Football: Charlo runs past Phillipsburg
Sophomore Jacen Petersen rushes for three touchdowns in first
quarter of 56-16 win
PHILIPSBURG - Forty points will win you a lot of football games at any level. Forty points at halftime? It'll win you just about all of them.
On Friday, Oct. 7, the Charlo Vikings put up 20-spots in each of the first two quarters en route to a 56-16 destruction of Philipsburg High School. One of the area's best ground games did the job again, running wild against a porous Philipsburg defense. Jacen Petersen did his best Adrian Peterson, rushing for touchdowns of 1, 52 and 43 yards in the first quarter, setting the tone for another big Viking win.
"Once again, I have to bring it back to the line," head coach Mike Krahn said. "Each week, we're better at sustaining blocks. Our running backs don't need a lot of daylight. Receivers are getting better at blocking. One play, (wide receiver Stephen) Delaney was about 20 yards downfield blocking."
Quarterback Tra Ludeman opened the second quarter the way Petersen ended the first - with a long touchdown run.
Ludeman's 65-yard score gave Charlo a 26-0 lead and complete control of the game. The Viking defense was excellent again, allowing only a second-quarter touchdown in the first three quarters, which cut the lead to 26-8.
"We had a good idea of what they would do," Krahn said. "We did a good job gang tackling, getting three or four guys on the ball. Peter Dumont had a heck of a game, making their backs go outside, which played into our hands."
It didn't take much time for Charlo to get that second quarter touchdown back. On the ensuing kickoff, Webb O'Neill ran back 78 yards for what proved to be the ultimate knockout punch. Petersen added a 33-yard TD catch from Ludeman before halftime, giving the Vikings a 40-8 lead at intermission.
The offense slowed down in the third quarter, only scoring 16 points. O'Neill's second score of the game, this one a 39-yard catch from Ludeman, inflated the lead to 48-8.
"He's one of those steady guys, not a talker, kind of quiet," Krahn said of O'Neill. "It was one of those games where he broke out. [On the kick return], he waited for it to develop and used his good speed to score."
Justin Krahn got in on the action, scoring on a 14-yard run to give the Vikings a 56-8 lead after three quarters.
Philipsburg scored a meaningless fourth-quarter touchdown to wrap up the scoring in another convincing Charlo victory.
"I really like that we've gotten better each week," Krahn said. "Our kids responded from a tough first half of the schedule. Right now, we're feeling good, we're healthy and that's the key."
The Vikings will wrap up the regular season with a pair of home contests. On Friday, Oct. 14, Charlo hosts Noxon before entertaining Seeley just five days later, on Wednesday, Oct. 19. Both games are set for 7 p.m. starts.