Vikings in control of own destiny after big victory over Victor

CHARLO — Charlo High School football coach Mike Krahn acknowledges the football season is long after his Vikings positioned themselves to win conference with a 40-12 victory over conference opponent Victor Friday at Charlo High School’s Stadium.

Krahn knows there is a still a lot of football to be played and says his Vikings play in a “tough” conference where “anything can happen.”

The Vikings defeated Victor, a senior-heavy team that defeated Arlee High School the previous week 40-6, and the victory now puts Charlo on a collision course with their arch rivals.

Arlee, a team that was runner-up in last season’s Class C 8-man football state championship, defeated Darby this week 48-16. This complicates the conference schedule in the hypothetical if both Charlo and Arlee win the remainder of their games headed into the Oct. 24 season-finale against Arlee at Charlo High.

Krahn simplified his team’s quest at a title saying his Vikings just need to continue to “win.” Krahn also knows that it is easier said than done in the Vikings loaded conference.

“It is always good to control your own destiny, and if we don’t lose, we will control our own destiny,” Krahn said. “In the past, we’ve had three-way ties for first place. By us winning and jumping into the lead in the conference, we have pointed ourselves in the right direction to control our own destiny and get some home games in the playoffs.”

Warriors’ Coach Todd Yocum, whose team lost six of its seven players from last year’s runner-up team, said he felt the road to the championship will go through Charlo.

“The Vikings are legit and I think the championship game is going to go through them,” Yocum said. “No matter who plays in the championship game, they are going to have to go through Charlo to do that. As far as looking ahead at the schedule, I never look past the team we have to play this week. My brain just doesn’t work that way and we have so much more improvement to do to make that final game a collision course. We did have a big win against Darby and we are improving but we still need to make big improvements.”

In the game against Victor, the Vikings built their momentum early. With 11:45 left to go in the first quarter, RB Jared Doty ran for a 52-yard touchdown. QB Landers Smith added to the lead with a successful 2-point conversion that made the score 8-0.

With 8:53 left in the second quarter, Doty struck again with his second touchdown run. Smith again added the successful 2-point conversion to give the Vikings a commanding 16-0 lead.

Right before half, Doty scored his third consecutive touchdown with a 2-yard run to give the Vikings a commanding 22-0 advantage.

At the end half, Smith completed a 26-yard touchdown pass to Zane Hafliger that gave the Vikings a 28-0 lead at halftime.

Down by 28, the senior-heavy Victor team began to charge back. After two consecutive touchdown runs of 40 and 9 yards by Colt Neville, the deficit was narrowed to 28-12 and caused Krahn to be concerned.

“Our team got off to a fast start but Victor battled back there and got me a little worried,” Krahn said.

At the end of the third quarter, Smith had a 22-yard run. A 26-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Doty in the fourth quarter concluded the scoring.

Krahn attributes a lot of his team’s success to their depth.

“I would like to say we have pretty good size for 8-man football,” Krahn said. “We aren’t huge and not small but we have a good mix for 8-man football. We have so many interchangeable kids, we can move someone and don’t miss a beat. We just have to intermix and keep each other fresh in the game. It’s really nice for us to have that core group.”

The Vikings didn’t get out of the game unscathed. Charlo’s starting QB Smith suffered a tear in the lining of his ribs that they are still waiting for additional information on his injury.

With the absence of Smith, they had Tyson Pettigrew play in his place. Brady Fryberger went from DL to LB. According to Krahn, Fryberger plays three positions on defense.

The Vikings will play Darby this Friday at Darby.

“Darby is going to be a pretty balanced team,” Krahn said. “They have good numbers, they are always physical, they always play us tough. Darby is also one of our longer trips of the season.”According to Krahn, Darby will present a more balanced offensive look than a Victor team whose offensive attack is predicated on the run.

“I think they are going to pass and run this week,” Krahn said. “We are really concentrated on the run. I think it should be a run-heavy attack in practice this week and are going to have to be disciplined again. Our DBs are going to have to play fast and really get back to reading keys because they aren’t as predictable as Victor. They are going to keep us a little more honest.”