Vikings eye Class C 8-man championship in 2018

The Charlo High School football team has arguably one of the top players in the Montana High School Association Class C 8-man football in their quarterback Landers Smith.

Smith’s talent translated into success on the field with the Vikings finding themselves in contention for championship hardware the last two seasons. In 2016, Charlo’s quest fell short with a 24-17 MHSA Class C 8-man loss to Ennis and last year, the Vikings fell to Forsyth in the quarterfinals.

Smith is not only a top-shelf player, but according to Vikings’ head Mike Krahn and the coaching staff, both conquer that he is a natural leader and it is Smith’s leadership that has catapulted them into preseason championship conversation headed into next year.

“I think when you are a senior, you’ve been there, you know what it takes and you know it is your last shot,” Krahn said. “You get pretty excited about coming out and it is easy to get fired up under the lights Friday night. Those younger kids and older kids see how the seniors respond so they just fall right in line, do the same things, know what we expect and how they need to be led by example.”

Smith isn’t the only senior that will provide a plethora of experience headed into the 2018 season-opening road game Saturday afternoon at Plains High School.

“Smith has been voted the team captain the last year and as a junior he was also a team captain,” Krahn said. “It is great to have someone that was voted a team captain the year before. Smith, Garett Vaughan and Brock Tomlin have all been there and know what to expect. They know what comes with having that title. You have to be one of the first at practice and the last to leave.”

As the Vikes prepare to enter the 2017 season, they have had a significant amount of participation during the summer camps, according to Krahn.

“We are right around the same numbers but we have a couple more players than last year and we have right around 18 or 19 a year,” Krahn said. “Before, we had around 16 or 17 and (this year) we have right around 20. I was a little worried headed into “Midnight Madness” that we would have about a 14 or 15 range. If you have that low of numbers, you never have enough players to practice 8-on-8. Then you have to put bodies where you need to do a scrimmage or coach the situation with a garbage can, cone or coach and you have to replace with these. Our enrollment numbers at Charlo were down but there were several boys that could have played football that elected to do cross country (this year).”

Krahn said he felt 20 was a “healthy” number that turnout for the first official practice at “Midnight Madness.”

“I was pleased with our numbers and every kid to come out was great,” Krahn said. “There were a couple of surprises. I think we are at a healthy number.”

Since Vikings’ quarterback Landers Smith was a sophomore, that is no question of who is Charlo’s starter.

Barring injury or some unforeseen circumstance, Smith will be the starter headed into the season against Plains.

Perhaps the big story line regarding the Vikings’ signal-caller is who will take the majority of the snaps under center if the unexpected happens.

Charlo has Garrett Vaughan, who took the majority of the snaps Smith didn’t take last season and of the two other prospective quarterbacks, provides the most experience under center outside of Smith.

“Garrett played quarterback (in 2016) and when Landers broke his thumb, he pretty much took the majority of the snaps (in a regular season) game against Mission,” Krahn said. “Garrett will probably be playing mostly running back and receiver. Sometimes we will throw Landers in at wide receiver just to have some fun possibly.”

In case of a supreme emergency, the Vikings have another signal caller they can turn to in Coyle Nagy. Nagy, who is a freshman, had a really good summer in his first year as a Viking.

“He really had a good summer,” Krahn said. “He is just a hard worker and learned a lot from a freshman standpoint. He will be in the mix of our younger quarterbacks and he seems to already have a high football IQ. He is a great QB to develop and learn from the older kids.”

The Vikings will have other players that will be in crucial skill positions that will also be strong contributors to the Vikings offensive attack.

“Our RB is pretty interchangeable with our spread system and we expect our skill guys in the slot wide receiver to be as interchangeable as Garrett will be,” Krahn said.

Some of those players including Bridger Foust, who was a kid on the 4X100 relay team and Isaiah Allick will also play running back, and Wrangler Goudsted, who missed the majority of last year with a knee injury, should also get in the mix in the rotation this season.

“Injuries are just part of the game and the nice thing is that we have good football players,” Krahn said. “We’ve been fortunate over the last few years and I think the big reason is that we just have the type of athletes that can be interchanged here. We have to make sure that we are teaching the proper technique from the guard, the center to the tight end. Not everyone needs to know quarterback but at least know three positions and that has really been good for us over the last few years. All of the sudden someone asks, ‘where did you get that kid and where did he come from?’ Now, all of the sudden he is starting at RB or LB.”