Charlo Vikings hope to return to the state title game

The Charlo Vikings not only want to revisit the Class-C, 8-man state championship football game as they prepare to enter the 2017 football season, they want to exceed it.

Vikings’ Coach Mike Krahn has started the process of working towards what many area coaches have stated is one of the early-season favorites to get back to the title game.

“We are going down to our team camp in July Monday-Tuesday. The junior high and high schools will be working on implementing our offense and once we get that going for three days, we will be ready to roll.”

In Charlo, an agriculture town, the numbers maybe lower than in some areas because Krahn has several kids working full-time jobs during the summer.

“Our turnout wasn’t too bad,” Krahn said. “It’s tough in the summer and our turnout is probably about average. It’s always hard when you are in an agriculture-based town because summer is a pretty busy time of year. Kids usually make it to camp when they can.”

Krahn said he felt being able to host a championship was critical to the development and motivation of some of the younger and aspiring Vikings’ players who are the future of the program.

“One of the greatest things about sustaining a program is that success tends to breed success,” Krahn said. “There are many players that played last year that now have the desire to make it to a state championship. Everyone has that goal in mind and hopefully, next year we will get there and have different outcomes.”

Though Krahn stated he expects different outcomes, he knows there are a lot of variables to getting back to a championship game. Some of them are beyond the team’s control.

“There are a lot of variables involved with success that include staying healthy at the start of the season,” Krahn said. “We want to always win our division and make a run at the playoffs. Our goal is to make it to the state championship, experience the other end of that and getting to hoist that big trophy at the end.”

With last season’s success, Krahn acknowledged his team will have a lot of pressure from the community to return to the big game.

“There is a lot of pressure there,” Krahn said. “Having pressure is a good thing and having high expectations to honestly say that you have a chance to win tends to make your team a little more focused on their work ethic and preparation.”

Krahn admits he even feels the pressure to perform.

“There was a strong tradition in Charlo before I got here,” Krahn said. “It is kind of like Coach (Bob) Green at Montana Tech said. You have the keys to a Cadillac. Don’t wreck it and keep it serviced.”

Krahn said he and his team are ready for Aug. 11 as they begin their quest to defend their conference championship in what many coaches refer to as a “loaded” conference.

“We are just excited to get going,” Krahn said. “We will go from zero to 60 in one day. I am anxious to get going and get back to working on the field.”