Vikings continue hot streak, trample Darby 59-28
<p class="p1">Tra Ludeman prepares to juke out a Darby defender on Friday. He tossed two touchdowns, ran for a pair of scores and found paydirt returning a pick as well.</p>
<p class="p1">Jacen Petersen sprints upfield and attempts to shake off a Darby tackler on Friday.</p>
<p class="p1">Dusty Berkram (12), Kyle Couture (24) and Jesse Long gang tackle a Darby running back in Friday night’s 59-28 victory.</p>
CHARLO — For the second week in a row, the Charlo Vikings football team dominated a Western C eight-player opponent, dropping Darby 59-28 on Friday in Charlo.
CHARLO — For the second week in a row, the Charlo Vikings football team dominated a Western C eight-player opponent, dropping Darby 59-28 on Friday in Charlo.
The Vikings (2-0) got off to an incredible start, lighting up the scoreboard on their way to a 45-6 lead over the Tigers (0-2) after the first quarter of play.
“The kids were excited to play at home,” Charlo head coach Mike Krahn said. “I think they showed it by starting fast and focused. It was like we could do no wrong.”
Scoring early is also part of the team’s philosophy.
“We do preach having a sense of urgency when we go out,” Krahn said. “On defense, we want to get the ball as soon as possible and on offense...we want to score when we have the ball, whether it takes 10 plays or one.”
This strategy seems to be paying off so far this season, as the Vikings have outscored their opponents 74-6 in the first quarter alone.
In this game, Charlo scored on its first two offensive plays.
Tyler Delaney scored on a 38-yard run and Tra Ludeman followed that up with a 44-yard touchdown run of his own on the first play of the very next drive.
Ludeman continues to showcase his phenomenal playmaking ability, after tossing two touchdown passes, rushing for two more and coming up with a pick-six on defense against Darby.
“Tra has just been an awesome leader,” Krahn said. “He’s off to a roaring start, that’s for sure.”
He’s been remarkably efficient as well, as he has yet to throw an incomplete pass this season, going 8-for-8 in this game for 166 yards.
However, Krahn said Ludeman can’t get all the credit.
“Obviously he’s performed real well, but the other side of that is the receivers,” Krahn said. “He’s really spread the ball around, and they’ve made some fantastic catches. It takes both sides to get the ball where it needs to be.”
Ludeman’s ability to connect with his receivers is no accident, as they put in a lot of time in the offseason to become more in sync with each other.
“We warm up everyday and throw a lot of footballs,” Krahn said. “That just gets our receivers on the same page as the quarterback and they got a lot of reps this summer.”
Nobody did more with Ludeman’s passes against Darby than running back Jacen Petersen, who hauled in two catches for 94 yards, including one that went 64 yards for a touchdown.
Utilizing backs in the passing game has been a trend for the Vikings through their first two games, as they found similar success with Delaney against Noxon (four catches, 102 yards and two touchdowns).
“We throw a lot of balls to our running backs, so it’s something that they’re used to doing,” Krahn said. “Our backs are really comfortable catching the football.”
Krahn credits offensive coordinator Jim Petersen for the team’s early success and effective use of the spread offense, as well as the raw ability of the players.
“It’s a testament to his play calling and our kids being versatile,” Krahn said.
However, all did not go smoothly for the Vikings in the game.
After sending in the backups in the second half, the team began to look a little more shaky.
Miscues on both sides of the ball by Charlo allowed the Tigers to quickly score 22 unanswered points before Krahn sent his starters back in to secure the win.
“I’m glad we had a chance to put them in, because they need to understand it’s a different tempo than practice and it’s a different tempo than a JV game,” Krahn said. “It was kind of an eye-opener for them and I think it lets them know where they are at compared to some of the older kids.”
Depth was something Krahn was concerned about coming into the season, a concern that Friday’s game did not help alleviate.
To address this issue, Krahn plans to work on getting his backups in the right mindset for games and emphasize the importance of mistake-free football.
“You can’t just jump in there, you have to be prepared as if you are going to start even if you are not,” Krahn said. “Execution is big for us. We preach it and we expect it, so that is something we will work on with the younger guys.”
Charlo heads to Arlee (2-0) on Sept. 7 in a battle to see who will stay atop the conference standings.
“Arlee is a traditional rival game for us,” Krahn said. “We always expect a dogfight when we play them.”
INJURY UPDATE
Justin Krahn, who broke his right hand before the Noxon game, went in for x-rays on Tuesday and, pending the results, may not know for another three weeks when he will be able to return. If he is able to return this season, it will be in an exclusively defensive capacity, as the injury is on his throwing hand.