Vikings dedicate season to fallen teammate

CHARLO — One of Charlo High School manager David McCullugh’s critical speeches to the Vikings is one that is heartfelt and somber.

One of the Vikings’ biggest inspirational figures and managers, McCullugh will remind the Charlo football players who they dedicated the season too. During one of his emotionally-charged halftime speeches, McCullugh will point at “No 51,” a number QB Landers Smith wears around his helmet and dedicated to the loss of his teammate Brett Krantz, who passed away in a car accident two years ago.

“David gets us going and he reminds us we are playing for Brett,” Smith said. “All season I’ve been thinking about Brett and dedicated the season towards number 51. I carry that number with me the whole game.”

For Smith, the loss of Krantz is more than a teammate, it’s personal. Smith, who is Krant’s cousin, said he is “100 percent motivated to play for him.”

“He was one of my closest friends and also my cousin,” Smith said. “He was a great asset to this football team. He was one of the strongest kids I knew. I just thought he was a good friend and always good to us. He would want us to go out this football season and work our hardest. We are motivated to get him where he would want us to go. Football was his favorite sport and it was super important to him.”

For Smith and the rest of his Vikings’ teammates, they have a poster of No. 51 in their locker room above the white board.

“We all hold that sign in silent recognition,” Smith said. “We always think about No. 51 and that is who we think about before we walk out those doors and play.”

Safety Tyson Petticrew was another player inspired by Krantz.

“Brett would have wanted us to play as hard as we could to make it,” Petticrew said. “He would have wanted us to win a state championship and his memory has given us an even bigger reason to play.”

Petticrew said he and his teammates have had discussions about carrying on his teammate’s memory.

“We have talked about it because we were all really good friends and everyone got along with him,” Petticrew said. “I got together with Landers Smith and Brady Fryberger, and we discussed this season was going to be for him. That is our ultimate goal of winning the state championship because that is what he would have wanted.”