Charlo Vikings football regroup after loss to Flint Creek

The Charlo High School football team lost its first game of the season 46-28 at the hands of Flint Creek Friday night at Charlo High School.

The Vikings, who played Flint Creek in hopes of securing home field advantage and the No. 1 seed throughout the playoffs, will now have the No. 2 seed and that will entail some additional travelling, according to their head coach Mike Krahn.

Krahn, whose team was unbeaten prior to the loss, said he felt his team might benefit from the loss in the long run.

“Yeah, I do believe that it’s never fun to lose a game,” Krahn said. “We can always get better next week and the week after that. You hate to go into the playoffs without being challenged and if you aren’t tested, you can’t see where you are susceptible and where you need improvements. Prior to this game, neither of us had been tested and we don’t really know how good we are. Flint Creek had never been tested and after the game, Flint Creek football coach Mike Cutler told us ‘I think you guys are pretty good, Mike.’ At any given point that we came back and scored, Flint Creek would answer the call. They had a pretty good game plan and executed it well. Their kids played really hard and are a good football team.”

The Vikings allowed 205 total yards receiving in the game and 198 of those total receiving yards were to Jackson Lee. Lee caught seven passes for 198 yards and three of the receptions resulted in touchdowns.

According to Krahn, one of the biggest areas they need to work on is themselves. The Vikings uncharacteristically had a total of 11 penalties and two turnovers.

“When you have 11 penalties and two turnovers and are playing a really good football team, you can’t easily have success,” Krahn said. “We kind of went back and forth and they caught us on big plays. They converted three fourth downs and those are crucial parts of games. They had a good game plan and they are tough. I was expecting them to be fast but they were a little faster than I even thought. We had our chances and didn’t capitalize on them. There are some things that we have to work on and we will have to get back to work on those fundamental elements.”

One area Charlo struggled with is being able to sustain a pass rush. One main reason the Vikings weren’t able to sustain a pass rush is because the option play, which many teams have struggled defending all season, slowed down the rush.

“Our lineman dropped back into their pass sets and had to get back to the fundamentals,” Krahn said. “We hadn’t been tested until this point and all of the sudden, we are playing a team that matches our athleticism and speed. Our mistakes multiplied when you can’t recover or outrun someone.”

Krahn said he isn’t worried even though he admits the path to the Class C, 8-man championship game will be more difficult. He is optimistic his team will bounce back and take the loss as a “learning experience.”

“This will make the playoffs more difficult,” Krahn admitted. “We now have two weeks to prepare for the playoffs and we know some things that we need to work on. I told my kids there is no rule for being undefeated to be a state champion. We took a little detour and we might have to do some travelling. We have everything in front of us and we can still accomplish what we need to and get back to work.”

The Vikings will still get one home game before they will have to go on the road, according to Krahn.

“We will get one home game and more than likely we will have to travel in the second round,” Krahn said. “We will be travelling to one of the top seeds. We either have to go to Forsyth or one of the top seeds going east and most likely, we are looking at a long bus ride. We could get one more home game and end up winning. We could get home to the semifinals if we can get out of the second round and we will probably have to play the state championship on the other side of the bracket.”

Charlo coach Mike Krahn said he personally likes travelling and isn’t afraid that his team might have to travel a significant distance to play a game.

“Personally, I like travelling and I like playing at other team’s places,” Krahn said. “It forces you to band together as a group and you have us versus the world mentality. When you are going into a new town and everyone from Charlo is close, you just galvanize enemy territory and I kind of like feeling that way. The thing that is difficult as a coach is that everyone on your team’s routine is disrupted. Most of them have to practice somewhere else and your days are different. There are a lot of distractions. The most challenging part of travelling is keeping focused and making sure the kids know it’s a business trip and they are here for a purpose.”

As the Vikings prepare to head into the final game against Clark Fork, they will get a chance to prepare for a team that likes to throw the ball. Krahn said he felt it would be good practice for his team to prepare against a pass-oriented team prior to the playoffs.

“They are the type of team that passes the football a lot,” Krahn said. “That is our weakness. You can’t improve on what you aren’t good at unless you get good reps at pass protection and prepare for them. It will be good for us and that is a weakness that need we to get better at.”