Class C Football: Charlo falls to Chinook in slugfest

Hard running Sugarbeeters knock Vikings out of the playoffs with

28-24 victory, but not before taking a few thumps

CHARLO - Charlo head coach Mike Krahn and his Vikings had seen Chinook before at the Montana Tech football camps. They knew what they were getting into. They'd been in a fight like this before.

"I told the kids you have to trade punches," Krahn said. "Sometimes you look at a team in warm-ups and go ‘oh boy' at their size, but our players knew we've been here with these guys before."

Like any great heavyweight battle, each side got its blows in with the Vikings having one last shot at the end.

Ultimately, it wasn't their day as they fell 28-24 to Chinook in the quarterfinals of the Class C state football playoffs on Saturday in Charlo.

Senior quarterback Chico Stipe threw an 8-yard pass to sophomore Tra Ludeman for a touchdown with 1:26 to go. Down by four, Chinook recovered the Vikings' onside kick but the defense forced them to punt.There was 1:13 to go in the game. The Vikings had 68-yards to go for victory and they had been there before.

"After I called a time out I just laughed at the guys and said we worked on this last night," Krahn said.

The Vikings had indeed practiced the two-minute drill with a live clock, down by two touchdowns.

"They get excited about it in practice," Krahn said.

It almost aligned perfectly for the Vikings, but Char-lo couldn't get their offense moving on that final drive and turned the ball over on downs with an incomplete pass on 4th and five.

Chinook ran out the rest of the clock.

However, there was a general feeling that despite it being a loss, the Vikings showed enough gumption and grit these past two weeks worthy of a champion.

"It really felt like the past two weeks that you have to step back like a proud parent," Krahn said about the character of his team. "It gives you a real feeling of accomplishment regardless of the scoreboard."

In their first-round play-off game, Charlo managed to weather a 390-yard pass-ing performance by White Sulphur Springs quarter-back Cy Williams. Against Chinook, they experienced another monster in running back Tyler Molyneaux.

Having picked up 1,495 yards on the season already, the Sug-arbeeters gave him the ball a staggering 50 times for 337 yards.

"We just tried to tell the kids that you have to weather the storm," Krahn said.

Charlo bent, but didn't break. They forced four fumbles, including two late in the game.

"Our kids did a great job causing some turnovers," Krahn said. "It was starting to come together."

Stipe, last year's conference defensive MVP, caused two fumbles in the fourth quarter and harassed Molyneaux all afternoon, finishing with 11 solo tackles.

"He just has a knack for football," Krahn said. "He has a real knowledge."

Chinook's final three drives ended without a score.

"We were out there [on defense] a lot but I felt they were wearing down," Krahn said. "They rushed the ball seventy five times, this is a fight every play."

Charlo finished with 254 yards of offense, with Stipe rushing for 139 yards and a touchdown. He also passed for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman Jacen Peterson caught a 20-yard pass from Stipe in the first quarter to tie things up 8-8. Chinook would strike back in the second quarter with a three-yard TD run by Molyneaux and make things look dangerous in the third quarter when Molyneaux had a nine-yard rushing score to make it 22-8 with 8:16 to go in the third quarter.

The Vikings wouldn't lie down. Stipe answered almost immediately after Molyneaux's score, running 62-yards to daylight. The Chinook running back scored again with :27 to go in the third quarter on a 50-yard run and the Sugarbeeters were once again looking at a somewhat comfortable 28-16 lead before Charlo's late game heroics.

If the Vikings had won, it would have been their first trip to the semi-finals since 2001, but they're certainly familiar with the playoffs as they've made it to the post-season six out of the past seven years.