Havre got its second victory of the season, doubling up the Custer County Cowboys by the final score of (36-18). The game did not start well for Havre, who turned it over on downs and fumbled on its second possession. The scoop and score by Andy Bundy 48 yards to the house gave the Cowboys a 6-0 lead.
“We talk about it and it’s not about the things that happen to us; it’s about how we respond to it,” Havre coach Jake Eldridge said.
Havre didn’t panic and ended up answering on a 14-play drive that took them 64 yards. Brisbin Reiter recorded his second touchdown of the season, a rush from four yards out to tie the game at 6.
In the second quarter, Ty Gollie hit a 20-yard field goal to break the deadlock, but then the Cowboys saddled back in front after Bundy returned an 86-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to put Custer County up 12-9 with under a minute to go in the half. Two plays later, Ciaran Courtnage hit Carson Harris on a 66-yard touchdown pass and Havre took a 16-12 lead into the break.
From there, the Blue Ponies put up 20 more unanswered points. A touchdown from Courtnage to Rhett Wertheimer and two Tate Nelson touchdowns capped off another strong offensive performance.
“The offensive line, those big boys up front are doing all the work,” Eldridge said. “Pass protection needs to be better, but I thought they did a good enough job to allow the quarterback to make the throws that he needed to.”
“Running the football the way we do, both on the outside and inside, it starts with those guys up front,” Eldridge said. “Kudos to those guys for working their butts off.”
Custer County scored an offensive touchdown with 12.6 seconds to go in the game, the first one allowed at home this season by the Blue Ponies defense. However, the unit produced three Cowboys turnovers in the game, including two fumbles that were recovered and eventually turned into points as well as a Colter Solomon interception.
Courtnage threw for two more touchdowns to bring his season total to five, while Nelson ran for two more scores to have three rushing touchdowns on his campaign and four total. Havre moves to 2-1 and now go on the road to Glendive to take on Dawson County on Friday night, which is a game that can be heard on KOJM-610AM.
