Vikings prepare to host Hawks in first round of state

CHARLO — Charlo High School football coach Mike Krahn is already diligently prepping by watching film on his first-round playoff opponent Chester-Joplin-Inverness.

With the 60-6 Oct. 14 victory over Twin Bridges, the Vikings secured the first two rounds of home playoff games, the No. 1 seed out of the western conference, and the conference title. Charlo defeated rival team Arlee 52-0 to officially end the Warriors’ season and is headed into the first-round playoff game with C-JI Saturday at 1 p.m. at Charlo High School.

Krahn said he felt the Hawks were similar in style to Victor, a team the Vikings defeated 40-12 on Sept. 16.

“I’ve been looking at film this weekend and they are from the North Divisional which is typically a knock-down, drag out, black and blue hard-nosed physical football conference,” Krahn said. “They are a very physical football team with a lot of good size and a big physical running back that has a couple of 200-yard rushing nights. They run the ball, do a little play-action, and are very similar to Victor.”

Though the Hawks are similar to the Vikings’ conference opponent Victor, Krahn said he felt they are more multi-faceted.

“They are two-dimensional, they can get good play-action off the run, they have a good tight end, and they like to throw the ball out of the backfield,” Krahn said. “We really have to stop the run and make them pass, and be disciplined when they do pass. We can’t be sold on them that way.”

Krahn expressed mutual admiration and respect for Hawks’ head coach Jim Vinson.

“I coached with Vinson at the all-star game several times,” Krahn said. “When you do that, you really pick up on their personality and know what they like to do. They like to play physical football and that is what they are known for. When the Hawks line up, they come right at you.”

Krahn said he expects a “physical-style” game from the Hawks and he said he felt his team can match their physicality despite being undersized and short on numbers.

“It’s interesting because we are known for our speed and not a lot for our size,” Krahn said. “Overall, this current team is the best size that we’ve had in a while. We aren’t very big but we are solid. Our kids like to play physical football and defensively, when our team lines up to stop the run, our kids like that. From a coaching standpoint, playing a team that is more physical is tough because of all of the banging and there is a greater chance for injuries. Our kids love that mindset. Whether they have to drop back and play pass coverage or stop the run, they love to tackle and gang tackle. Our team is very defensive-minded and love that challenge.”

The Vikings’ explosive offense will be challenged by multiple looks from the Hawks, according to Krahn.

“From the defensive side, they are probably going to run a little variation, blitz a little bit more, and try to spread us out and make us one-dimensional,” Krahn said. “However, there are a lot of things that we can try against a team like this.”

Krahn said he felt that playing on Saturday, as opposed to Friday, gives him and his coaching staff “an advantage” by playing a game during the afternoon.

“When we get late into the season, our lights (at the stadium) aren’t that great,” Krahn said. “For these playoffs, as coaches, we can see better and I can coach better.”

Another advantage Krahn’s Vikings will have headed into the game is weather. Typically, when Charlo travels to the eastern portion of Montana during this time of year, they have to deal with blustery and windy conditions. According to the weather forecast, the weather won’t be much of a variable on Saturday.

“The weather has really cooled off and it’s harder to play in the cold, and harder to stay loose on Saturdays when it is cold,” Krahn said. “Looking at the forecast so far, Saturday is predicted to be nice weather. It looks to be about 48 or 49-degrees. We shouldn’t get a lot of wind and that will be really nice. In the past, we’ve traveled and the wind has affected the weather. Our weather looks great.”

Schematically, the Vikings will see the base 4-3 and 3-4 defensive formations from the Hawks and a lot of man-to-man coverages.

“We like to use a lot of motion and wear teams down,” Krahn said. “We want to confuse them with our motion and have their guys run all over the place to try to overcome some of their size.”

One advantage the Vikings have going into this contest is the multiple ways they can beat you with their offensive attack.

“A defense has to pick who they are going to concentrate on when they play us,” Krahn said. “With our rushing attack, we have three or four guys that can all run the ball. It’s just working to settle and pass the ball a lot. I wouldn’t want to have to defense us whenever they play us. They have to prepare for a lot of multiple formations and that will take up a lot of the opponent’s preparation.”

Former Charlo High School player and now turned assistant coach Jame Petersen said he attributes the Vikings’ success to the team’s “selfless nature.”

“We assume that each player is going to do their job and a lot of their job is just to block everyone,” Peterson said. “Everyone on our team all assumes the best out of each other. Everyone gets in their place and just does their job.”

Petersen, who is the son of assistant coach Jim Petersen, said he felt his team makes up for its lack of size.

“(When I was in high school), we always had a lot of power, size, and our backs were smaller,” Petersen said. “This team has speed, quickness, and strength. These guys are just so smart. They all work together and everyone looks good when they work so well together. We have several players on the team that are leaders and because of that, they all just try to do their best for each other. We are hard on each other and the players are even harder on themselves, which pushes us all to be better.”

Petersen said he felt the Vikings’ offensive explosiveness can be attributed to the team’s ability to be intent on each other’s blocking assignments.

“It’s hard to say they are explosive and it doesn’t matter who has the ball, the rest of the team is helping down field to block,” Petersen said. “No matter who has the football, they have people in front of them blocking and the whole team with you.”

Petersen said he felt the team having a couple of home games will help tremendously. If the Vikings win their first-round game, they will host the winner of No. 2 seeded team out of the east Fairview and the third-seeded south team Harlowton. In the opening game of the season, the Vikings fell to Fairview 54-52 in the final seconds at Fairview.

“Every year we had to go on the road, it was pretty tough, and usually we lost against the state champs,” Petersen said. “Our conference was winning (state) the whole time and finally in my senior year, we got to host a first round game and that was nice.”

Krahn said he felt the Vikings will face several “obstacles” in the playoffs. He doesn’t want “the hype” to negate from his team’s regular-season accomplishments.

“It’s an exciting time of year and I am awfully proud of our kids,” Krahn said. “I don’t get to look back very often because I am busy working and focus on the next week, so I don’t get to relish in what happened. I am proud of how far our kids have come, and proud of our coaches and our kids for keeping up the tradition.”

Krahn said his team is “having fun, but isn’t done.”

“I am really excited for the playoffs and it will be interesting to see what happens this year,” Krahn said. “I am awfully proud of what we’ve done. That was great to see if we can make a run at the state title.”