Vikings kick off season under the lights

CHARLO — The Charlo High School football team is entering the 2017 football campaign with high expectations after finishing second in the Class C, 8-man state championship against Ennis.

The Vikings coach Mike Krahn said they are “OK” with the heightened expectations that accompany the success in 2016. The Vikings recently held their first practice Aug. 11 at Charlo High School under the lights for what they referred to as “Midnight Madness.”

Krahn knows there is unfinished business as they prepare to head into the season.

“(Last season) was a great season and it was a lot of fun but there are a lot of what if’s associated with the championship game,” Krahn said. “What if I scored this? Or what if I had done this?” “We were just waiting for next year to give it another try. This year there is a lot more talk and excitement about getting the season started now that we got a taste of what big playoff wins feel like. There is excitement in the air.”

At the beginning of last season, the Vikings proved they would be formidable opponents in their season-opening 54-52 loss to Fairview on the neutral site in Cascade. The early-season meeting allowed Charlo to defeat Fairview later in the playoffs to qualify for the semifinal round of football.

“Last year, we were rebuilding and the success was not completely surprising,” Krahn said. “We have good kids coming through and we hope to be right back there. Again, we want to be right back there. We just have to stay healthy, work hard, have a little luck on your side and work on getting better every day. We will have to see what happens and just continue to play hard because there is a lot of excitement and anticipation for the season.”

This season the Vikings lost a lot on its offensive line losing two of three players on the O-line. In 8-man football the line consists of only three players.

“We still are working on filling the center spot and that is a pretty crucial spot because the center touches the ball on every offensive snap,” Krahn said. “On offense, we run 95-percent out of the shotgun and center has to be solid in snapping the ball. Our center spot is a concern and right now we have a senior working those spots. As an ex-lineman, you can have an awesome backfield. We hope to end up with a good crew (on the line). We are expected to reload with about five lineman and work on a three-spot rotation to keep people fresh.”

Realignment of the conferences has changed the competitive dynamics of Class C, 8-man. The Vikings have added Troy, Mission and Hot Springs to an already competitive conference that includes powerhouse teams such as Arlee, Twin Bridges, and Seeley Swan.

“We are going to have to be ready every week and there aren’t any gimme games in this conference,” Krahn said. “The top two in each division and the top three actually have a shot at making the playoffs. That is why we are playing teams like Clark Fork and Flint Creek in the preseason because we might see them down the road, possibly in the playoffs.”

Krahn and his team will face additional challenges of not seeing several teams including Mission, Hot Springs and Troy.

“We are going to have more anticipation (playing in these games) and it’s more exciting and more of a challenge when you don’t know the kids,” Krahn said. “I am looking forward to playing teams that we’ve never played before. We have never got to play Mission and these are guys that our players have known since junior high. Those are the kind of games that are really intense is when you are playing people that you know. You always want to win those type of games.”