The Havre football team took care of business on homecoming night, defeating Lockwood, (34-14). Head coach Jake Eldridge spoke after the game about how his team’s competitive spirit showed up last Friday night and how learning from miscues within the game itself taught everyone a lesson.
“The competitive spirit of this team is pretty tremendous and we need it to be,” Eldridge said. “When they come out here, there’s mistakes, obviously. But they come out and they compete.”
“They play really hard,” Eldridge continued. “They make up for mistakes on the field.
“That’s what we hang out hat on; playing tough, physical football,” Eldridge said. “They did that.”
Next up for the Blue Ponies on the gridiron is a date in East Helena to face the Vigilantes. Quarterback Griffin Terry said that this matchup will be special because of what happened last year, which was a (41-6) thrashing of the visitors on Havre’s 2023 homecoming. Now, East Helena will look to return the favor as the Ponies come into their place for all the festivities.
“Last year, they were our homecoming. This year, we’re their homecoming,” Terry said. “It’ll definitely be fun to go on the road (and) play on their homecoming.”
“(We’ve) got to have a great week of preparation,” Terry said. “We’re definitely not going to shiver from it at all.”
“I know this team. We can do some great stuff,” Terry said. “It’ll be fun to play on the road against them.”
Eldridge knows this program is formidable, having been built from the ground up from the 2021 season. He credited the Vigilantes with finally being over the hump and knows how difficult this next matchup will be, especially offensively given the East Helena put up 60 points against Dawson County last week.
“Coach (Tyler) Murray is doing a heck of a job down there in East Helena,” Eldridge said. “Those guys are playing really well.”
“They’ve got a lot of returners,” Eldridge continued. “Their quarterback (senior Jack Taylor) is a stud. I know he’s got a lot of weapons outside and their running game is very physical as well.”
“They’ve got all three phases of the game clicking right now,” Eldridge said. “It’ll be a great challenge (and) a tremendous opportunity for us to be able to go on the road and continue to get better and compete in a high-level game.”
Havre (3-2) is going down to East Helena (3-2) to take on the Vigilantes. Kyle Leeds will be calling the game on KOJM-610AM, 98.3FM, 92.5 Digital Channel 3, and HiLineToday.com beginning around 7pm.
