Ponies steamroll Dogs in season opener

It was a slow start for the defending state champions of Whitefish, falling 18-6 to Havre Saturday afternoon at Memorial Field in the traditional football season-opener for both teams. The Blue Ponies return home with the BNSF Trophy for the first time since 2011.

Offensive production from both sides was stagnant early. Whitefish senior quarterback Derek Kastella connected with senior receiver Tyler Cote a few times, but the Bulldogs couldn’t get much going and were forced to punt early and often.

The game was still scoreless midway into the second quarter when Havre running back Jase Stokes took off. Stokes broke a few long runs before punching in a 3-yard touchdown for the first score of the day.

Stokes brought the Blue Ponies back to first and goal on Havre’s next possession, but Bulldog junior Vagar Ellinsen recovered a fumble on the 1 yard line for Whitefish. The Dogs were unable to turn Havre’s mistake into points and ended the half down 6-0.

It was more of the same in the second half. Stokes followed his 131 rushing yards in the first half with another 150 in the second, finishing with 281 total rushing yards, just 10 short of Havre’s single game record. Stokes scored two more touchdowns for Havre to put the Ponies up 18-0 in the fourth quarter.

“I knew he was a tough runner,” Whitefish head coach Chad Ross said of Stokes, “but I didn’t think we’d tackle as poorly as we did.”

Whitefish showed some life on their next drive, with Kastella hitting Cote for a 39-yard touchdown pass to get the Dogs on the scoreboard. The Bulldogs lined up for an onside kick to try and get the ball back, but had two offsides penalties followed by another penalty for kicking the ball out of bounds. The Bulldogs weren’t able to get another chance on offense, as Havre ran out the clock on their next possession.

Kastella finished 12 of 26 for 121 yards through the air and Cote led the Bulldog offense with 43 yards rushing and 54 yards receiving. Ross said timing issues between Kastella and his receivers caused a few overthrows, but he and other coaches need to do more to help their quarterback succeed.

“Derek’s going to get a lot better. He sees the game and with more reps he’ll be able to execute much better. As coaches, we could’ve done a couple things to help him and put him in a better position to be successful. And I need to do a better job of coaching Derek during the game,” he said.

Cleaning up the passing game and getting the team in better shape are the first steps for the Bulldogs, Ross said, noting that most off the team’s mistakes, like poor tackling and mental errors, were likely caused by fatigue.

“We weren’t in as good of shape as we’ve been in years past,” Ross said.

After Saturday’s loss, Ross told his team the focus needs to be on improving throughout the season.

“We talked about it being a season, that one game isn’t going to define who we are,” Ross said. “Last year we had a lot more guys coming back so we started at a higher point, and this year we’ll get to a higher point, it’s just going to take a little bit more time.”

Havre 0 6 6 6 — 18

Whitefish 0 0 0 6 — 6

First quarter

No scoring

Second quarter

H—Jase Stokes 3 run (kick failed)

Third quarter

H—Stokes 1 run (pass failed)

Fourth quarter

H—Stokes 1 run (kick blocked)

W—Tyler Cote 39 pass from Derek Kastella (pass failed)