White day will begin early with the HHS volleyball team scrimmaging. After the Ponies' C-squad competes against one another at 9 a.m., the varsity and junior varsity teams will play each other at 10:30 a.m.

Throughout this week, HHS volleyball head coach Stephanie Huse has been implementing the offensive and defensive systems with her players. With the scrimmage this weekend, Huse believes it will show how comfortable the players are with the systems this early in the season.

"I think the scrimmage will be a good insight into the girls' understanding of what we're trying to do within our system," Huse said. "It will allow us to see the girls compete against each other in a game-like situation. It changes when all of a sudden, you put on a uniform and you get on the court to compete, and it'll be exciting to see how the girls respond to the competition."

In its first match-like competition of the season, the varsity team will play the junior varsity team. The two teams will play to win the best three out of five sets in the match. While the Ponies will still be figuring things out, the match will replicate a normal match during the season.

"We'll play in a manner that'll reflect in-season competitions," Huse said. "The teams aren't 100 percent set. We'll mix things up just to see some different rotations. But other than that, it'll be as match-like as we can make it."

Blue/White day will continue later at 7 p.m. at Blue Pony Stadium with the HHS football team competing in a scrimmage. With this being his first season leading the Ponies, HHS football head coach Jake Eldridge mostly wants to see his players show effort this weekend.

"I just want to see the kids compete and just work really hard," Eldridge said. "If they're making mistakes but they're showing really good effort, I think that's the number one thing. Compete really hard, get really good effort and we'll get stuff on film and we can make those corrections."

The football scrimmage will put the first-team offense against the second-team defense. On the other end, the first-team defense will face the second-team offense.

The scrimmage will last a full four quarters with a halftime splitting up the action. Along with offense and defense, the Ponies will incorporate their special teams into the game to further prepare for the season.

"We're going to try and structure it as much as a game as we can," Eldridge said about the scrimmage.

The HHS volleyball scrimmage will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday at Havre High Gymnasium. The HHS football team will then hold its scrimmage later at 7 p.m. at Blue Pony Stadium.